Frank 1st Draft 2009

Frank
by
Peter Straughan and Jon Ronson
Based on the memoir by Jon Ronson
Revised First Draft
August 6th 2009

FADE IN:
ON A DICTAPHONE
...as a finger depresses the RECORD button.
JON FINCH - a middle-aged, dull English man - stares at the

dictaphone in front of him. We’re in a hotel room. Across
from him sits TURNER - a journalist. There is a long pause
as Jon tries to think how to start. Turner stirs after a
while.
TURNER
(Murmuring)
Anything that comes to mind.
(Beat) Any stories at all.
JON
About the band?
He has a dull voice.
TURNER
(Patiently)
Anything. Maybe start with his
childhood? Do you know any
stories about his childhood?
Jon stares at the dictaphone, considering.
EXT. FARM - TEXAS - NIGHT - THE PAST
LONG SHOT
A small, run-down, farmstead sits under the starry night

sky, a light glowing in an upstairs window.
JON (V.O.)
Well...there was one...
SUPERED TITLES appear, reading “Deep in the heart of Texas.

1954.”
A moment later we hear the song Deep In The Heart Of Texas,

floating over the night air from the upstairs window.
Moments later we hear a woman inside the house SHRIEK.
The small figure of a MAN runs out of a barn and towards

the house.
INT. HOUSE - MOMENTS LATER
The man clatters up the stairs. His WIFE appears at the

top, looking ashen. He sees her and stops in his tracks.
The song is still playing somewhere upstairs.
2.
WOMAN
(Beat)
He did it again.
INT. BEDROOM - NIGHT
A SIX-MONTH OLD BABY - Frank Kapsburger - lies in an old-

fashioned crib. The man and woman stand staring down at
their son, something from a Steinbeck novel. The song is
still playing on a record player in the corner of the room.
SONG (O.S.)
The prairie sky is wide and
high...
On the “Clap, Clap, Clap”, the Baby CLAPS ITS HANDS IN

PERFECT TIME TO THE SONG.
SONG (CONT’D)
“Deep in the heart of Texas.”
The Parents stare at their child in HORROR.
FATHER
(Softly)
Sweet Jesus...
SONG (O.S.)
The sage in bloom is like
perfume...
Clap, Clap, Clap. Again the baby claps in perfect time -

like a tiny adult.
SONG (O.S.) (CONT’D)

Deep in the heart of Texas.
We reach the instrumental section of the song. Mom and Dad

wait in trepidation.
The instrumental section seems to be going on forever. They

stare at the baby. They turn to stare at the record player.
They turn back to the baby. At last...
SONG (O.S.)(CONT’D)
The coyotes wail along the
trail...
We CLOSE on the Baby’s little hands as he opens them to

clap...
3.
EXT. FARMHOUSE - TEXAS - NIGHT
The Father strides out of the house holding the RECORD

PLAYER. He throws it to the ground by the wood pile, picks
up an axe and raises the axe above his head...
INT. HOTEL ROOM - PRESENT
Jon stares at the dictaphone.
JON
That was one I heard. I don’t
know if it’s true. I mean, I
couldn’t say for sure.
As he looks up at the journalist with a dull expression we

hear his PRIVATE VOICE - conspiratorial, tragic,
demonic...but still dull.
JON (V.O.) (CONT’D)

Something I can say for sure...
EXT. FARMHOUSE - TEXAS - NIGHT
LONG SHOT
The Father begins to chop the record player into pieces.

From the upstairs window comes the sound of the baby
crying.
JON (V.O.)
I loved Frank Kapsburger. And I
hated him (Beat) If I had to give
my life a title I would call it
“The Man Who Killed The Thing He
Loved.”
On the horizon LIGHTNING FLASHES...
The TITLE appears. It isn’t “The Man Who Killed The Thing
He Loved.” It’s “Frank.”
We hear the mighty opening chord of the Maestoso-Allegro

from Saint-Saens “Organ” Symphony in C Minor as we...
CUT TO:
TITLE SEQUENCE
4.
INT. LONDON SCHOOL OF MUSIC - DAY - THE EARLY 1980S
As the music continues and the titles roll we are TRACKING

through the college, passing busts of various GREAT
COMPOSERS.
We pass a long series of MUSIC ROOMS - getting a glimpse in

each of the MUSIC STUDENT ensconced inside, head bowed over
a piano. The effect is a little like a conveyor belt.
Jon (early 20s) walks down the corridor, looking into the
rooms as he passes them. He’s holding a leather music case.
Titles end.
INT. AUDITION ROOM - DAY
THREE MUSIC LECTURERS sit in a row, scrutinising a nervous

Jon, sitting at a piano.
Supered Titles read “London School of Music. 1982”
MUSIC LECTURER
So, you are Jon...
JON FINCH
Finch.
MUSIC LECTURER
And you are from...
JON FINCH
Cambridge.
MUSIC LECTURER
And what is it you do there, Jon?
JON FINCH
I’m at Polytechnic.
MUSIC LECTURER
Studying music?
JON FINCH
Corporate Marketing.
The Music Lecturers consider him for a moment.
JON
But music is my life.
Jon pauses. This is his moment to tell the Lecturers of his

terrible plight, his great desire. He seizes it.
5.
JON (CONT'D)
It’s ...everything to me. I’m
only alive when I’m composing.
Music is my food and my drink and
my girlfriend and my extra
curricular activities...
MUSIC LECTURER
(Beat)
You’re going to play something
for us?
JON
(Gathering himself)
This is a song I wrote called ‘In
Cambridge’.
Jon starts to play - he’s pretty good, but not great. The
song is practically identical to While My Guitar Gently
Weeps by The Beatles.
JON (CONT’D)
(Singing)
In Cambridge there are
Plenty of people
I see them all
At the shops.
MUSIC LECTURER
(Interrupting)
Can I just...
Jon stops playing.
MUSIC LECTURER (CONT’D)

I thought you said you wrote it?
JON
I did.
MUSIC LECTURER
But it’s basically While My
Guitar Gently Weeps.
Jon stares at him.
MUSIC LECTURER (CONT’D)

By The Beatles.
JON
No it isn’t.
They stare at him.
JON (CONT’D)
I don’t even know that song.
6.
They stare at him. Suddenly, Jon’s eyes widen in

realization.
CUT TO:
INT. ELEVATOR - THE PAST
A FLASHBACK: Jon is standing in an elevator. The MUZAC is

While My Guitar Gentle Weeps. Jon, not paying attention,
idly nods along in time to it.
INT. AUDITION ROOM - DAY
Jon blinks out of his flash-back.
JON
(Desperate)
I’ve got another song.
He turns back to the piano and starts to play again.
JON (CONT’D)
(Singing)
Cambridge shopping centre.
Who can know what you should
buy...
It’s basically Ruby Tuesday.
The lecturers stare at him.
INT. TRAIN - DAY
Jon sits trying not to cry. He wipes his eyes, embarrassed,

stares out of the window as the train hurtles back to...
EXT. TRUMPINGTON TRAIN STATION - DAY
The train pulls out leaving an upset Jon standing on the

deserted platform. He walks away.
I/E. JON’S HOUSE - BEDROOM - EARLY EVENING
A dull suburban house in a dull suburban street.
Jon’s room is decorated with cheesy music posters:
An Athena print of a KITTEN playing a violin; A PUPPY

wearing a tie in the shape of a keyboard; MOZART looking
wacky; Thomas Dolby; Japan...
Jon stares at the posters. Then, with tears in his eyes, he

RIPS them from the walls, tears them into shreds.
7.
Jon looks at the debris on the floor. The torn out face of
the kitten looks plaintively up at him.
JON
(Tearfully)
Stop staring at me.
INT. JON’S HOUSE - KITCHEN - LATER
Jon is eating dinner with his MOTHER, FATHER and young

SISTER. The RADIO is playing - Bus Rider by The Guess Who.
Jon listens to the lyrics for a moment, brooding...
SONG
‘Grab the evenin’ paper and sit
down in your chair.
Grab yourself a toupee ‘cos
you’re losing your hair
Doesn’t matter what you do you’ve
nothin’ to lose.
I’m so awful goddamn glad I’m not
in your shoes.
Bus Rider!’
JON
I hate this.
His FAMILY don’t look up from their meal.
JON (CONT’D)
(Indicating the radio)
Hate songs like this. Songs that
slag off people who lead ordinary
lives.
Jon broods some more.
JON (CONT’D)
There’s nothing wrong with having
an ordinary life.
His MOTHER gives him an appraising look.
MOTHER
I think it’s time you forgot
about music, Jon.
Jon stares at her.
MOTHER (CONT’D)
I think you could potentially be
very good at marketing.
Jon closes his eyes.

8.
EXT. CAMBRIDGE POLYTECHNIC - DAY
Jon trails slowly through the grim concrete campus, passing

a student body awash with awful, soul-destroying ‘80s
fashion and haircuts.
INT. CLASSROOM - DAY
The phrase LIFESTYLE MARKETING MODULE 7: MARKETING TO “SELF-

ACTUALIZERS” is written in marker pen on the white-board.
The LECTURER addresses the class of 20 students, JON among

them.
LECTURER
Self-Actualizers. Who are they?
They’re free-thinkers - creative,
spontaneous.
The Lecturer puts a TAPE into the VCR. He presses play.
ON TV
GRAINY 1960s DOCUMENTARY ARCHIVE: The crowds at Woodstock.
LECTURER (CONT’D)
Self-Actualizers were first
identified by Abraham Maslow in
his Hierarchy of Needs and they
became a dominant cultural force
during the late 1960s.
ON TV
Amid the crowds a HIPPY is being interviewed.
HIPPY
Advertisers brainwash us! They
want us to buy their stuff! Well
I don’t want to be some
corporation’s brainwashed
sheeple. I want to be me!
LECTURER
(pausing tape)
All well and good, except this
makes them notoriously difficult
to...?
He stares around his apathetic class, gets no response and

turns finally to his one star student ...Jon.
JON
(Wearily)
Sell things to.
9.
LECTURER
Right. They are not predictable
consumers because they’re...?
JON
Mistrustful.
LECTURER
Of...?
JON
Advertisers.
LECTURER
Because we...?
JON
Try to manipulate them.
LECTURER
Right.
(Turning to the rest of
the class)
So what do we do about that?
Silence. The class has no idea what to do about that.
LECTURER (CONT'D)
We sell them products that
express their individuality.
He produces a CABBAGE PATCH DOLL.
LECTURER (CONT’D)
Cabbage Patch Dolls, this year’s
must-have children’s toy. Every
one a unique individual.
He takes out another Cabbage Patch Doll. It’s only very

slightly different.
LECTURER (CONT’D)
And yet...fundamentally...they
are...Jon?
JON
The same.
LECTURER
Because they have to be...?
JON
Mass produced.
LECTURER
So that...
10.
JON
The Corporation wins.
The Lecturer stares around the class nodding.
LECTURER
So that the Corporation wins.
Good.
INT. STUDENT UNION ENTERTAINMENTS OFFICE - DAY
A sign on the door says ENTS.
Jon sits with PHIL the Ents Manager, who is eating some
chips. Jon is playing him a DEMO TAPE of In Cambridge.
Phil finishes his chips and stands up.
PHIL
I don’t book cover bands.
JON
It’s not a cover!
PHIL
Yes it is. I’ve heard it before.
JON
It’s not. It’s just...it’s a
classic chord sequence. What
about the Mekons?
PHIL
They’ve got support.
JON
I could support the support?
Phil throws his chip papers in the bin.
PHIL
I don’t think you’re...
He considers.
PHIL (CONT’D)
...any good. Don’t touch
anything.
He walks out. Jon sits, brooding again. Suddenly the phone

rings. Jon looks after Phil, hesitates, then answers.
JON
(Into phone)
Ents.
11.
There is a beat and then a whispering voice answers -

startled, an American accent.
MAN (V.O.)
(Beat)
What?
JON
(Beat)
Ents?
MAN (V.O.)
(Relieved)
Oh Jesus. I thought you said
Ants. Jesus. Okay. Listen...we
woke up this morning and
Lucas...he’s gone.
JON
I’m sorry?
MAN (V.O.)
Lucas? The keyboard player?
He’s...he’s gone. We woke up
and...he’s gone. He’s just gone.
I honestly don’t know why.
Baraque thinks he’s going to kill
himself. I don’t know. It’s a
fucking mess.
Jon digests this.
JON
(Beat)
Who is this please?
MAN (V.O.)
This is Buckley. The Manager.
JON
The manager?
MAN (V.O.)
From tonight’s...
He searches for the phrase, emits a mirthless cough of

laughter.
MAN (CONT’D)
...entertainment.
Jon looks over at the Ents WALL CALENDER. Under today’s

date is written The Ghosts.
JON
The Ghosts? You’re playing
tonight?
12.
MAN
How? We have no keyboard player.
Jon hesitates. The moment hangs. Then...
JON
I play keyboards?
There is silence.
MAN
Then...YOU’RE IN!
JON
But...I don’t know any of the
songs?
MAN
Hold on.
We hear a muffled conversation on the other end of the

phone. Then...
MAN (CONT’D)
Can you play C, F and G?
JON
Yes?
MAN
Then...YOU’RE IN! Sound check at
five.
He hangs up. Jon stares ahead, shell-shocked.
CUT TO:
INT. CAMBRIDGE POLYTECHNIC - CANTEEN - EARLY EVENING
The windows of the small hall have been blacked-out with

sheets, giving it a dingy, half-lit feel. A few STUDENT
VOLUNTEERS are clearing away the tables and chairs. On a
makeshift stage a BAND are sound checking. They’re wearing
a lot of make-up, and playing awful Duran-Duran-esque
eighties synth-pop.
Jon watches, torn between disappointment at how awful the

band are and feeling excited that he’s about to join them.
They finish and he crosses to the stage.
JON
Excuse me? Are you The Ghosts?
SINGER
We’re Seona Dancing.
13.
JON
(Relieved)
You’re the support?
The Singer examines him coldly from beneath a layer of

Mascara.
JON (CONT’D)
Have The Ghosts sound-checked
yet?
SINGER
They’re not going to sound-check.
JON
Why not?
SINGER
(Shrugs)
They said they don’t sound-check.
They’re on at ten.
JON
But...I’m supposed to learn their
songs?
The band have already started another awful song. Jon

stands, wondering what he should do. Finally he sits down
to wait.
LATER
Jon sits drinking a pint, waiting as STUDENTS drift into

the hall. He checks his watch.
LATER
The place is about one-third full. Jon is still waiting.

Seona Dancing walk on stage to some applause.
SINGER
We’re Seona Dancing. This is
Scientific Minds.
Another awful song.
LATER
Seona Dancing are finishing to applause from the largely

New Romantic audience. Jon is drinking another pint.
14.
LATER
Jon sits glumly, staring at the empty stage as the

dwindling audience sit around, drinking.
Thomas Dolby’s She Blinded Me With Science plays tinnily

over the PA.
NEARBY NEW ROMANTIC STUDENT

(Yelling over the music)
Did you know that Thomas Dolby is
an actual scientist?
JON
(Yelling)
What?
NEW ROMANTIC STUDENT

(Yelling)
Thomas Dolby. He’s an ACTUAL
SCIENTIST.
Jon checks his watch again - 10.20pm.
TOILETS - LATER
Jon stands at the urinal. Suddenly we hear a huge drum-beat

begin outside in the hall - BOOM, Ba-BOOM BOOM, BOOM BOOM,
CHACKA...
Jon listens, puzzled, until he realises - it’s his band!
ON STAGE
A MIDDLE-AGED WOMAN sits playing a small, battered drum kit

- a weird, spastic shuffling beat. This is NANA.
A very YOUNG MAN stands playing bass. This is JEAN BARAQUE.
As we watch a short, furious looking man stalks out, eating

a pear. He stands in front of an odd contraption with two
metal rods projecting from it. He eats the pear, listens to
the beat. This is KLAUS FRICKE.
The audience are watching this odd trio uncertainly,

waiting for something to happen. Jon pushes his way through
them to the edge of the stage and hesitates. This is it -
this is his chance.
He starts to climb up onto the stage...
Nana and Baraque ignore him, playing relentlessly on. Klaus

glares at him but doesn’t move.
15.
Hesitantly Jon makes his way over to an old PIANO and

stares down at it. It looks like a mouth of broken teeth -
a third of the keys have been ripped off. Jon stares in
consternation at what’s left of the keyboard.
Suddenly Klaus tosses the pear aside and raises his hands
over the antenna of what is in fact a THEREMIN and begins
to play - the sound like something from a sixties sci-fi
movie - and out of the darkness of the wings someone
emerges...
He’s wearing a suit that’s too small for him and he’s doing
a weird jerking, shuffling dance to the music. But
strangest of all - he’s wearing a large FAKE HEAD. It looks
like a giant ping-pong ball, two wide bug eyes staring, a
mouth frozen into a half-smile, red lips slightly parted,
as if mildly surprised. This is FRANK KAPSBERGER.
Jon and the audience watch as the strange apparition

shambles across the stage, dancing to the beat and the
whine of the Theremin, before disappearing into the shadows
of the opposite wings.
The audience, and Jon, gawp after him.
JON’S P.O.V - Frank wheels around and dances back on stage.

As we watch his head begins to GLOW EERILY - lit by some
inner mechanism.
Then Frank lifts the mike he’s holding and begins to sing -
and it’s one of the strangest sounds you could imagine -
beautiful and ridiculous at the same time.
And suddenly the whole ramshackle song seems to fall into

place and make a kind of bizarre sense.
CLOSE ON JON’S FACE - listening to the music, transported,

overwhelmed.
JON (V.O.)
I had never heard music like this
before. And yet, it was a melody
I’d always been searching for.
Jon stares down at the butchered keyboard and tentatively

begins to play - just a little three note figure - but it
fits. He starts to play with more confidence, as the song
swells. HE’S BEEN WAITING ALL HIS LIFE FOR THIS MOMENT.
LATER
The band are finishing their last “song.” Jon is playing

for all he’s worth, lost in the music, a blissful smile on
his face.
16.
JON (V.O.)
All I wanted now was to spend the
rest of my life playing this
music.
The music crashes to a climax.
Jon gradually comes back to himself and notices what the

audience are doing...
Nothing. It’s what they’ve been doing the whole

performance. The students who have stayed are staring at
the band in silent bafflement.
Frank stares out at them. Silence. Then his head seems to

sag a little.
FRANK
(Into mike, sadly, an
American accent)
My name is Frank Kapsberger. We
are The Ghosts. This was our last
performance. Ever. Thank you.
He walks off stage.
Jon’s smile fades as the words sink in.
EXT. STUDENT UNION BUILDING - NIGHT
Jon stands watching in mute misery as the band climb into a

battered TOUR BUS. Nobody says anything to him. They drive
away. Jon stares after them.
JON (V.O.)
There was another story about
Frank’s childhood. In this
version Frank was born in...
EXT. SANTA FE - NEW MEXICO - DAY - THE PAST
SUPERED TITLES read “New Mexico, 1960.”
TRACKING SHOT - pushing Frank’s Mother and YOUNG FRANK

(five years old) as they walk, their backs to us, towards
their home - a run down bungalow. We NEVER SEE FRANK’S
FACE.
There’s a brand new GLEAMING RED MUSTANG parked to one

side.
Frank’s Father sits on the porch, wearing mechanics

overalls, drinking a beer.
17.
Both parents are DIFFERENT PEOPLE to those we saw at the

beginning of the film.
Young Frank peels away from his mother and runs OUT OF
FRAME as she continues on up to her husband.
MOTHER
Saw the doctor.
Frank’s Father slugs his beer and doesn’t answer.
MOTHER (CONT’D)
He said he’s got...
She hesitates, takes out a scrap of paper.
MOTHER (CONT’D)
(Reading)
Anthropophobia.
FATHER
He’s got what?
MOTHER
He’s afraid of people.
FATHER
What people?
MOTHER
All people.
The Father shakes his head in disgust.
FATHER
Jesus Christ. How the fuck did he
get that?
He notices something.
FATHER (CONT’D)
(Yelling)
Hey! I just got her simonized!
Young Frank stands, his back to us, staring at the car in

admiration. He reaches out a tentative hand.
FATHER (CONT’D)
Get the hell away from her!
He picks up a stone and throws it at his son. Frank takes a

few paces back from the car without turning.
Frank’s father, shakes his head in disgust again.
FATHER (CONT’D)
Jesus Christ.
18.
EXT. ZOO - DAY - THE PAST
FOUR-YEAR-OLD FRANK, his back to us, stares at a LION,

while frantically doing something with his hands.
A STRANGER passes. He looks like a European beatnik

intellectual.
He stops and stares at Frank’s hands.
CLOSE on Frank’s hands. He has fashioned a beautiful PLAY-

DOH SCULPTURE of a LION.
STRANGER
Did you make that?
JON (V.O.)
Pierre D’Antibes was a famous
French artist who hosted a TV
show called Your Tuesday Art
Bonanza. Everyone used to watch
it.
PIERRE D’ANTIBES
(Conspiratorially,)
I know the people who run this
zoo. Would you like me to fix it
so that you can sit INSIDE the
cages whilst you sculpt? To get a
better view of the animals?
Young Frank quickly and anxiously shakes his head no.
PIERRE D’ANTIBES (CONT’D)

Of course you wouldn’t. If you
did that, the animals would kill
you. I’m an idiot. Would you like
to be on television?
Young Frank quickly and anxiously shakes his head no.

Frank’s father steps into view.
DAD
Would there be a fee involved in
that?
PIERRE D’ANTIBES
I would think so.
DAD
Then, yes he would. Very much so.
YOUNG FRANK
(Becoming hysterical)
I don’t want to! I don’t want to!
19.
DAD
He does want to!
Young Frank - his back still to us - BURSTS INTO TEARS.
YOUNG FRANK
(Hysterically)
DON’T MAKE ME!
INT. TV STUDIO - DAY - THE PAST
All eyes are on Young Frank. He’s sitting in a chair

opposite Pierre D’Antibes. He’s wearing a suit and a bow-
tie.
He’s in FLOODS OF TEARS although nobody seems to care.
With one hand he’s COVERING HIS FACE. With his other hand
he’s DEXTROUSLY FASHIONING A PLAY-DOH SCULPTURE.
Two TV cameras are filming his every move. The STUDIO

AUDIENCE and Pierre D’Antibes silently watch, absorbed.
JON (V.O.)
Against his wishes Frank ended up
being the resident Child Animal
Sculptor on Your Tuesday Art
Bonanza. He appeared every week.
For seven years.
YOUNG FRANK
(Sobbing hysterically)
HERE! HERE it is!
He holds up a BEAUTIFUL PLAY-DOH SCULPTURE of an ELEPHANT.
Pierre D’Antibes and the studio audience sombrely and

enthusiastically applaud.
JON (V.O.)
Until his legs were long enough
to reach the pedals.
EXT. SANTA FE - NEW MEXICO - MORNING
Frank’s Father walks out onto the porch in his shorts and
picks up the newspaper. He’s about to walk back in when he
notices something - the Mustang IS GONE - only a little oil
patch left where once his pride and joy stood.
He SCREAMS.
20.
EXT. ROAD - MORNING
The ELEVEN YEAR OLD FRANK, his back to us, is driving the
Mustang towards an open horizon.
INT. PNR MARKETING - CONFERENCE ROOM - LONDON - DAY
SUPERED TITLES READ: London, 1983.
A bland 1980’s corporate conference room. FOUR MIDDLE-AGED

BUSINESSMEN sit in a row behind a conference table,
waiting.
BUSINESSMAN 1
So our contract goes to someone
who’s only been here 10 months?
BUSINESSMAN 2
(Shrugging)
Ken says he’s good. He said he’s
a marketing prodigy.
Through the glass wall of the office they watch Jon,

wearing a suit, walking purposely towards them with a
fellow ADVERTISING EXEC. Jon is carrying a large briefcase.
BUSINESSMAN 1
Is that him? He’s twelve years
old.
Jon and the advertising exec enter. Jon looks slick,

professional, confident, but there’s a sadness there too.
This is not how he wanted his life to turn out.
He opens his briefcase and pulls out a large bottle of

ACID. He slams it dramatically onto the table, stares at
it.
JON
Up and down the country young
people like me will soon be
prepared to plunge their hands
into bowls of acid. Sounds
improbable?
Jon has their attention.
JON (CONT’D)
I’m Jon Finch. And I know what
you’re thinking. You’re thinking
“What can this kid possibly
contribute to the marketing of
BCMA Chemicals and Acids?
(MORE)
21.
JON (CONT’D)
What does he even know about
chemicals and acids?” Let me
answer that one.
The TELEPHONE rings. Everyone ignores it.
JON (CONT'D)
I don’t know anything about acid.
But I do know the kids. And
that’s how I know this...
Jon pulls out of his case a pair of typically ‘80s ACID-

WASHED JEANS.
JON (CONT'D)
These jeans have been plunged
into acid by a young person who’s
ahead of the game, fashion-wise.
The businessmen look intrigued.
The phone keeps RINGING.
The advertising exec sighs, shoots everyone an apologetic

look, and picks it up.
ADVERTISING EXEC
(Quietly)
Hello?
BUSINESSMAN 1
Why will young people want to
plunge their jeans into acid?
JON
Because they’ll think it will
express their individuality in a
conformist world. You’re asking
the wrong question. The right
question is - how do we ensure
they’ll plunge their hands into
BCMA Acids?
ADVERTISING EXEC
(Interrupting)
I’m sorry. Jon, it’s your mother.
She says it’s an emergency.
JON
(Startled)
My mother?
Jon looks worried. He takes the phone.
JON (CONT’D)
Mum?
22.
BUCKLEY (V.O.)
(In a strange, whispery,
American voice)
It’s me. Buckley. I put on a
woman’s voice.
JON
(Beat)
Um...
BUCKLEY (V.O.)
Lucas finally showed up, after,
like, a year, going “PLEASE take
me back!” Klaus fired him on the
spot.
JON
Uh...
BUCKLEY (V.O.)
He told Lucas to lick his ass.
(Adopting a German accent)
“Lick my ass!” (Beat)
So we need a keyboard player. And
Frank said “Remember that
grateful looking boy who jumped
up onto the stage uninvited in
Cambridge.”
JON
I wasn’t uninvited. You invited
me.
The businessmen look impatiently at Jon.
BUCKLEY (V.O.)
Frank said he thought you brought
something cherishable that night.
He can sound quite muffled under
the head and so the rest of us
thought he said you brought
something perishable. Like - you
know - food that decays easily.
Fish or fruit. So we all said,
“Anyone can do THAT.” But then
the confusion was cleared up and
we all agreed to let you join.
So. Are you in?
Jon looks around at the soul-destroying blandness of the

conference room.
JON
(Whispering)
Yes.
23.
BUCKLEY (V.O.)
Good.
He hangs up. Jon, shell-shocked, puts down the phone.
BUSINESSMAN 1
(Impatiently)
So...?
The phone rings again. Jon picks it up.
BUCKLEY (V.O.)
I forgot to tell you where to
meet them.
JON
(Relieved)
I know.
BUCKLEY (V.O.)
Heston Services on the M4 at 5pm.
Bring a passport.
He hangs up. Jon takes one look at the businessmen. Then -

without another word - he walks out of the conference room.
INT. CORRIDOR - CONTINUOUS
We hear the jubilant strings of Stravisnky’s Petrouchka.

Jon’s shell-shocked face breaks into a dazed smile as he
walks purposefully down the corridor, passing dull work
cubicle after dull work cubicle, towards the EXIT.
One of Jon’s COLLEAGUES looks up from his cubicle.
COLLEAGUE
Where are you going?
Jon doesn’t slow down.
JON
To join a BAND!
He gives a triumphant, devil-may-care LAUGH, arrives at the

lifts. Stabs the button. Waits. His Colleague is still
watching him. Jon gives the devil-may-care laugh again, a
little less convincingly. Waits for the lift...
EXT. CAR PARK - HESTON SERVICES - CONTINUOUS
As the music continues we stare at a wall of fog and

drizzle.
24.
As we watch, two headlights appear, glowing faintly in the

gloom and out of the fog drives the Ghost’s battered TOUR
BUS, come to save us.
REVERSE
Jon watches with a mixture of excitement and nervousness as

the tour bus drives towards him.
It pulls up and the door slides open. We can’t see inside.
JON
(Burbling)
Hi. Hello. I wasn’t sure where to
wait. Heston’s pretty
labyrinthine, isn’t it? I was
going to wait next to the Lloyds
cashpoint. In the Westbound car
park. Near the RAC membership
stall?
No answer issues from the van. After a moment Jon climbs

in. The doors close and the van sets off once more.
INT. TOUR BUS - AFTERNOON
THE MUSIC CONTINUES. Jon sits in the front beside DON

TEAGUE - driver, roadie and sound engineer. He’s a good-
looking, blonde, Californian surfer. Compared to the rest
of the band he looks reassuringly normal.
Behind Jon sit Nana, Baraque and Klaus in all their

compelling, alarming, silent, intense other-worldliness.
And in the back, still wearing his FAKE HEAD, is Frank.
Jon sits, nervous and thrilled, off on the biggest

adventure of his life.
BARAQUE
(Suddenly, French
accent)
I need to go to the toilet.
KLAUS
(In an unexpectedly
intense, furious German
shout)
THEN YOU SHOULD HAVE GONE AT
HESTON!
Silence resumes.
25.
EXT. MOTORWAY - AFTERNOON
The bus hurtles through the gloom.
EXT. FERRY PORT - EVENING
The bus is loading onto a Ferry.
EXT. FERRY - EVENING
The ferry is crossing the North Sea.
Don stands on deck at the rails, smoking. Jon stands beside

him, staring back to the tour bus. After a moment Don puts
out his hand.
DON
Don.
Jon shakes it gratefully.
JON
(Beat)
Jon. (Beat) Can I ask...where are
we going Don?
DON
We’re going to Sweden, Jon.
JON
Okay.
DON
What do you think of Frank?
JON
Um...
DON
He’s fucking amazing isn’t he?
He stares out to sea.
DON (CONT’D)
I wanna be him.
JON
(Beat. Carefully)
Don? Can I ask...the head...?
DON
He never takes it off.
Jon thinks about this, impressed.

26.
JON
Never?
DON
Never.
JON
What about in the shower?
Don squints through the smoke at the black sea beyond.
DON
He wears a plastic bag over it in
the shower.
JON
(Still impressed)
How does he breathe when he’s
wearing the plastic bag?
DON
He cuts little breathing holes
into the bag.
JON
What about eating?
DON
He sucks liquid food through a
straw that he funnels up under
the neckline.
JON
What kind of liquid food?
DON
Complan.
JON
How does he clean his teeth?
Don sighs.
DON
You’re just going to have to go
with this, Jon.
JON
I’m sorry. I’m just...it’s
pretty crazy, isn’t it?
He laughs nervously.
DON
(Smiling)
I understand.
(MORE)
27.
DON (CONT'D)
But let me tell you something -
Frank is, without a doubt, the
most one hundred percent sanest
cat I ever met.
JON
Okay.
DON
Believe it. (Beat) Me, on the
other hand...
He laughs. Jon joins in.
JON
Oh, well...you seem pretty sane
to me.
Don nods, stares out at the sea, smiling.
DON
Yeah. (Beat) But no, seriously, I
am mentally ill. Spent a lot of
time in a psychiatric hospital.
Jon’s smile fades.
JON
Right.
DON
I used to fuck mannequins.
JON
(Beat)
Right.
The Stravinksy bursts into life again.
EXT. SWEDISH ROAD - DAWN
The van drives through a snowy landscape, the sun rising on

the horizon.
INT. VAN - EARLY MORNING
Jon is in the back of the van now. The rest of the band are
snoozing. He screws up the courage to turn to Frank who
sits behind him, staring out of the window.
JON
I just wanted to say thanks.
Frank’s great round head turns to face him with it’s frozen
smile.
28.
JON (CONT’D)
For giving me the job. (Beat)
When I played with you, last
time? That was the happiest
moment of my life. Ever since
then all I’ve thought about is
playing live with you again.
Frank’s painted eyes seem to examine him.
FRANK
Good.
JON
When is the next gig?
FRANK
Oh...soon?
TURNER (V.O.)
This was...?
INT. HOTEL ROOM - THE PRESENT
Middle-aged Jon ponders Turner’s question.
JON
February, ‘Eighty three.
TURNER
And your next live performance
was in...?
JON
April. (Beat) Nineteen eighty
five
TURNER
(Beat)
What were you all doing for two
years?
Jon smiles, remembering.
JON
Vetno.
EXT. “VETNO” - SWEDEN - MORNING
A beautiful, enormous, weird wooden house stands in snowy

grounds - something from a fairy tale.
Supered Titles read: Vetno.

29.
The band stare at it. Klaus is wearing a deerstalker hat.

Frank stands in front of the house. He raises his arms in
joy.
KLAUS
You own this?
FRANK
My own land.
KLAUS
How?
FRANK
Buckley said it really wasn’t
that expensive.
INT. VETNO - MINUTES LATER
The band walk through the amazing house, taking it all in.
Jon walks alongside them, examining the others as much as
his surroundings.
JON (V.O.)
It was at Vetno that I first
really got to know the band. My
background in marketing meant I
was good at instantly
categorizing people. Klaus, for
example...
INT. VETNO - THE PAST
Klaus is setting up his Theremin. Jon hovers watching.

After a moment he takes a step towards Klaus.
KLAUS
(Shrieking)
STAY AWAY FROM MY FUCKING
THEREMIN!
Jon takes a startled step backwards.
JON (V.O.)
...Klaus was a furious German.
EXT. VETNO - THE PAST
Klaus is playing the Theremin in the snow outside the

house, a power extension running back inside.
Jon watches through the window, listening to the pure,

beautiful music he’s making.
30.
Klaus looks peaceful, tender, lost in the sounds.
JON (V.O.)
But when he was playing the
Theremin, he could be as gentle a
little child. Like Hitler with
his pet dog Blondi.
PHOTOGRAPH OF YOUNG KLAUS
...long blonde hair, a trench coat, standing in a West

Berlin street, glaring at the camera.
JON (V.O.)
Klaus said his youth had been
spent in various criminal gangs
on the streets of West Berlin. He
also claimed to have had links
with the second wave of the
Baader Meinhof.
EXT. VETNO - DAY
Baraque is chopping wood.
JON (V.O.)
Baraque the bass player had inner
demons. But less interesting
inner demons then Klaus’s.
INT. PARIS CONSERVATOIRE - THE PAST
LONG SHOT
An orchestra is playing before us.
JON (V.O.)
Baraque was a classically trained
musician, driven by ambitious
parents into an early breakdown.
A tiny figure in the sea of musicians - the double bassist -

suddenly collapses and lies shrieking on the floor. It’s
Baraque.
Gradually the whole orchestra grinds to a halt around him.
EXT. PARIS STREET - THE PAST
A STUDENT DEMONSTRATION is turning ugly, the crowd

chanting, smashing shop windows...
31.
JON (V.O.)
So he rebelled against the world
of classical music, got a new
job.
RIOT POLICE appear, leading a baton charge, savagely

beating the protestors. We find BARAQUE amongst them, face
averted in fear and loathing, baton held effetely...
We FREEZE FRAME on the image.
JON (V.O.) (CONT'D)

But it wasn’t really him.
LATER
The broken aftermath of the riot. An ELECTRIC BASS lies

half-out of a shattered shop window.
JON (V.O.)
Frank met him in a raid on a porn
cinema and persuaded him to
return to music.
Baraque’s RIOT POLICE-GLOVED HAND enters the FRAME and

longingly strokes the bass.
INT. VETNO - DAY
Nana is assembling her drum-kit in the corner of the room.

She’s in her 40s.
Jon watches.
JON (V.O.)
Nana...
LATER
Nana is playing the drums - the kind of odd, jagged, primal

beat that she loves.
JON (V.O.)
Nana didn’t have a back-story.
She was just an ex-IBM programmer
who liked to play the drums.
Frank walks past. Jon watches him go.
INT. HOTEL - THE PRESENT
Turner adjusts the position of the dictaphone a little.

32.
TURNER
What about Frank?
Jon stares at the dictaphone, tries to think of an answer.
JON
Frank...
The moment hangs...
INT. VETNO - DAY
We hold on Jon’s face trying to work out what Frank was.
JON (V.O.)
Frank was...
A long silence.
INT. VETNO - THE PAST - NIGHT
Jon lies in his little Scandinavian bedroom, unable to

sleep. Moonlight pours in through the window.
From outside comes a sudden CRY. Silence. Then another

muffled shout of distress.
Jon sits up, looks out the window.
EXT. VETNO - NIGHT
Jon comes out the back door of the house wearing his coat
and boots but no trousers. Don rushes past him, NAKED,
chased by Frank, heading for the tree-line at the bottom of
the grounds and the frozen river beyond.
FRANK
Don! Stop, Don! (To Jon) Help me!
Don’t let him get to the river!
Jon runs after them, chasing Don as he zig-zags across the

grass, but he’s too slow to catch him. Don shakes him off
and is almost at the river when Frank stoops and picks up a
lump of WOOD and hurls it at him. It catches Don on the
side of the head and he spins to the ground, rolling over
and over in the snow.
ON DON
...as he lies crying. Frank is the first to reach him and

drops to his knees beside him, cradling Don’s head,
checking he isn’t badly hurt by the wood.
33.
FRANK (CONT’D)
You’re okay, Don. Let’s get you
in. It’s cold.
Jon arrives, looks questioningly at Frank.
FRANK (CONT’D)
He gets bad dreams.
DON
(Crying)
Let me do it! I don’t wanna be
me, Frank! I’m nothing!
FRANK
(A fierce whisper)
You’re not nothing. You’re
special. You’re special.
Jon stands watching the two, touched. Perhaps a little

envious.
INT. VETNO - LIVING ROOM - LATER
Jon and Frank sit by the fire. Frank is smoking with the
aid of a long CIGARETTE HOLDER.
FRANK
Thank’s for the help.
JON
Will he be alright?
FRANK
I hope so. (Beat) He breaks my
heart. He’s had so little love.
(Beat) Did he tell you about the
mannequins?
JON
Uh, yes. He did.
FRANK
(Sadly)
I met one once. Caroline Cuntley.
He inserts the long cigarette holder into his “mouth.”
JON
What’s it like in there?
FRANK
It’s white. Peaceful.
34.
JON
How do you do it? How do you
think of all that music?
FRANK
I don’t know. It just comes to
me.
JON
Have you always been musical?
FRANK
No. The first time I sang was for
Art Kootz in the Reeperbahn, in
Hamburg. He was kind of a bum,
and he was my first friend. And
then he died.
INT. FLOP HOUSE - REEPERBAHN DISTRICT - THE PAST
An old man, Art Kootz, lies dying in bed.
ART KOOTZ
I’m dying, Frankie. I’m dying and
you still won’t take off that
stupid head.
Frank stands at the end of the bed. He says nothing.
ART KOOTZ (CONT’D)

All my life I wondered what it
would feel like to die. And now I
know. Do you want to know what it
feels like?
Frank says nothing.

It feels like...
A tear rolls down his cheek.

...It feels like being a child,
and you’ve done something really
bad, and you’re about to get into
the worst trouble for it. It
feels scary.
He wipes his face.

I’m scared Frankie.
Frank takes an anxious step backwards.

35.
FRANK
(Awkwardly, trying to
sound relaxed)
It’ll be okay.
ART KOOTZ
Help me, Frankie. I don’t wanna
die. Help me.
Frank stands there. Then, hesitantly, he starts to sing. It

is a weird, unearthly, bizarre, haunting sound. Art looks
bewildered.
Frank starts to dance too, a jerky trembling dance. It is

at once beautiful and ridiculous.
Art breaks into a baffled, amused, beguiled smile.

What the fuck?
And then he dies.
INT. VETNO - LIVING ROOM - AS BEFORE
Frank stares at the fire.
FRANK
It felt like I’d helped. (Beat)
How are you doing?
JON
I’m okay. (Beat) I’m a little
scared.
FRANK
What are you scared of, Jon?
JON
(Shyly)
I don’t know. It’s weird when you
first meet you, the way you
just...stare?
FRANK
When I first met you? I wasn’t
staring. I was giving you a
welcoming smile. Like this.
Frank appears to STARE EERILY at Jon.
JON
(Doubtfully)
Okay.
36.
FRANK
If you want I could say my facial
expressions out loud?
JON
Really?
FRANK
Determined nod. I don’t want you
to be scared Jon. I’m very
excited that you’ve joined the
band.
JON
Really?
FRANK
Yes. We’ve never had someone
ordinary before.
Jon’s smile slips. He knows it was meant well, but it’s a

dagger in his heart.
FRANK (CONT’D)
You’re the final vital piece of
the puzzle. Now you’re with us, I
can proceed with the plan.
JON
What plan?
FRANK
Mysterious smile.
INT. VETNO - THE KITCHEN - MORNING
Frank addresses the gathered band and Don.
FRANK
A year ago The Ghosts came to an
end. It seemed to me we had taken
a wrong turn somewhere. We were
lost. Now I have my bearings. I
want us to start again. In this
house, in Vetno, in my own land,
I want us to create a new kind of
music, music that will reach out
and touch millions of people.
Klaus stares at Frank.
KLAUS
What? Touch what?
37.
FRANK
People find us strange, Klaus.
They don’t understand us. What
we’ve done so far is baffle a
small number of people.
BARAQUE
Mais, nos spectateurs...
FRANK
We don’t have an audience, Jean!
We have people who stumble upon
us and discover they don’t like
us. I want us to reach into the
farthest corners of our
imagination and find a music that
everyone will like, as opposed to
not understand. I want us to
be...popular.
Klaus looks like he’s just been slapped.
KLAUS
(Quietly)
Oh, you filthy bastard.
Don, ever Frank’s supporter, nods loyally.
DON
Well, alright!
KLAUS
(To Frank)
Fuck you!
FRANK
Pained expression. Klaus...
Klaus jumps to his feet, his chair clattering to the floor.
KLAUS
Fuck your “Klaus!” And FUCK YOU!
FRANK
Will you just...?
DON
You wanna restrain your, uh,
addresses to Frank, Klaus?
KLAUS
(Turning on him)
Lick my ass! Lick my fucking ass!
38.
DON
I come over there I’m going to
kick your fucking ass, you Kraut
motherfucker.
FRANK
(Overlapping)
Don, thank you, but that’s not...
KLAUS
(To Frank)
We’re finished, you and me, you
shit pig! You beg me to come
back, for what? For this? I will
never - NEVER - be popular!
He walks to the door.
FRANK
(Wearily)
Where are you going, Klaus?
KLAUS
Home! To make the first in a long
fucking series of letter bombs
which you will find yourself the
principle recipient of.
He opens the door and is hit by an icy blast of snow-storm.

With difficulty he closes the door again, and rests his
head against it, breathing hard. Nobody says anything for a
while. Finally...
FRANK
At least let me play you a song
from the new direction.
Reasonable smile.
LIVING ROOM - LATER
The band sit around listening to Frank playing one of the

“new songs” on the keyboard.
It’s every bit as BIZARRE and DIFFICULT and UN-POPULIST as

anything they’ve played before.
It’s the first time Jon’s heard Frank’s music since the
gig, a year ago. He is as transfixed as he was then.
Frank finishes.
FRANK
(Excited)
What do you think?
Klaus stares at Frank.

39.
KLAUS
This is the new direction?
FRANK
Yes.
Klaus doesn’t show a thing on his face.
KLAUS
(Beat)
People will love it.
Frank raises his hands above his head in jubilation.
INT. VETNO - LIVING ROOM - EVENING
Frank and Klaus sit in a dark room, illuminated only by

some candles. They’re working on the new songs in their
usual combative manner. Jon watches from the doorway.
KLAUS
(Counting out a rhythm)
Taa-da-ta-da-Tah! No! What are
you doing?
FRANK
If we double it there...
KLAUS
No! I told you the rhythm!
It’s...
FRANK
If you’d listen.
KLAUS
Play it like I said! Tah-da-ta-da-
Tah!
FRANK
Klaus, will you just listen
to...?
Klaus kicks over his chair.
KLAUS
I can’t work like this! This is
impossible!
He notices Jon in the doorway.
KLAUS (CONT’D)
What do you want?
40.
JON
(Nervously)
Nothing.
FRANK
We’re writing a song Jon.
JON
Shall I put the lights on?
KLAUS
Fuck off.
FRANK
(Gently)
We like to work in the dark, Jon.
JON
Oh. (Gathering his courage) Maybe
I could help?
The two stare at him.
LATER
Frank is playing on a Xylophone.
FRANK
Klaus!
Klaus improvises an amazing Theremin solo.
FRANK (CONT’D)
Yes! Jon!
Jon freezes up, stares at the keyboard.
FRANK (CONT’D)
Listen to the music in the
farthest corners of your
imagination!
Jon continues to stare at the keyboard, hands hovering

above the keys, a rabbit in the headlights. The song falls
apart, grinds to silence. Beat.
KLAUS
(Disgusted)
Now, will you let us get on with
our work?
Jon blushes with shame.

41.
INT. VETNO - KITCHEN - DAY
Jon is busy making a stew, with potatoes. Klaus enters and

spots the potatoes.
KLAUS
What’s this?
JON
Potatoes.
KLAUS
(Indicating the stew)
And what’s THIS?
JON
(Beat)
Stew?
KLAUS
You’re making us brain dead with
your vegetables you dreary old
woman.
JON
(Mystified)
It’s just a stew, Klaus. It’s
hearty.
KLAUS
You’re mentally ill. You belong
in an asylum! Someone needs to
punch you in the face. Perry Como
eats stew while he sits in his
ROCKING CHAIR LOOKING AT HIS
CHRISTMAS DECORATIONS. Is that
the music you want us to make?
Jon blinks.
JON
No.
Klaus steps in close.
KLAUS
I write the songs with Frank.
Keep the fuck away from him.
JON
I don’t know what you’re talking
about, Klaus?
KLAUS
Lick my ass! Bourgeois monkey.
42.
He starts to walk out. Jon gathers his courage.
JON
Fuck you.
Klaus stops, turns.
KLAUS
What did you say?
JON
Why don’t you help me instead of
criticising all the time? I’m
trying to be creative. I’m trying
to reach the furthest corners of
my imagination.
KLAUS
You want to know where your
furthest corners are?
Klaus walks right up to Jon and waves his hand an inch in

front of his face.
KLAUS (CONT’D)
Right there! And you know where
mine and Frank’s furthest corners
are?
Klaus opens the back door and runs out into the snow, he
keeps running until he’s far, far away.
KLAUS (CONT’D)
(Yelling)
...here!
Jon stands at the back door.
JON
(Yelling emotionally)
You’re WRONG! My imagination DOES
have far corners.
KLAUS
(Yelling)
Lick my ass!
JON
(Yelling)
I CAN write a song!
INT. VETNO - HALLWAY - MORNING
Jon furtively searches through the mail, grabs a PACKAGE

and runs up the stairs with it.
43.
INT. VETNO - BEDROOM - DAY
Jon opens the package to reveal a CASSETTE TAPE, which is

titled: Unlock The Creative Giant Within You by Tom
Holland. Jon puts the tape into his tape deck...
LATER THAT NIGHT
Jon lies on his bed, listening.
TOM HOLLAND (O.S.)

(Over tape deck)
Creative people like you can see
solutions where other less
creative people don’t even
realize there’s a problem!
Take everyday activities like
shaving.
INT. VETNO - BATHROOM - LATER
Jon’s is rubbing shaving foam onto his face.
TOM HOLLAND (O.S.)

How often does someone who is
using a traditional wet razor
stop to consider whether instead
of moving the razor it might be
easier to keep the razor still
and move the face?
He begins to shave in this radical, creative new way -

keeping the razor still whilst moving his face.
INT. OUTSIDE BATHROOM - CONTINUOUS
Klaus stands waiting for the bathroom. From inside we

suddenly hear Jon give an UNUSUAL SHRIEK of pain. Klaus
listens, INTRIGUED.
JON (O.S.)
(From bathroom)
Oh...God!
Klaus hums the notes of the shriek to himself.
INT. VETNO - LIVING ROOM - DAY
The band stand around as Klaus plays a THEREMIN SOLO that’s

obviously been inspired by the UNUSUAL SHRIEK Jon let out.
44.
FRANK
(Solemnly)
I love it Klaus.
KLAUS
I call it The Idiot Shriek.
JEAN BARAQUE
(Murmuring)
C’est tres belle.
Jon watches bitterly, his face tufted with tissue to

staunch the blood from many cuts.
The band have finished a meal. Nana is READING THE TEA-

LEAVES in Baraque’s cup.
NANA
I see new beginnings, Jean.
JEAN BARAQUE
Avec le musique?
NANA
Yes, musically, but also with
relationships. Someone whose name
begins with L?
JEAN BARAQUE
Mon pere?
Nana pats his hand sympathetically.
NANA
Perhaps it’s time to mend things
with the family?
Jon has been watching with interest.
JON
Would you read mine Nana?
Nana takes his cup, turns it three times then turns it

upside down to drain the last of the tea. She turns it over
again and looks at the leaves.
NANA’S P.O.V - The leaves form a DISTINCT AND SINISTER

SKULL.
She looks at Jon, afraid.

45.
JON (CONT’D)
(Smiling)
What? What can you see? Is it
good?
Nana doesn’t answer. Baraque peers into the cup.
JEAN BARAQUE
(Nervously)
C’est mort.
JON
(Bemused)
Who’s Mort?
A PHONE rings somewhere in the house. The band stare at

each other in amazement.
KLAUS
We have a phone?
INT. CUPBOARD - UPSTAIRS HALLWAY - MOMENTS LATER
Darkness. A door opens and Jon appears peering in. He finds

the RINGING PHONE under an old blanket and answers it.
JON
Hello?
We hear breathing, and then the whispery voice of Buckley.
BUCKLEY (O.S.)
(Beat)
Hello?
JON
Buckley?
BUCKLEY (O.S.)
Yes?
JON
(Beat)
It’s Jon.
BUCKLEY (O.S.)
What do you want?
JON
(Beat)
You rang us, Buckley.
BUCKLEY (O.S.)
I want to speak to a member of
the band.
46.
JON
I am a member of the band.
Beat. Buckley sighs.
BUCKLEY (O.S.)
So be it. There’s been a mistake.
The house you’re in? The house I
bought for you, because it was so
very cheap?
JON
Yes?
BUCKLEY (O.S.)
You have to get out.
JON
(Beat)
What?
BUCKLEY (O.S.)
(Hissing)
Get out!
The band has convened.
A small pile of hats, each a different colour, lies on the

table. Klaus eyes them suspiciously.
JON
It’s from Unlocking The Creative
Giant Within You by Tom Holland.
FRANK
Alright.
JON
So. When you want to talk about
hunches and instincts you put on
a red hat. When you want to list
the advantages of a project, you
put on a yellow hat. When you’re
playing Devil’s advocate, you put
on a black hat. See? Six
different hats for six different
types of thought. Richard Branson
uses it during his thinking
sessions with his top advisors.
FRANK
Okay. Intrigued nod.
47.
KLAUS
Your idea revolts me.
FRANK
(Sighing)
Oh Klaus! Pained frow...
KLAUS
Stop saying your fucking facial
expressions out loud! It’s
incredibly annoying.
FRANK
(Beat)
Okay.
KLAUS
(To Jon)
You bring the idea into the house
like a dog shitting on the grass
and then a baby wipes the shit in
its eyes and catches
toxoplasmosis and goes blind.
JON
(A small voice)
You’re playing Devil’s advocate,
Klaus, which really means you
should...
KLAUS
(Sharply)
Should what?
JON
(Even smaller)
...put on the...black hat?
Klaus stares at Jon. He puts on his DEERSTALKER.
KLAUS
This hat has no meaning.
FRANK
What coloured hat should I wear
for a painful admission?
JON
Well, the white hat denotes
facts...?
Frank puts on the white hat. It balances precariously atop

his giant head.
48.
FRANK
So. When I told you this house
wasn’t so expensive and we’d
bought it? It would seem the
amount of money we paid for this
house, didn’t actually purchase
it. In fact we only rented the
house for a month. And now we
don’t have any more money. And
the owner wants us to get out.
A long silence as the news sinks in.
DON
The album’s not finished.
KLAUS
The album’s not fucking started!
We haven’t recorded one note!
BARAQUE
What are we going to do?
Everyone looks at Frank. Pause. Suddenly Jon picks up the

green hat and puts it on. They turn to look at him.
BARAQUE (CONT’D)
What does green mean?
JON
Announcements. (Beat) I can pay.
They stare at him..
JON (CONT’D)
My parents always said I should
accumulate a nest egg. And I have
accumulated a nest egg. And I
want you to have my nest egg.
They stare at him in silence.
FRANK
(Softly)
Can you hear it?
JON
(Beat)
What?
FRANK
There’s music playing. Can you
hear it?
He cocks a hand to his painted ear.

49.
FRANK (CONT’D)
(Whispering)
Can you hear it?
Despite themselves the others find themselves listening

intently.
FRANK (CONT’D)
That’s the music the whole world
is going to love! LET’S MAKE
THIS ALBUM! Ecstatic
expression!
We hear the opening of Stravinsky’s Concerto for violin and

Orchestra, Tocato as we...
CUT TO:
MONTAGE
INT. VETNO - DAY
As the music continues we see the band have set up and are
playing in the living room.
TURNER (V.O.)
There are a lot of legends about
the regime at Vetno.
JON (V.O.)
Yes. Frank’s idea was that we had
to start again with this album.
Re-learn everything from scratch.
Jon is in seventh heaven, playing along.
Frank is writing out a strange kind of musical NOTATION on

a white board for the band to see.
JON (V.O.)
We created an entirely new
musical notation system...
EXT. VETNO - DAY
Klaus and Baraque are making a strange MUSICAL INSTRUMENT,

involving glass bowls hanging from a wooden bow.
JON (V.O.)
...designed and built new musical
instruments...
50.
INT. OUTSIDE BEDROOM - DAY
The band queue outside the room for their daily Gestalt
Therapy Session.
JON (V.O.)
...and deconstructed everything
about our lives.
We can hear Klaus inside yelling at Nana.
KLAUS (O.S.)
(Yelling)
You fat old whore! You useless
bitch! Why are you so fucking
ugly? Dragging around like a
broken sow pig!
The door opens and Nana walks out, smoking and unruffled.
Klaus waves in his next victim, looking like a dentist. A
nervous-looking Jon enters the bedroom. Klaus gives a small
smile of anticipation as he closes the door.
INT. VETNO - NIGHT
Looking through the lighted windows to the band practising

the same complicated five second sequence...
FRANK
Again!
Again...
JON (V.O.)
We worked on the twelve new
songs, eight hours a day, for a
year and eleven months.
FRANK
Again!
And again...
EXT. VETNO - DAY
The band jog around the house.
KLAUS
(To Frank - as they run)
I can feel someone thinking in
the key of C.
51.
FRANK
(Calling, as he runs)
Klaus can feel someone thinking
in the key of C!
NANA
(As she runs)
It’s not me.
BARAQUE
(As he runs)
Il n’est pas moi.
JON
(As he runs)
It’s me.
Klaus runs over to Jon and UNEXPECTEDLY PUNCHES HIM IN THE

FACE.
JON (V.O.) (CONT'D)

At times tensions ran pretty
high.
The other band members pull him off.
EXT. VETNO - EVENING
LOW ANGLE - The house under a glowering sky. As we watch

Don comes out of the front door naked and begins to run
across the snow towards us, moaning.
Frank runs after him, catches him just as he reaches us,

holds him in his arms.
FRANK
It’s okay. It’s going to be okay.
The music ends.
END OF MONTAGE
INT. UPSTAIRS HALLWAY - VETNO - DAY
Jon is on the phone.
JON
No, mum, they didn’t FORCE...
Look. I also don’t know why Frank
asked me to join the band but I’m
sure it wasn’t to extort my nest
egg out of me. They didn’t even
know I HAD a nest egg when they
asked me to join the band...
(MORE)
52.
JON (CONT'D)
I GAVE THEM THE NEST EGG OF MY
OWN ACCORD. Look I’ve got to go.
Bye.
Jon hangs up. He shudders. He hears the sounds of RUNNING

WATER from a nearby room. Something about it pricks his
interest. He wanders towards the door - it is open a crack.
Inside, someone is having a SHOWER.
Nervously, voyeuristically, Jon pushes the door open...
FRANK’S ROOM - CONTINUOUS
Jon slips into the bedroom. It’s empty. The sound of

running water comes from the en-suite bathroom.
Jon stops, staring at something: Frank’s HEAD sits on a

chair beside the bed.
Jon hesitates and then picks up the head. He peers inside

the empty head, fascinated. He crosses to a mirror and
stands, the HEAD raised above his own. Slowly he begins to
lower the false head down over his own face - then he
freezes. Something has just occurred to him. If the head if
out here and Frank is in the bathroom...
He puts the head down and creeps towards the open bathroom
door...
JON’S P.O.V
Someone’s in the shower - obscured by the steamed up

cubicle door.
Jon peers closer, trying to pierce the fog and finally see
Frank’s true face.
Suddenly the cubicle door opens and Frank steps out -

naked...
...except he’s still WEARING HIS HEAD. He has a clear

plastic bag over it, with breathing holes.
Jon is too surprised to hide and the two men stand staring
at each other.
JON
Hello.
FRANK
(Beat)
Are you okay?
Jon tries to think of something to say.

53.
JON
(Nervously)
I’ve been working on a song. Can
I...can I play it for you?
INT. VETNO - BEDROOM - DAY
Jon is playing his song for Frank and Klaus. It’s the best
he’s ever managed but it is plodding and uninspired and
very standard and basically a POOR COPY of Frank’s music.
Finally he finishes. Klaus is expressionless.
FRANK
(Genuinely)
That’s great.
JON
You’re ...are you serious?
FRANK
It’s really got something.
JON
Oh my God. I couldn’t even dream
that you’d say something like
that. Do you even think...could
it be on the album do you think?
FRANK
I think it’s really... . Can you
just give me...there’s just a bit
where you...
Jon stands and makes way for Frank behind the keyboard.
FRANK (CONT’D)
I think with just a few
tweaks...like...hang on...
Frank sits at the keyboard.
Jon can’t resist a triumphant glance at Klaus as Frank

starts working on Jon’s song.
Frank fiddles around, changing one thing and then another.

Klaus takes a seat on the stool next to him.
KLAUS
And then if you just...
Klaus moves Frank’s fingers to a different note.

54.
KLAUS (CONT'D)
Because if you played it
down...What was that note you
played down there, Jon?
JON
F.
KLAUS
Yes because if you played an F
there it would be shit.
Jon looks like he’s been punched in the face.
Klaus takes a back seat while Frank continues to turn Jon’s

song into something TOTALLY DIFFERENT - something MUCH,
MUCH BETTER.
FRANK
(Guilelessly, looking up
at Jon)
What do you think?
Klaus looks up and gives Jon a dreadful, slow smile.
EXT. VETNO - EVENING
Jon is brooding in the snow. Don crunches over and joins

him. He’s smoking a joint and offers it to Jon. They smoke
in silence for a moment.
DON
You play him a song?
JON
(Beat)
Yes.
DON
Yeah. Been there. Doesn’t matter
how tall you are, you’re always
gonna feel like a pygmy if you’re
standing next to a mountain,
right? (Beat) I just wish I could
hear the world the way he hears
it, you know? But it’s not to be,
man. There can only be one Frank.
We’re just here to serve him.
Like...
JON
(Darkly)
Renfield.
DON
Disciples. (Beat) Who’s Renfield?
55.
JON
(Ignoring this)
I’m not a disciple, Don. I’m an
artist too. I just...I’ve got a
blockage.
They smoke in silence for a moment.
DON
You wanna unlock your creativity,
you know what you should try?
JON
What?
DON
Ayahuasca.
JON
What’s that?
DON
Shamen have been using it for
thousands of years. It’s a
hallucinogenic so deep-acting it
awakens your dormant plant DNA.
Jon considers this.
JON
(Doubtfully)
I don’t think we have dormant
plant DNA.
Don looks at Jon like he’s crazy.
DON
Well I sure as hell do.
Jon wavers for a moment, then catches himself.
JON
(Beat)
No. I don’t need drugs. That
isn’t the problem.
JON (V.O.) (CONT'D)

(Jon’s private voice)
I now knew who the problem was.
INT. VETNO - EVENING
Frank and Klaus are writing in the candle-lit room as

usual.
56.
Jon stands in the doorway, staring at Klaus with

undisguised jealousy and hatred.
The band have set up. Don is finishing arranging mics

around them. He walks through to the hall outside and sits
at a mixing desk.
DON
(Into desk mic)
Okay. Vetno tapes. Track one.
Take one.
He starts to RECORD.
ON NANA
As she counts in the song with her sticks - one, two three,
four...
WE FREEZE FRAME on her.
JON (V.O.)
After almost two years of
preparation and rehearsal Frank
declared that we were finally
ready to begin recording the
album. It was completed in two
days.
CUT TO:
TITLE CARD
...which reads “Two Days Later.”
CUT TO:
CLOSE ON NANA
...as she finishes the final track with a flourish on the

snare.
Don walks back into the room, smiling. The band and Don
stand around smiling, stunned.
DON
That’s it, Frank?
FRANK
That’s it. We’re finished.
57.
They look at each other again, their smiles fading a

little. Two years’ work finished.
LATER
The band and Don sit around listening to the mixed album.
We CLOSE on JON.
INT. HOTEL ROOM - THE PRESENT
TURNER
So on the album you are credited
for keyboard on some songs?
JON
(Stiffly)
And as inspiration for the Idiot
Shriek theremin solo.
TURNER
How did you feel about that?
About the fact that they weren’t
interested in your own songs?
JON
I don’t know. I wasn’t happy
about it. I mean, I’d given them
my fucking nest egg.
Frank notices that Don is listening with a strange smile,

eyes glistening.
FRANK
You okay Don?
Don nods.
DON
(Mumbling)
It’s just so good.
CUT TO:
INT. VETNO - BEDROOM - DAWN
Jon wakes up. He gets up, starts to get dressed. He glances

out of the window...stops suddenly, staring at something in
the trees.
58.
JON’S P.O.V - OUT OF WINDOW
Frank is HANGING from a tree. He’s DEAD.
Jon stares.
LATER
The band are cutting down the body and carefully lowering
it to the ground.
Baraque carefully removes the plastic head to reveal DON -

quite dead.
We see the real Frank, wearing his false head, is watching

from the back of the group. The rest turn to stare at him.
Baraque passes him the head. Frank holds it.
FRANK
(Dully)
It was my spare.
CUT TO:
EXT. LAKE - DAY
The band have set up by the lake. Don’s body has been
placed onto a crude wooden raft. As we watch Frank lights
the raft and pushes it out onto the water. The flames begin
to spread, an improvised Viking funeral.
The band begin to play Puff the Magic Dragon...
FRANK
(Singing)
Puff the Magic Dragon, lived by
the sea, and frolicked in the
Autumn mist in a land called
Honalee...
Jon watches.
JON (V.O.)
(Jon’s private voice)
As I watched the funeral boat
sail away I swore to myself that
I would not become another Don. I
would not resign myself to the
role of Disciple and wait for
despair and self-loathing to
overcome me. There was a place
beside Frank, right at the
creative heart of the band.
59.
He looks over at Klaus, standing beside Frank.
JON (V.O.) (CONT'D)

And some day that place would be
mine.
The boat drifts away.
EXT. ALASKA - DAY
A wild and beautiful landscape.
Supered Titles read “Kenai Peninsula, Alaska.”
A YOUNG FRANK lopes past us, dressed in some rabbit skins.

We don’t see his face. He runs off into the vast landscape.
JON (V.O.)
There was another story about
Frank. In this version no-one
knew where he came from. He was
found living wild in Alaska,
perhaps, it was suggested, having
been the only survivor of a plane
crash who was then raised by
unspecified wild animals. Like
Mowgli.
Frank is now a tiny figure, still running.
EXT. FRONTIER TOWN - ALASKA - DAY - THE PAST
A SHOPKEEPER is busying herself.
JON (V.O.)
According to the story, when
Frank first made contact with
other humans, he was already
wearing a prototype of his head.
She turns and lets out a LOUD, HORRIFIED SHRIEK.
REVERSE
Frank is wearing a whole slaughtered ELK’S HEAD over his

own. It looks really gross.
I/E. VAN - MOTORWAY - DAY
The band motor back into civilization, Nana driving.

Everyone is lost in their own thoughts.
60.
I/E. BOURNEMOUTH INSTITUTE OF HIGHER EDUCATION - EVENING
The band wait in the wings. Outside the small audience is

restless. Frank stands - motionless.
KLAUS
Frank?
Frank turns to him, looks at the rest of the band, waiting

for the word from him, like soldiers waiting for their
Captain.
FRANK
We’re the only five people in the
world who know what is about to
happen in the next few minutes.
We’ve made a record that’s going
to change everything. (Beat)
Let’s go out there and play for
Don.
The band look determined, almost grim. They march out onto
the stage to be met by a faint welcoming applause from the
audience of students.
Nana and Baraque begin to play the powerful if odd opening

bars of Frank’s infinitely superior version of Jon’s song.
After a moment Klaus and Jon join in.
The sound is POWERFUL and OVERWHELMING and WEIRD and

WONDERFUL.
Frank stands in the wings, listening. And very slowly his

head begins to GLOW.
As the head reaches MAXIMUM ILLUMINATION he BOUNDS OUT onto

the stage, jerking and shuffling to the beat.
He raises the mic to sing...
FOUR MINUTES LATER
The song ends in a gigantic crescendo. We await the

inevitable roar from the crowd. But instead...
...the SMALL, BAFFLED AUDIENCE offer a tiny SMATTERING of

UNINTERESTED APPLAUSE.
Frank stares at the crowd. He can’t believe it.

61.
LATER
The band sit at a stall selling the Vetno album. Or rather

not selling it. The audience have almost all left - every
one of them walking past the stall without the slightest
interest.
Frank stares at the table in mute misery. Baraque awkwardly

leans over to give Frank a comforting pat on the leg.
KLAUS
(Angrily)
LEAVE HIM ALONE! HE’S
INCONSOLABLE!
Baraque sighs and withdraws his hand. Frank gets up and

walks away.
LATER
Jon is the only band member left, sitting at the bar,

drinking.
Someone sits beside him and he glances at his new

neighbour. He’s an ODD-LOOKING MAN in a black suit.
He stares at Jon for a moment, then holds out his hand.

When he speaks he SOUNDS A LITTLE LIKE FRANK.
STRANGE MAN
Bruno Anthony.
JON
(Shaking)
Jon Finch.
BRUNO
That was the most amazing
experience of my life.
JON
(Flat)
Is that so.
He stops, turns and stares at Bruno in amazement. He looks

around him then leans in close to Bruno.
JON (CONT’D)
Frank?
BRUNO
What?
JON
Is it you, Frank?
62.
Bruno stares at him blankly.
BRUNO
No. It’s me. Bruno.
Jon leans back, disappointed.
JON
Oh. I thought...you sound a bit
like him.
BRUNO
(Thrilled)
Really? Oh, my God. Maybe that
means something? I knew today
was going to be special because,
this morning, when I looked out
of the window the clouds were
spelling out a word in the sky? I
didn’t get to read it before they
all faded away but I thought “A-
ha - going to be one of those
days.” And sure enough.
He spreads his hands, smiling. Jon nods glumly. The only

fan they’ve ever had, and, of course, he would be crazy.
BRUNO (CONT’D)
Do you write any of the songs?
JON
Well...there’s a Theremin solo
that I sort of...
BRUNO
A what?
JON
(Beat)
Nothing. No, I don’t.
BRUNO
(Interested)
So, what’s your role in the band?
Jon stares at him, troubled and depressed by the question.
INT. TRAVEL INN HOTEL - NIGHT
The band has gathered in the deserted hotel bar. The mood
is desolate. Frank is stunned.
FRANK
I’m changing the name of the
band. From now on we’re
Electrolysis.
(MORE)
63.
FRANK (CONT'D)
We’re going to have to start
again. Somehow...somehow we got
the music wrong.
KLAUS
The music’s right. It’s them.
He indicates the world with a sweep of his hand.
KLAUS (CONT’D)
They’re wrong. (Beat) Fuck them.
Frank looks at Klaus.
FRANK
(Softly)
No.
A silence.
FRANK (CONT’D)
What do we do now? I have no idea
what we do now.
No-one has noticed that Jon has joined them. Now he

halfheartedly murmurs...
JON
Fox’s Stupid Turkeys.
FRANK
What?
JON
It’s an old marketing trick.
Frank looks up. Klaus glances suspiciously at Jon.
FRANK
What is?
JON
(Sighing)
There was a marketing guru called
M.W Fox...
EXT. TURKEY FARM - DAY - THE 1970S
The field is filled with THOUSANDS OF TURKEYS.
JON (V.O.)
M.W. Fox had thought that the way
to understand how to manipulate
humans was to study animal
behaviour. One day he was
studying turkeys...
64.
M.W FOX stands among them, the only human in sight, holding
a notepad. He’s scrutinising a MOTHER TURKEY who is nursing
her YOUNG.
BABY TURKEY
Cheep-Cheep.
Something about this pricks Fox’s interest. He peers closer

with cautious excitement.
JON (V.O.)
Fox noticed that the mother
turkey loved and protected her
babies ONLY if they made a
particular ‘cheep-cheep’ noise.
The mother turkey IGNORES ANOTHER OF HER BABIES who is NOT

making the cheep-cheep noise. In fact she SWATS this poor,
silent baby away. It waddles away dejectedly.
JON (V.O.) (CONT'D)

Fox was astonished. Was the
stupid mother turkey mistreating
her other baby just because it
didn’t make the cheep-cheep
noise? Was she basing all her
parenting decisions on that one
noise? He decided to do an
experiment.
LATER
Fox clutches a VICIOUS-LOOKING, WRITHING POLECAT.
JON (V.O.) (CONT'D)

The polecat is traditionally the
turkey’s mortal enemy. But what
about a polecat that made the
mother turkey’s beloved cheep-
cheep sound?
Fox ties around the polecat’s neck a CASSETTE PLAYER that’s

playing the CHEEP-CHEEP noise on a loop.
Fox releases the polecat near the turkey. The turkey

immediately waddles over and tries to LOVINGLY MOTHER it.
The polecat tolerates this for a moment. Then it BRUTALLY

RIPS HER TO SHREDS.
INT. TRAVEL INN HOTEL - MOTORWAY SERVICE STATION - NIGHT -

AS BEFORE
Jon continues without enthusiasm.

65.
JON
Fox realized that people have
cheep-cheep noises that we
automatically respond to. Like
stupid turkeys.
BARAQUE
What sort of noises?
JON
The word ‘because’.
They stare at him blankly.
JON (V.O.) (CONT'D)

Fox did some experiments at a
local photocopying office.
INT. OFFICE WORLD - DAY - THE 1970S
A MAN queues up for the photocopying machine. Fox

approaches him.
FOX
Excuse me. Can I cut in line? I’m
in a rush.
MAN
Wait your fucking turn.
FOX makes notes in his notepad.
A FEW MINUTES LATER
ANOTHER MAN queues up for the photocopying machine. Fox

approaches him.
FOX
Excuse me. Can I cut in line
because I’m in a rush?
MAN
Okay.
Fox looks thrilled by his findings.
INT. TRAVEL INN HOTEL - MOTORWAY SERVICE STATION - NIGHT -

AS BEFORE
JON
So if the poster for tomorrow’s
gig said “Come and see The
Ghosts...
66.
FRANK
Electrolysis.
JON
“Come and see Electrolysis
BECAUSE they’re the weirdest band
around” more people will come.
The band stare at him.
FRANK
(Doubtfully)
We’re not weird. Are we?
JON
It’s just marketing.
FRANK
But it sounds like we would be
manipulating people as if they
were stupid turkeys.
JON
Yes. Marketing.
KLAUS
(With anger, but also
anxiousness)
Why are we even talking about
this? Why are we even listening
to this stupid fuck-a-roo?
Jon looks at Klaus thoughtfully.
JON (V.O.)
I hadn’t really been suggesting
we did do this but something in
Klaus’s voice caught my
attention. And like a runner who
suddenly sees the pack ahead of
me opening up, I made my move.
Jon, trying to act casually shrugs and stands up as if he’s

going to leave.
JON (CONT'D)
I just thought Frank wanted to be
popular.
FRANK
I do want to be popular.
JON
Well, it’s hard to be popular
without people.
Frank stares at him in silence.

67.
JON (CONT’D)
It would still be your music.
We’d just be helping people to
find it.
FRANK
(Beat)
You really think it will work?
Jon glances at Klaus. He can’t quite restrain a small smile

of triumph.
I/E. NOTTINGHAM POLY STUDENTS UNION BUILDING - THE NEXT

EVENING
The band can be heard playing inside the student’s union

bar.
A poster on the wall reads, COME AND SEE ELECTROLYSIS

BECAUSE THEY’RE THE WEIRDEST BAND AROUND!
A STUDENT glances at the poster, hesitates and enters the

hall.
INT. STUDENT UNION BAR - CONTINUOUS
The band are on stage and, sure enough, there’s a slightly

larger AUDIENCE than usual, although they seem to be
watching with the usual bafflement.
We TRACK to the STUDENT we followed in. She seems to be

trying to make up her mind whether or not this is
interesting.
We BOOM DOWN her body until we reach her MOTIONLESS FOOT.

After a moment it twitches, almost unconsciously. And then -
it begins to TAP ALONG as best it can to the odd beat.
LATER
The band sit at the album stall. As before the audience

walk past without interest.
Jon waits tensely - has his experiment failed? He’s aware

that Klaus is watching him, smiling.
Then the Student who tapped her foot appears. She stands
before the table, hesitates, trying to make her mind up...
Then abruptly she hands Jean Baraque some money. Baraque

looks startled, glances at the others, then, almost
reverentially picks up a copy of the album and hands it
over to the student who walks quickly away.
68.
The band turn as one to stare at Jon as if he is some kind

of wizard.
Klaus is no longer smiling.
I/E. PRESTON POLYTECHNIC STUDENT’S UNION - EARLY EVENING
Jon walks through the room, checking out the students.
JON (V.O.)
At Preston Polytechnic, I applied
the principle of social proof.
Jon finds what he’s looking for - a couple of INTERESTINGLY

ATTRACTIVE AND FREAKISH-LOOKING STUDENTS. Jon walks over
and begins talking to them.
JON (V.O.) (CONT'D)

I paid free-thinking attractive
students to come to the gig so
other free-thinking attractive
students would think it was
correct to like Frank.
LATER
Passing ATTRACTIVE FREAK STUDENTS spot the PAID ONES inside

the Student Union bar. Sure enough their interest is
piqued. The audience has grown to about 25, a COUPLE of
whom seem to be actually enjoying it.
JON (V.O.) (CONT'D)

At Choo-Choos in Cardiff I
applied the Principle of
Scarcity.
INT. CHOO-CHOOS - CARDIFF - NIGHT
The band finish their first number to a smattering of

applause.
JON (V.O.)
We walked off stage after playing
only one song.
FRANK
Thank you. Good night.
The band walk off. The audience, who hadn’t seemed that
interested in the first place, are now incensed. They begin
to BOO.
69.
BACKSTAGE
The band listen nervously to the angry crowd.
JON
They think they’re unhappy but
actually they’re happy.
A chair is thrown onto the stage and crashes into the drum-
kit. The rest of the band flinch.
JON (CONT’D)
(Calmly)
People assign more value to
opportunities that are less
available.
EXT. THE WITCHWOOD - ASHTON-UNDER-LYNE - EVENING
Jon sits outside the pub reading a Preston paper from the
day before. A small article is titled “New band Causes
Riot.”
Satisfied, Jon folds up the paper and turns his attention

to the night’s audience wandering into the pub.
JON (V.O.)
At the Witchwood in Ashton-Under-
Lyne, I applied the Principle of
Perceptual Contrast, which
consisted of booking an
unpalatably weird support act to
make Frank seem less unpalatably
weird in comparison.
INT. THE WITCHWOOD - LATER
The unpalatably weird support act - EDWARD BARTON - is on

stage, horrifying the audience.
EDWARD BARTON
(Screaming)
I’VE GOT NO CHICKENS!
BUT I’VE GOT FIVE WOODEN CHAIRS!
LATER
SLOW-MOTION
The band are now playing. Frank jerks and shuffles around
the stage, singing.
70.
Jon at his keyboard watches him thoughtfully as he plays.
JON (V.O.)
Still, I struggled with a
fundamental marketing problem -
the Principle of Liking.
Jon turns his attention to the audience.
JON’S P.O.V - TRACKING ACROSS THE AUDIENCE
Although a couple seem to be enjoying themselves, the

majority are still staring at Frank with bemused hostility.
JON (V.O.) (CONT'D)

The search for the familiar and
safe is a deep, evolutionary
drive in humans. We like things
that seem to be like us. Frank
didn’t seem to be like anyone.
What could I find in something
unique that I could market as
familiar?
INT. CINEMA - DAY
Jon sits in the almost deserted cinema watching The

Elephant Man. The evil Night Porter is letting a CROWD leer
through the window at the Elephant Man.
Jon notices a woman beside him CRYING. He watches her,

thinking.
INT. TOUR BUS - DAY
Nana is pulling up at the evening’s venue - the Rum Runners

Nightclub. A small crowd stands outside the club, chanting
and waving placards. As the band watches a Local TV Outside
Broadcast Van pulls up.
FRANK
What’s going on?
Jon tries to look innocently mystified. The band start to

climb out and are immediately met with BOOS from the crowd.
EXT. RUM RUNNER NIGHTCLUB - BIRMINGHAM - DAY
A TV JOURNALIST is interviewing a MIDDLE-AGED WOMAN on

camera.
71.
MIDDLE-AGED WOMAN
We think it’s sick that this kind
of act should be passing for
entertainment in our city. This
isn’t the Middle Ages.
TV FOOTAGE OF KLAUS
Klaus is being interviewed outside the club, the rest of

the band are in the background, trying to get into the
club.
JON (V.O.)
The protestors were there because
they’d been told that the German
impresario Klaus Fricke was
touring the unfortunate Frank
Kapsburger as entertainment.
TV JOURNALIST
Is it true that Mr Kapsburger is
mentally retarded and disfigured?
FRANK
(In the background)
What?
Klaus considers the question.
KLAUS
Yes.
FRANK
What?
TV JOURNALIST
And do you think it’s right to
put him up on stage to be laughed
at?
KLAUS
Yes.
The nearby crowd BOO.
TV JOURNALIST
A lot of people would say this
isn’t a musical act, this is a
Victorian Freak Show. What would
you say to that?
Klaus examines the baying crowd around him, then turns to

the camera, enjoying himself.
72.
KLAUS
I say...Step Right Up! Step Right
Up!
The crowd BOO. A MIDDLE-AGED MAN steps forward to

remonstrate with Klaus. Klaus pushes him back and the two
begin to jostle.
JON (V.O.)
The protestors, mainly formed of
local church members, had been
alerted to the arrival of the
band by a letter from the
Midlands Christian Fellowship.
Only later was it discovered that
this organization did not exist.
INT. RUM RUNNERS NIGHTCLUB - EVENING
The place is full. The band are playing the intro to the
opening number and as Frank appears, jerking and shuffling
on stage there is ROAR from the audience.
As the song continues we TRAVEL across the audience’s

faces. Some are still bemused but, throughout the audience,
FOR THE FIRST TIME, we find faces which look as if they are
experiencing some kind of MUSICAL EPIPHANY.
JON (V.O.)
That evening it became apparent
that there were many people who
found the concept of “being a
freak” familiar. I had found
Frank’s audience.
INT. BACKSTAGE - LATER
An exhausted and exhilarated band walk off-stage to the

sound of applause.
Klaus stands on a chair to stare out of a window at the

carpark outside.
KLAUS
(With grim satisfaction)
Ha. Still there.
JEAN BARAQUE
(In French)
Some of them were dancing, I
think. At first I didn’t know
what they were doing, because,
you know, it didn’t occur to me?
But then I thought “My God,
they’re trying to dance!”
73.
Klaus climbs down from the chair and opens an emergency

exit.
KLAUS
(Calling outside)
You still there? You assholes!
We hear BOOING. A MIDDLE AGED MAN lurches into sight and

grabs Klaus who starts to wrestle with him, clearly
enjoying himself enormously. The two stagger outside and
disappear. Baraque hurries after him to help.
Jon notices Frank is standing quietly.
JON
Frank? Are you...are you okay?
Frank doesn’t answer.
JON (CONT’D)
You know that...that “freak”
thing, that was just a gimmick.
FRANK
Listen.
From the stage comes the faint sound of the audience

chanting - “More, more, more.”
FRANK (CONT’D)
(Quietly)
No one’s ever asked for more.
He walks over to Jon and embraces him.
FRANK (CONT’D)
Thank you.
Jon looks startled for a moment and then hugs him back,
thrilled. At last - FRANK NEEDS HIM.
He listens to a faint sound coming from inside the head.
JON
Are you crying?
Frank nods.
FRANK
Promise me something?
JON
Anything.
FRANK
Promise me you’ll be in charge of
all the marketing from now on.
(MORE)
74.
FRANK (CONT'D)
You’re a marketing genius. It’s
what you were born to do.
Over Frank’s shoulder, Jon’s face turns ICE COLD.
NANA (O.S.)
Oh.
The two men turn to where Nana is sitting on a chair. She

is staring down at the growing puddle of water under her.
NANA (CONT’D)
Oh?
The two men stare at the water, puzzled.
EXT. MOTORWAY - NIGHT
The bus is roaring along. We can hear Nana’s yells of pain.
INT. TOUR BUS - CONTINUOUS
Nana is stretched out on back-seats, at the late stages of

LABOUR. Frank and an unusually gentle Klaus are kneeling
beside her. Jon hovers behind them. Baraque is driving
maniacally
JON
I don’t understand. How could she
NOT KNOW she was pregnant?
NANA
Ahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh!
KLAUS
(Calmly)
Keep breathing Nana, you’re doing
very well.
FRANK
(To Baraque)
How far to the hospital?
JEAN BARAQUE
Dix minutes!
NANA
IT’S COMING! STOP THE BUS!
EXT. MOTORWAY - CONTINUOUS
The tour bus screeches to a halt on the hard shoulder.

75.
INSIDE THE BUS
Nana is starting to give birth. Jon peers around Frank,

fascinated. Nana catches sight of him.
NANA
(Almost hysterical)
Not him! Get him away from me!
JON
What?
NANA
Get him away! He’s Death! Get him
away from me.
FRANK
(Soothing)
Okay Nana. (To Jon) Jon, would
you leave the bus for a little
while?
JON
What?
EXT. MOTORWAY - NIGHT
A bitter Jon stands out in the rain, watching through the

bus window.
JON
(Muttering)
I’m not Death.
We hear a sudden INFANT WAIL and through the window we see

the other band members react to the unseen new arrival,
gathering under the golden light of the overhead bulb -
something of the NATIVITY about it.
Jon watches in the rain, once more excluded from the

miracle of creation.
INT. HOSPITAL ROOM - LATER
A tired but happy Nana lies in bed, the band sitting around
her. Frank is holding the baby tenderly.
JON (V.O.)
Nana continued to claim that she
hadn’t known she was pregnant and
had no idea who the father was.
She called the baby Frank Jr.
76.
OUTSIDE THE ROOM
Jon stands watching through the glass. The sight of Frank

holding the baby strangely ENRAGES him.
INT. ALL-NIGHT GARAGE - HULL - NIGHT
Jon reaches the counter.
JON
(Self-hating, drunk)
I want a Twix. No. Three Twixes.
And a bottle of whisky. And a
bottle of ginger wine.
Jon spots a dusty, knock-off VIDEO CAMERA for sale on the

shelf behind the counter.
JON (CONT’D)
(Darkly)
And that video camera.
As the SHOP ASSISTANT turns to the camera.
CUT TO:
EXT. TRAVEL INN HOTEL - LATER
Jon - DRUNK and FILLED WITH SELF-LOATHING and chocolate,

staggers around the perimeter of the hotel, struggling to
get the video camera packaging open.
JON
(To himself)
Fucking...
Finally he gets it open. He picks up the CAMERA, looks at

it, and we...
INT. JON’S BEDROOM - TRAVEL INN - THE NEXT MORNING
Jon lies asleep, dishevelled, fully-clothed, on his bed.
He wakes up with an INVOLUNTARY YELP. He sits bolt upright

in bed. He did something terrible last night but he can’t
remember what.
And then he remembers.
JON
Fuck.
He leaps out of bed.

77.
INT. CORRIDOR - TRAVEL INN - CONTINUOUS
Frank opens his bedroom door and sees a VIDEO CASSETTE on

the floor outside his room.
Written on it are the scrawled words WATCH ME.
Intrigued, Frank picks up the videotape and disappears into

his room. He closes the door.
The corridor is empty for 10 seconds.
Then Jon hurtles around the corner, and sees the SPACE
outside Frank’s door where he had left the video cassette.
JON
Fuck.
INT. FRANK’S BEDROOM - TRAVEL INN - MOMENTS LATER
Frank turns the unmarked video cassette over in his hands.

He puts it into the player. He presses play...
ON TV
...is FRANK, shot through his hotel room window from the
bushes, blurry and creepy and voyeuristic.
He walks around his bedroom. He vanishes into the bathroom.
On the tape a DISGUISED, CREEPY-SOUNDING VOICE starts

whispering...
CREEPY-SOUNDING VOICE
Tosssser. Tosssser. Tosssser.
Tosssser.
Frank watches the tape intently.
INT. BREAKFAST ROOM - TRAVEL INN - LATER THAT MORNING
The band, minus Nana, have met for breakfast, and are
talking about the tape.
FRANK
(Sadly)
I don’t know where the hate comes
from.
KLAUS
We have to find them! If it was
shot through your window then
maybe someone saw whoever it was.
78.
We CLOSE on Jon sipping his coffee trying to hide his

panic.
JON (V.O.)
I prayed to God - “Dear God, I
didn’t know what I was doing.
Please let me get away with it,
just this once, and I’ll never,
never betray Frank again.
KLAUS
We get the management to ask the
guests if they saw anyone last
night and we...
JON
(Suddenly)
I know who it was.
They turn to him.
JON (CONT’D)
(Beat)
It was Bruno Anthony.
FRANK
Who’s Bruno Anthony?
JON
He’s a crazy fan. I met him at a
gig and he told me how much he
loved you. I saw him hanging
around last night.
FRANK
I don’t understand. If he loves
me, why would he do this?
JON
(Hesitantly)
Well...people sometimes end up
hating the thing they love most.
(Beat) Like Othello. (Beat) In
Othello.
We HOLD on Jon, thinking about his own words.
INT. ADVERTISING CONFERENCE ROOM - LONDON - DAY
CLOSE on a GUMMI MARTIAN.
Klaus, Frank and Jon stand staring down at it. A hugely

intimidating man - GEORGE LLOYD - addresses them.
79.
GEORGE LLOYD
Why do you feel so compelled to
write a jingle about Gummi
Martians?
FRANK
Well, we really need some money.
Lloyd glares at Frank.
FRANK (CONT’D)
We had a baby.
JON
(Hurriedly)
We strongly believe that our mix
of oblique and accessible music
is a hand-in-glove match for the
Gummi Martian. There’s nothing
sweeter and more familiar than a
Gummi BEAR. Right? But a Gummi
MARTIAN? Ooh! Unfamiliar. A bit
scary!
Lloyd examines Jon.
GEORGE LLOYD
You know marketing, son.
Jon blushes, flattered.
JON
Allow me to demonstrate how I
feel we should reflect this in
the form of a jingle.
Jon takes his place at the keyboard, nods to Klaus, who

glowers back.
FRANK
(Gently)
Klaus?
Reluctantly Klaus takes up his position by the Theremin.

Jon starts to play.
JON
(A power-pop chant)
Gummi! Gummi! Gummi!
FRANK
(A weird howl)
Martian!
Dripping distaste Klaus performs the Idiot Shriek on the

Theramin.
80.
They finish and stare at Lloyd. Lloyd stares back, utterly

nonplussed.
INT. SHEFFIELD POLYTECHNIC - STUDENT UNION - DAY
CLOSE ON A RADIO - from which comes the finished jingle for

Gummi Martians.
Jon sits listening. Up on the stage the rest of the band

are setting up.
The advert finishes and Jon switches off the radio. He

looks over to where Frank Jr lies in his pram, glances
stealthily over at Nana to make sure she’s preoccupied,
then slides along the seats until he’s beside the baby. He
peers down into the cot. Frank Jr stares back at him. Is
this the face of Frank? A sly expression crosses Jon’s
face.
JON
(Singing softly)
“The prairie sky is wide and
high...
He claps his hands in time - clap, clap, clap.
JON (CONT’D)
Deep in the heart of Texas. The
sage in bloom is like perfume...”
He watches the baby’s hands intently - are they about to

clap?
Nana appears beside him, face stony. She reaches into the
pram and lifts Frank Jr away from Jon.
JON (CONT’D)
(Guiltily)
Oh, hi Nana. I was just...uh...
Nana is already walking off.
JON (CONT’D)
...singing.
STUDENT UNION BAR - NIGHT
After the gig. Jon sits drinking with Bruno. He watches two
girls talking to Klaus.
JON
(To Bruno)
See those girls? I’m like...I’m
like their God.
(MORE)
81.
JON (CONT'D)
I influence their deepest
thoughts and feelings so
invisibly they think the feelings
belong to them.
BRUNO
It must feel wonderful to have a
role to play. To be part of this
great, unfolding legend. I’d give
anything to be part of that.
Klaus walks past, the two girls trailing after him.
CARLY
(To Klaus)
We couldn’t take our eyes off you
the entire show.
EMILY
(To Klaus)
You have an amazingly intense
stage presence.
KLAUS
It’s because I’m filled with
anger and hate.
The girls look impressed. Klaus notices Jon.
KLAUS (CONT’D)
This is Jon. Our PR. What are you
full of Jon?
Klaus stalks off. Jon watches him go with loathing.
JON
(Quietly, to himself)
Also anger and hate.
The Barman appears beside Jon.
BARMAN
There’s a phone call for you.
Jon picks up the phone.
JON
Yes?
We hear the familiar faint, whispery American voice.
BUCKLEY (O.S.)
(Over phone)
Do you know what you’ve done?
JON
(Beat)
Buckley?
82.
BUCKLEY (O.S.)
Do you know what you’ve done?
JON
(Beat)
No?
BUCKLEY (O.S.)
They heard your jingle. A record
company. They want you. I hope
you’re happy.
JON
Well...yes? Aren’t you?
BUCKLEY (O.S.)
I don’t know. (Sighs) It’s a
mountain of paper work, that’s
for sure.
He hangs up.
Jon stands, looking stunned.
INT. RECORD COMPANY OFFICE - DAY
The band sit around a conference table. An irritating woman

- NELL - sits at the table with them. Someone who looks
like the young Richard Branson sits by the window, staring
dreamily out. This is TIM JOBSON.
Klaus stares at a framed photograph on the wall of David

Bowie in his horribly bland Jazzin’ For Blue Jean era.
KLAUS
What have you done to him?
NELL
I’ll tell you what we’ve done.
We’ve lined him up a big part in
a big movie called Labyrinth.
He’s going to play Jareth the
Goblin King. This isn’t
pretentious Man Who Fell To Earth
crap. This is every ABC cinema on
every high street in Britain.
CLOSE on Bowie looking REALLY BLAND.
KLAUS
You’ve made him look shit.
NELL
He’s still Bowie. He’s still...
(Puts on a Bowie accent)
(MORE)
83.
NELL (CONT'D)
“I’ve come down from space to
visit the earthlings! I talk to
pixies in my garden!” The
difference is that the pixies he
talks to now are much more
MAINSTREAM pixies. He used to
only talk to weirdo freak art
school nerdy pixies. Now he talks
to the pixie in every man, woman
and child in the world. Council
estate pixies. Sporty pixies. The
bullied AND the bullies.
KLAUS
I think he looks shit now.
FRANK
Leave it, Klaus.
JON
Yes. Leave it.
NELL
Yes, Klaus. Leave it.
Jazzin’ for Blue Jean reached
Number 8 on the US Billboard Hot
100. You want to know what
position your presumably beloved
“Heroes” reached? No position at
all. Didn’t chart in America.
Number 24 in Britain. Jazzin’ For
Blue Jean - Number 6 in Britain.
Do you know what position...?
Tim Jobson begins to speak, in a quiet, dreamy voice and

Nell instantly falls silent.
TIM JOBSON
The music industry has sickle-
cell anaemia.
No one knows what to say to this.
TIM JOBSON (CONT’D)

It requires regular blood
transfusions if it is to survive.
Originality scares the shit out
of us, but every now and then we
need a dose of it to keep the
decaying corpse of popular music
tottering forward. That’s what
you bring to the table, Frank. I
heard your Gummi Martians jingle
and it was like a small
persistent headache that I
couldn’t ignore. That interests
me.
(MORE)
84.

But at the moment, Frank
Kapsburger is standing on one
side of a river and the rest of
the world is on the other. Let me
be your bridge. (Beat) Let...
me...be your...bridge.
FRANK
(Beat)
What would that involve?
TIM JOBSON
It would involve us making one or
two changes.
FRANK
What sort of changes?
NELL
Well, we could give some of your
songs actual titles, rather than
just numbers. That would be
helpful. And we can play with the
whole Mystery Man thing. Who is
he? What’s going on under his
head? Play with the freak show.
Like a circus. And you wear
circus clothes. And maybe do
something where at the end of the
gig you show a little bit of
face. Lift the head just a
fraction. And then down again.
Like a coy but intriguing face
striptease. And have synth drums
and a brass section.
The band stare at her.
INT. RECORD COMPANY OFFICES - CORRIDOR - A LITTLE LATER
A struggling Klaus is being held by two SECURITY GUARDS.
SECURITY GUARD
Are you going to calm down? Are
you going to calm down?
KLAUS
FUCK YOU!
SECURITY GUARD
Just calm down and we’ll let
you...
KLAUS
LICK MY ASS!
85.
OFFICES - CONTINUOUS
Frank is in the corner with Jon. From the corridor outside

we can hear Klaus still struggling. The office has suffered
a Klaus eruption.
FRANK
I don’t know what to do. I don’t
know what I should do. What
should I do?
JON
(Carefully)
It depends what you want. If we
go on as we are, you can sparkle
in the firmament for a second or
two and then burn out
spectacularly.
FRANK
(Beat)
Why?
TIM JOBSON
(Shrugging)
People want that to happen to
eccentric musical geniuses. It’s
like folklore.
FRANK
(Scared)
I don’t want that at all. I don’t
want to burn out. I want to stay.
Jon? How can I stay?
Jon looks through the window to the corridor beyond - sees

Klaus being manhandled by Security. It feels good.
JON
(Beat)
Sign the contract.
Frank stares at him.
JON (CONT’D)
It’s still your music.
Frank turns and walks back to the table, sits down and
begins to sign the contract.
Jon watches. Nell joins him.
NELL
You know who the real star of
this band is?
86.
JON
Who?
Nell puts a finger to her lips.
NELL
Shhh. That’s right. You. It’s a
secret! Don’t tell anyone!
Jon smiles, looks through the window at Klaus.
INT. MUSIC STUDIO - DAY
A YOUNG MUSICIAN is playing and singing Duran Duran’s Rio

on an eighties keyboard.
Frank, Jon, Jobson and Nell stand around listening to him.

The rest of the band have been relegated to the sound
booth, watching through glass. Frank, apparently enjoying
the song, shuffles from foot to foot, doing a little dance.
When the song finishes Frank claps happily.
TIM JOBSON
You see?
FRANK
Absolutely!
TIM JOBSON
I mean, no one’s saying we want
you to sound like...
FRANK
No, of course! I understand.
TIM JOBSON
But the way they use the hooks,
the structure...if you can learn
some of these things...
FRANK
Yes!
TIM JOBSON
It makes it easier for the
listener. That’s all. You make
your music just a little more
accessible like that, and you’re
crossing that bridge, you’re
reaching the other side of the
river. Okay?
FRANK
Absolutely. (Gesturing at the
keyboard) Can I...?
87.
TIM JOBSON
Of course. Let’s give it a go.
Frank takes over the keyboard. He starts to play something

that sounds a little like Rio. Jobson nods, smiling.
Then, inevitably, the music begins to mutate into Frank’s

own style - beautiful, weird and utterly unique. Frank nods
along happily. In his ears this is apparently a perfectly
commercial pop tune. He sings along for a while.
FRANK
(As he plays)
I’ve got it! I think I’ve got it!
Then the song finishes.
FRANK (CONT’D)
What do you think? Something like
that?
Silence. Jobson isn’t smiling anymore. The tense silence

holds.
JON
Uh, I think, what Tim means is if
we just change things around a
little bit, just to be a little
more...uh...accessible? Like...
He takes Frank’s place at the keyboard.
JON (CONT’D)
Like on Number 32? If instead of
this...
He plays part of one of Frank’s songs.
JON (CONT’D)
We do this...
And as Jon plays the song mutates the other way - from
complete originality the music moves towards something
bland and conventional with all of the life sucked out of
it. Jobson and Nell are smiling broadly again, nodding
along.
TIM JOBSON
Yes! That’s it! That’s our sound.
Do you see Frank? It’s got all of
your kookiness, but with a groove
that the kids can get into!
FRANK
(Doubtfully)
Really? I didn’t...I didn’t think
it sounded, uh...huh.
88.
TIM JOBSON
(Ignoring this)
Okay, you two need to get to
work. I want you to go through
all the numbers with Jon here and
work on that sound. Okay?
He holds up his right hand.

Original. But...
He holds up his left.

Accessible.
He brings his two hands together, meaning to imply some

kind of synthesis, although it actually looks more like
he’s going to STRANGLE SOMEONE.
We hear the thunderous doom-laden opening of King Katchei’s

Infernal Dance, from Stravinsky’s Firebird as we...
CUT TO:
LATER
As the music continues, Jon and Frank sit at the keyboard

together, Jon ruining the rest of Frank’s songs. Jobson and
Nell watch approvingly. Jon can’t resist glancing over to
where Klaus watches, expressionless, through the glass.
JON (V.O.)
It was at this time that Klaus’
cocaine consumption increased
dramatically...
INT. RADIO STATION - DAY
The band are being interviewed on a chirpy day time show.

Nell watches from the sidelines.
CHIRPY RADIO DJ
(To Klaus)
And what do you like to do to
relax, Klaus?
Klaus sits smoking, wired. He looks like a wild-eyed skull.
KLAUS
I rape animals.
Nell looks furious. Frank’s head sags.

89.
INT. RADIO STATION - CORRIDOR - MINUTES LATER
Jon, Nell and Frank watch Klaus walk out.
JON
(Innocently)
Do you think we should get Klaus
to try other instruments than a
Theremin?
Frank and Nell look at Jon.
INT. THE TUBE - TV STUDIO - EVENING
The band are on stage, waiting their turn to play. There is

one difference. Klaus no longer has his Theremin. Instead a
SYNTH GUITAR - a KEYTAR - dangles forlornly around his
neck.
Klaus looks down in disgust at it.
KLAUS
(To Frank)
Can we stop now? Can we stop
this? We were happy once. Just
the two of us, in a Bulgarian
hotel. We can go back to that.
FRANK
(Quietly)
They knocked it down.
On the other side of the studio the CAMERAS and AUDIENCE

are gathered around someone who may just be the young JOOLS
HOLLAND doing his next link.
We hold on the band, waiting.
JON (V.O.)
On the 14th June, 1985, there was
an audience of 1.2 Million
viewers for The Tube music
program.
BAND’S P.O.V
The FLOOR MANAGER is herding the crowd towards the bands

stage - a stampede of bad hair and make-up coming at us.
A CAMERA on a crane is gliding in over their heads, faintly

sinister, the lens aiming right at us.
90.
REVERSE
Frank WATCHES HIS FUTURE APPROACH - the audience he has

always craved, literally hurrying towards him.
Behind him the band begin to play.
Then, very carefully, Klaus takes off his Keytar and puts
it down. Then he walks slowly across the stage, takes out a
KNIFE and STABS JON IN THE LEG.
PANDEMONIUM.
Jon falls to the stage and rolls about shrieking, the knife
sticking out of his thigh. The crowd don’t know what’s
going on. Frank has grabbed Klaus and is holding him back,
Security are running on...
JON’S P.O.V
...from the floor, as the SECURITY grab Klaus and start to

DRAG HIM AWAY from Frank.
ON JON - lying on the stage, watching Klaus taken away -

beneath the pain, a gleam of triumph in his eye. His dream
has come true.
INT. CELL - EVENING
Klaus sits alone in the cell, staring at the floor.
JON (V.O.)
I wrote a press release to
announce Klaus’s prison sentence.
INT. TOUR BUS - DAY
Jon sits with his leg up, reading from the press release to
the others.
JON
“Klaus Fricke - Electrolysis’
very own Syd Barrett - was jailed
yesterday for Grievous Bodily
Harm against keyboard player Jon
Finch. We will all miss Klaus and
sincerely hope that our own crazy
diamond will also shine on.”
Frank stares out the window, showing no sign of having

heard.
Nana gives Jon a look of loathing.

91.
INT. REHEARSAL STUDIO ROOM - EVENING
An excited Jon - his leg still bandaged - leads Frank into

the room.
JON
Keep them closed...keep them
closed...Okay. Open them.
The candle-lit room has been made to resemble the room

Frank and Klaus wrote in at Vetno.
JON (CONT’D)
I got them to make it exactly the
same as the room in Vetno - where
you and Klaus wrote.
Frank stares around him in silence.
LATER
Frank and Jon are trying to write a song. Or rather Jon is

writing a song. Frank sits in silence.
JON
And then, it could go...
He plays some more. It’s basically Lucy In The Sky with

Diamonds, in a faux-Frank style.
JON (CONT’D)
(Stopping)
What do you think?
FRANK
(Listlessly)
I...I don’t know. Maybe.
JON
Uh, well...we could try something
else? Have you got any ideas?
FRANK
No. I don’t...nothing’s coming.
Something’s different.
Jon’s mind whirls - why isn’t it working? What’s missing?
He stands up and kicks over his chair in a half-hearted

impersonation of Klaus.
JON
(Trying to sound
furious)
(MORE)
92.
JON (CONT'D)
Well, that’s...that not good
enough! I can’t work like this.
You...you...stupid fucking pig!
Frank stares at him silently.
JON (CONT’D)
(Immediately)
Sorry.
He picks up the chair again. A silence.
JON (CONT'D)
(Quietly)
I just...I just want us to write
songs together. It’s all I’ve
ever wanted.
FRANK
(Broken)
I’m sorry Jon. But...it’s not the
same.
Jon feels anger rising in him.
JON
Why? Why isn’t it the same?
WHAT’S WRONG WITH ME?
FRANK
(Beat)
You’re not Klaus.
Jon stares at him, white-faced.
JON (V.O.)
If you spin the coin of Love,
right there on the other side,
just waiting for its turn, is
Hate.
He stands up and kicks over the chair again, this time with
genuine fury and walks from the room.
INT. HEALTH FOOD SHOP - DAY
Jon is browsing through some supplements, sweating and

nervous. The SHOP’S OWNER, an old hippy, watches him
suspiciously.
SHOP OWNER
Can I help you?
JON
I’m looking for Everfield?
93.
SHOP OWNER
I’m Everfield.
JON
(Nervous)
I’m trying to get hold of a, uh,
vegetable product and someone
said you might be able to help?
Everfield considers this.
INT. HOTEL ROOM - EVENING
Jon sits on his bed in his cheap hotel room. A nervous

HOTEL CLERK kneels in front of him. Jon passes him twenty
pounds and the Clerk pockets it.
HOTEL CLERK
What if...what if something goes
wrong?
JON
(Scared)
Shamen have been using it for
thousands of years. (Beat) And I
take full responsibility. (Beat)
Do it.
The Clerk lifts an enormous ORNATE SHAMANIC BLOWPIPE and

loads it AYAHUASCA POWDER.
Jon takes one end of the blowpipe in his mouth. He

hesitates, wondering what the hell he’s about do to
himself. Then he gives the Clerk the thumbs-up.
The Clerk blows the powder into Jon’s mouth.
Jon looks at the Clerk. Then he falls backwards into the

bed. Almost instantly he sits back up again and takes a
NOTEBOOK from the bedside-table
JON (CONT’D)
I need to go now.
CLERK
Where?
JON
I’m going to write a song.
He walks past the door and OPENS A WINDOW. He climbs out

and drops out of sight onto his bad leg.
JON (O.S.) (CONT'D)

Ow.
94.
EXT. STREETS OF LEEDS - LATER
Jon hobbles through the streets, wildly unhinged but blank

faced.
Luckily Jon has reached a CAFE and he gratefully sits down

at a table outside. He takes out his notebook and stares at
its blank white page, waiting for inspiration.
The cafe sign above his head CREAKS slightly in the breeze.
Jon stares sternly up at the sign.
JON
Be quiet.
And suddenly ALL SOUND CUTS, and Jon finds himself sitting
in an IMPOSSIBLE SILENCE.
Jon looks trapped and frightened inside this oppressive

silence, like an insect trapped in an airless jar.
Jon opens his mouth but no sound comes out though a

SUBTITLE appears to tell us what he said.
JON (CONT’D)
(Subtitled)
Help?
A PIGEON watches him from a branch. Suddenly it speaks.
PIGEON
Listen to what’s inside you.
Jon listens to the infinite silence inside himself. He

mouths another subtitled sentence.
JON
(Subtitled)
I can’t hear anything.
(And then, terrified)
I can’t hear ANYTHING!
Jon’s P.O.V:
Still in an infinite, awful silence PASSERS-BY ask him if

he’s okay. He isn’t. He’s having a VERY BAD TRIP.
JON (CONT'D)
(Subtitled - terrified)
There’s nothing inside of me!
Nothing!
95.
INT. GREEN ROOM - EVENING
Jon sits lost in dark thoughts, drinking from a bottle,

shaky and pale and shivery from his drug comedown. Frank Jr
lies in his pram. Jon crosses over to him and stands
staring down at him, swaying slightly.
JON
(Drunk)
You think you’re better than me,
don’t you?
The baby stares at him.
JON (CONT’D)
Well you’re not better than me.
You know what creative talent is?
It’s just being born with some
extra brain cells or something.
There’ll be some flap of brain
tissue in there or something and
if it flaps to the left you’ve
got great musical talent and if
it flaps to the right you
haven’t. That’s all talent is.
It’s just luck! Olivia Newton-
John is just LUCKY. Einstein is
just lucky! Frank is just lucky!
Then, unexpectedly, the baby STARTS TO LAUGH.
Jon stares at him, the colour draining from his face.

There’s something so mocking, triumphant about the laugh -
the laughter of the next generation of genius.
Jon backs away and walks stiffly from the room, trying not
to look like he’s running away.
INT. BAR - NIGHT
Post gig. Jon is drinking with Bruno.
BRUNO
I knew the very first time I saw
Frank that I was witnessing
something incredible. And to have
seen his rise to fame like this,
it’s been an honour. It’s the
birth of a legend.
Jon stares blearily ahead.
JON
(Thickly)
No it isn’t.
96.
BRUNO
It isn’t?
JON
No. Frank won’t be a legend.
People with synth drums and brass
sections don’t become legends.
They stay around for ages and
then just drift quietly away when
everyone concerned is happy for
them to do so. Like Phil Collins
will. I’ve made him successful,
but I can’t make him a legend.
BRUNO
(Upset)
I disagree. I totally disagree.
He could be a legend!
Jon watches Bruno.
JON (V.O.)
If Don was right, and we were all
just Frank’s Disciples, then I
knew which Disciple I would be.
JON (CONT'D)
(Hoarsely)
There’s only one way to turn a
career into a legend.
BRUNO
What’s that?
Jon slowly forms his hand into a GUN and raises it to his
head. Then he mimes pulling the trigger.
Bruno stares at him solemnly. Jon manages a ghastly smile.
JON
(Mouth dry)
I’m joking. I’m just joking.
(Beat) Okay. I better go.
He gets up and walks unsteadily away. Bruno sits lost in

thought.
At the door Jon turns to look back nervously at Bruno,

wondering what he’s done.

Electrolysis’ first single
received massive publicity on the
back of me being stabbed on the
Tube and it reached eighty-seven
in the American Billboard.
(MORE)
97.

We were finally on the brink of
success. Nana immediately left
the band.
EXT. CAR PARK - DAY
Nana loads her drums and Frank Jr, into a beat up VW. She
turns to a broken-hearted Frank and hugs him. She turns to
Baraque and hugs him. She turns to Jon.
NANA
(Quietly)
Someone should kill you.
JON
(Beat)
Sorry?
Nana climbs into her car and drives off. The band watch her
go.

A stateside tour was hurriedly
organised, supporting Cyndi
Lauper. Frank, it was believed,
had not been to his homeland for
twenty years. Now, he was to
return in triumph.
INT. AIRPLANE - ECONOMY CABIN - DAY
Jon sits in a row beside Baraque and the new DRUMMER, who
looks like someone from Kajagoogoo.
JON
So he’s really in the cabin
somewhere? Without the head on?
Baraque nods slightly.
AIRPLANE AISLE
Jon walks down the aisle, picking out FACES of passengers.
A CHARISMATIC, MALE, HANDSOME face catches Jon’s eye. Jon

PEERS at him. His face is full of LIFE and EXPRESSION, like
Serge Gainsbourg. He smiles at Jon.
JON (V.O.)
Was that his face? The...
(snarling)...charismatic, craggy-
faced, Serge Gainsbourg fucking
lookalike?
98.
Jon smiles back at the man. Jon’s face is PLAIN and EMPTY
in comparison.
He keeps walking up the aisle, sees another handsome,

expression-filled FACE.
JON (V.O.) (CONT'D)

...Or was it him? Did he get
those deep-set fucking
fascinating features when he was
living in Alaska? Or Berlin? Or
Bulgaria? Or Kansas?
Jon spots another fascinating looking MAN, and then

ANOTHER, and ANOTHER.
JON (V.O.) (CONT'D)

Which one WAS he?
He reaches the toilet. He enters and slams the door closed.

The lock goes from VACANT to OCCUPIED.
INT. HARPOS - CHICAGO - EVENING
A medium-sized venue which is packed. The stage is DARK. As

we watch we hear the band’s opening track begin - only now
it’s the slightly ridiculous sound of the new DRUMMER’S
synth-drums. Then Baraque’s bass joins in.
It sounds like a Disney version of Frank’s music - but the

audience are enjoying it.
The lights rise on the huge stage area. A BRASS SECTION

begins to play. Jon dances into view playing his
synthesiser around his neck - a cross between an accountant
and Howard Jones.
The audience are enjoying it.
Then Frank APPEARS - he’s been lowered from the roof -

flying down to earth. He’s wearing a white suit and his
big, false head is perfectly BLANK AND WHITE.
The crowd go wild.
Frank lands on the stage and raises the mic to sing. A

CAMERA on the front of the stage begins to track along,
trained on the audience and immediately the IMAGE of one of
the audience’s faces APPEARS ON FRANK’S HEAD.
The audience go even more wild.
As Frank continues singing other faces from the audience

appear on his head - it’s like he’s some kind of synthesis
of all of them.
99.
INT. HARPOS - THE WINGS - LATER
Frank stands in the wings watching Cyndi Lauper on-stage

performing Girls Just Wanna Have Fun.
Jon, stands a little apart. He notices an ELDERLY LADY

standing staring at Frank from the shadows. Something about
her catches his attention. The old woman senses Jon
watching her and quickly turns and walks away.
HIGHWAY
The band’s TOUR BUS drives across America. We see a SIGN

for Detroit...
AMERICAN BILLBOARD
We see Electrolysis has crept up to sixty eight.
HOTEL ROOM INTERVIEW
Frank is being interviewed by a JOURNALIST
JOURNALIST
The language you sing in? Is that
the language you invented when
you grew up in Alaska?
FRANK
No, I sing in English. The head
just kind of muffles it.
HIGHWAY
The tour bus roars past a sign for Cleveland.
AMERICAN BILLBOARD
Electrolysis are now at fifty three.
TOUR BUS
Another interview with Frank.
JOURNALIST
What about when you’re in the
shower?
100.
FRANK
I wear a plastic bag over it in
the shower.
JOURNALIST
How do you breathe when you’re
wearing the plastic bag?
FRANK
I cut little breathing holes into
the bag.
JOURNALIST
What about eating?
Frank sighs.
AMERICAN BILLBOARD
Electrolysis have made it up to forty nine.
HIGHWAY
The tour bus roars towards the New York skyline.
INT. NEW YORK HOTEL - EARLY EVENING
Jon sits in the foyer reading a newspaper, waiting for the

rest of the band.
WOMAN’S VOICE (O.S.)

Excuse me, is there a Frank
Kapsburger staying here?
Jon glances up to see the same ELDERLY WOMAN at the desk.
DESK CLERK
(Checking)
No Ma’am.
ELDERLY WOMAN
(Hesitantly)
He might be here under a
different surname? He’s a
musician?
DESK CLERK
(Harder)
I’m sorry, I can’t help you.
Slowly the old woman turns and walks away. Jon watches her
go with interest.
101.
EXT. NEW YORK HOTEL - DAY
Jon follows the woman out and watches as she climbs into a
taxi. The cab drives off and Jon hurries to the road and
waves down another cab.
EXT. HOUSE - SUBURBS OF NEW YORK - EARLY EVENING
The very heart of suburbia. Jon pays off his cab and stands
staring at a sturdy, picket-fence home. He walks up the
path and rings the bell.
After a moment the door opens to reveal the ELDERLY WOMAN.

She stares at Jon questioningly.
INT. BEDROOM - HOUSE - LATER
Jon wanders into the bedroom. The Elderly Woman stands at

the door, watching.
He stares around him - it’s the bedroom of an ordinary

teenage boy. He moves to open a drawer, hesitates, looks to
old woman for permission. She nods.
He opens the drawer and sees a FRAMED PHOTOGRAPH amongst

the clothes.
JON’S P.O.V - a PHOTOGRAPH of a PERFECTLY ORDINARY,

SMILING, 7-YEAR-OLD BOY wearing school uniform. A younger
version of the elderly woman stands smiling beside him, her
arm around him.
He looks again at the elderly woman. She nods, with a sad

smile.
ELDERLY WOMAN
He would be about seven, then.
Jon sinks slowly onto the bed, stunned.
JON
(Softly to himself)
You’re just normal. (Beat) You’re
just normal.
He notices a shelf on the wall. On it are lined WITH

BRILLIANT PLAY-DOH ANIMALS.
JON (CONT’D)
(Beat)
Well. You’re still just normal.
102.
EXT. STREETS - EVENING
Jon walks, dazed.
JON (V.O.)
I’d always pictured Frank to be
impossibly amazing under that
head, more amazing than I could
ever conceive, with the face of
an orphaned Alaskan wolf-child
genius or something. But now I
realised. He didn’t wear the head
because he HAD to for some
profound reason. He wore it just
because he ...WANTED to. And as I
walked towards the venue for the
evening, it was if an immense
weight had been taken from my
shoulders. The weight of love.
The weight of hate. And for the
first time in years I felt happy.
JON (CONT'D)
He’s just normal.
Jon smiles. He begins to run.
EXT. RADIO CITY - EVENING
The huge Radio City, blazing with lights. The queue of fans
lines the block.
INT. RADIO CITY - WINGS - EVENING
Frank, the new Drummer and Baraque stand in the wings

watching the immense venue filling up with fans - thousands
of them. Here and there amongst the audience, we see people
wearing imitations of FRANK’S HEAD.
Frank watches, immensely disturbed. He raises his hands and

looks at them. They’re SHAKING.
An ASSISTANT appears beside Frank.
ASSISTANT
Mr Kapsburger? There’s someone at
the stage door to see you?
FRANK
Who?
ASSISTANT
He says you know him? He’s called
Bruno Anthony?
103.
Frank stares silently out at the crowd gathering.
ASSISTANT (CONT’D)
Should I get security to move him
on?
FRANK
(Quietly)
No. No, I’ll go and see him.
EXT. RADIO CITY - STAGE DOOR - EVENING
Jon runs around the corner and heads towards the stage
door. He sees Frank emerge from the stage door, his back to
him. He breaks into a smile.
JON
Frank!
Frank turns to him and then back to someone else, standing

ahead of him. Jon sees it’s Bruno, standing in a black
coat, his hand in his pocket.
JON (CONT’D)
(Alarmed)
Frank! No!
But Frank is already walking towards Bruno, who looks white

with nerves.
JON (CONT’D)
No!
BRUNO
(To Frank)
It’s okay. I’m here to help.
Frank stands motionless. Behind him, we see Jon sprinting

towards him, trying to make it...
Then Bruno aims a gun at Frank’s head and FIRES.
The side of Frank’s head EXPLODES, like JFK’s head. Shards

of it spray all over Jon. He shields his face from the
debris.
Frank, his head in smithereens, but still concealing his

face, crumbles to the floor.
Jon stares in CONFUSED HORROR at Bruno, who gives him a

perplexed look back. Then he turns and runs off into the
shadows.
Jon stares in shock at Frank’s lifeless body. He pulls

himself together and runs towards a TELEPHONE BOX at the
end of the alley.
104.
INT. PHONE BOX - CONTINUOUS
JON
I need an ambulance! He’s been
shot. My friend’s been shot in
the head. I don’t know...I DON’T
KNOW! He’s not moving...
EXT. STAGE DOOR - MOMENTS LATER
Jon runs back up and stops.
Frank is GONE.
Lying there - on it’s own - is just Frank’s broken HEAD.
He quickly scans the alley. Nothing. There is nobody there.
CLOSE on Frank’s broken head lying there in pieces at Jon’s

feet.
And we...
FADE TO BLACK.
SUPERED TITLE
...which reads “Twenty years later.”
INT. OFFICE - CAMBRIDGE - DAY
A MIDDLE-AGED MAN, his back to us, stares at a computer

screen.
On the wall beside him hang numerous MARKETING AWARDS:

Marketing Week Award. Marketer of the Year 2008. Jon Finch.
ON THE SCREEN - An empty Google search box.
The man’s finger drifts over the keyboard, wondering which

key to press.
His finger hovers over the letter F.
He presses it.
ON THE COMPUTER SCREEN - The GOOGLE AUTOFILL FUNCTION kicks

in. All the search terms beginning with the letter F that
this man has ever typed appear in a scroll-down list:
“Facebook - dangers of identity theft?”
“France - moving to?”

105.
“France - new life in?”
“Frank Kapsburger”
“Frequent need to urinate at night.”
“Frequent urinating - normal?”
“Frequent urination - cancer?”
“Frequent urination - bladder cancer?”
“Frequent urination - drinking too much tea?”
“Fucking college girls videos”
We see the FACE of this middle-aged man. It is JON.
His eyes scan the list of search terms and come to rest on
“Frank Kapsburger”.
JON (V.O.)
I never discovered what happened
to Frank that night.
Jon returns to the Google search page. He highlights the

words “Frank Kapsburger”. His finger hovers over the SEARCH
button.
JON (V.O.) (CONT'D)

Every so often - maybe twice a
week - I’d google his name just
to see what people were writing.
They were never writing very
much. Frank had indeed sparkled
briefly and then burned out into
eternal blackness.
CUT TO:
YOU TUBE VIDEO CLIPS
Extremely low-quality VHS SNIPPET - shot by some fan in the

audience - of the GHOSTS performing at CHOO-CHOO’s in
Cardiff.
CUT TO:
Turner presents the YOU TUBE FREAK ZONE VODCAST.
TURNER
A snippet of bizarre footage has
emerged on You Tube of long
forgotten ‘80s freak band The
Ghosts.
106.
We see more of the VHS FOOTAGE. There’s Jon on keyboards.

He looks really young. Klaus looks terrifying and
charismatic. Frank looks wonderful and otherworldly.
TURNER (CONT'D)
A number of viewers have written
to enquire where the Ghosts are
now, and the fact is, we have no
idea. Frank Kapsburger is
missing, presumed dead, after
being assaulted by a fan in New
York in the mid-eighties. The
other members of the band have,
I’m afraid, faded into total
obscurity.
ON JON
...watching sadly.
TURNER (V.O.) (CONT'D)

And then I tracked you down.
INT. HOTEL ROOM - PRESENT
Jon stares down at the dictaphone.
JON
And then you tracked me down. And
that’s the end of my story.
TURNER
That’s it? You’ve no idea what
happened to him?
JON
No. I moved back to Cambridge.
Got a job in marketing. Inherited
my parents’ old house. Never saw
him again.
Turner turns off the dictaphone.
JON (CONT'D)
I hope I gave you some
interesting, um, oral history.
TURNER
(Clearly disappointed)
I thought you knew what had
happened to him.
JON
I don’t.
107.
Turner stares at Jon.
JON (CONT'D)
I’m sorry to have wasted your
time.
CUT TO:
I/E. JON’S HOUSE - CAMBRIDGE - EARLY EVENING
A dull suburban house in a dull suburban street - the same

one Jon grew up in. KIDS are playing football in the street
outside.
Jon walks from his office towards the bathroom, stopping to

look in at the room he grew up in.
His 13-YEAR-OLD SON is in there now. The boy is a bit

overweight, pale, geeky, spends too much time in his room.
He’s drawing a COMIC STRIP.
JON
There’s some kids playing
football outside. I was thinking
you might want to join them? It’s
lovely weather.
The boy is too engrossed in his art to answer. Jon joins

him.
JON (CONT’D)
What are you doing?
SON
It’s my new Super Hero.
Jon examines the drawing.
SON (CONT’D)
Do you like him?
JON
Well...he looks just like
Spiderman?
SON
(Wild-eyed)
No he doesn’t! He doesn’t look
anything like him! I made him up.
Jon stares sadly at his son - the apple having fallen so

close to the tree.
108.
INT. RESTAURANT - DAY
Jon sits eating a lonely lunch. We hear raucous laughter

from a nearby table. A BREAD ROLL suddenly hits him.
Annoyed, Jon gets up.
NEXT TABLE
Four drunk YOUNG WOMEN are eating, laughing. They all look
like Lady Gaga. A small elderly MAN sits with them,
listening to a MP3 player.
JON
Excuse me?
The girls ignore him.
JON (CONT’D)
Excuse me?
The Elderly Man notices him and takes off his headphones.
He speaks in a whispery American voice.
MAN
Are they bothering you?
JON
They’re throwing bread.
The Man looks at the women with distaste.
MAN
They’re fucking animals. I
apologise.
Jon starts to walk away and then stops. That voice...
He turns back.
JON
Buckley...?
EXT. OUTSIDE RESTUARANT - DAY
The two men stand smoking. Buckley looks back through the
window at the girls.
BUCKLEY
My latest act. Very...lively. Lot
of record company attention.
He exhales smoke wearily.
BUCKLEY (CONT’D)
I hate them.
109.
JON
I didn’t think you were real.
Buckley nods thoughtfully at this.
JON (CONT’D)
Do you ever see any of the band
Buckley?
BUCKLEY
No. I heard Klaus was a primary
school teacher now, but...
He shakes his head, lapses into silence.
JON
What about Frank?
Buckley looks back at the girls.
BUCKLEY
(Beat)
I should be going.
He starts to walk back to the restaurant.
JON
I miss him.
Buckley stops and looks back at Jon - a forlorn figure. A

look of pity crosses his face.
BUCKLEY
I don’t know if I should tell you
this.
JON
What?
BUCKLEY
I heard a rumour.
JON
What rumour?
BUCKLEY
(Beat)
Oregon.
Jon stares at him.
INT. JON’S HOUSE - BEDROOM - EVENING
Jon is frantically packing. His Son watches from the

doorway.
110.
SON
I don’t want to go to America.
JON
It’ll be an adventure! It’ll be a
special adventure!
SON
Why can’t I stay with mum?
JON
Because Mum’s on holiday with her
new boyfriend.
SON
Why can’t I be with them? Why
can’t I...
JON
(Almost hysterical)
I HAVE TO DO THIS! OKAY? I HAVE
TO DO THIS!
His Son stares at him, slightly frightened by his father’s

manic gaze. Silence.
SON
Okay.
EXT. M4 MOTORWAY - NIGHT
Jon drives onto the motorway, a look of PROFOUNDLY EXCITED

DETERMINATION on his face. His SON sits beside him.
I/E. UGLY AIRPORT HOTEL - NIGHT
Jon and his Son - looking exhausted - finally arrive.
INT. UGLY HOTEL ROOM - NIGHT
Jon’s son sleeps in one bed. Jon lies on the other watching
the You Tube clip of the Ghosts playing.
INT. PLANE - MORNING
Jon and his Son sit in economy, wearing headphones -

watches EVERYBODY LOVES RAYMOND on the overhead screen.
Jon’s Son - and everyone else on the plane - is laughing

uncontrollably. Jon glances at him with irritation.
111.
EXT. EUGENE AIRPORT - OREGON - DAY
The plane lands.
I/E. MID-RANGE HIRE CAR - RURAL OREGON - DAY
And suddenly, it is MAGICAL.
The road becomes a beautiful country track, strewn with

autumn colours, leading all the way out into the middle of
nowhere.
And in the middle of nowhere stands...
EXT. ROADHOUSE MUSIC VENUE - DAY
Jon pulls up.
He stays in his seat for a moment. He’s too nervous to

move.
SON
Where are we?
JON
Stay in the car.
SON
What?
JON
Stay in the car.
He gets out.
INT. ROADHOUSE MUSIC VENUE - DAY
Jon walks in to the small, dingy room and stops.
Frank is at the other end of the room, fussing with a TAPE

DECK and harmonium. He’s wearing a slightly different
version of his head.
He stops, noticing Jon. They stare at each other in silence

for a moment.
JON
(Emotional)
Frank.
He walks a few steps closer.

112.
JON (CONT’D)
You’ve changed your hair.
Frank instinctively pats at his painted parting. But he

continues to stare at Jon in silence.
JON (CONT’D)
It’s me.
(Beat)
Jon.
(Beat)
Finch.
FRANK
Yes, I know.
JON
So. You’re alive?
FRANK
I’m fine.
JON
Where’ve you been, Frank? I
looked everywhere for you.
FRANK
(Carefully)
Oh, I...I don’t really know. I’ve
had problems with my memory since
I got shot in the head.
Jon stares at Frank. Is his voice different? It could be

Frank. Or it could be Frank Jr. Or it could be Bruno.
FRANK (CONT’D)
I’m learning the old songs again.
Would you like to hear?
JON
Yes.
Frank presses play on the old tape deck and we hear one of
the Vetno tracks playing. Frank plays along for a moment on
the harmonium.
Then he begins to dance. But it isn’t quite right - it

isn’t Frank’s strange, shuffling dance. Jon watches for a
moment.
JON (CONT’D)
That isn’t right.
Frank switches off the music.
FRANK
What?
113.
JON
That’s not your dance.
FRANK
(Beat)
Well, what’s my dance?
Jon thinks about it, the memories flooding back. Then he

begins to do Frank’s dance. And it’s PERFECT.
Frank watches for a moment and then starts to copy him. We

watch the two of them doing the strange jerky, shuffling
dance for a moment.
We hear the beginning of Doomsday by Elvis Perkins.
And slowly we BEGIN TO PULL BACK, through the window,

watching Jon finally being Frank.
We PULL BACK, past Jon’s SON who stands outside, watching

his father through the window...
And as the music builds into joyful life, we PULL FURTHER

BACK, framing the little roadhouse venue against the vast
sky and then...
FADE TO BLACK.

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Frank 1st Draft 2009

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Frank

Peter Straughan and Jon Ronson

Based on the memoir by Jon Ronson

Revised First Draft

August 6th 2009

...as a finger depresses the RECORD button.

JON FINCH - a middle-aged, dull English man - stares at the

He has a dull voice.

Jon stares at the dictaphone, considering.

EXT. FARM - TEXAS - NIGHT - THE PAST

A small, run-down, farmstead sits under the starry night

SUPERED TITLES appear, reading “Deep in the heart of Texas.

A moment later we hear the song Deep In The Heart Of Texas,

The small figure of a MAN runs out of a barn and towards

INT. HOUSE - MOMENTS LATER

The man clatters up the stairs. His WIFE appears at the

INT. BEDROOM - NIGHT

A SIX-MONTH OLD BABY - Frank Kapsburger - lies in an old-

On the “Clap, Clap, Clap”, the Baby CLAPS ITS HANDS IN

The Parents stare at their child in HORROR.

Clap, Clap, Clap. Again the baby claps in perfect time -

SONG (O.S.) (CONT’D)

We reach the instrumental section of the song. Mom and Dad

The instrumental section seems to be going on forever. They

We CLOSE on the Baby’s little hands as he opens them to

EXT. FARMHOUSE - TEXAS - NIGHT

The Father strides out of the house holding the RECORD

INT. HOTEL ROOM - PRESENT

Jon stares at the dictaphone.

As he looks up at the journalist with a dull expression we

JON (V.O.) (CONT’D)

EXT. FARMHOUSE - TEXAS - NIGHT

The Father begins to chop the record player into pieces.

On the horizon LIGHTNING FLASHES...

We hear the mighty opening chord of the Maestoso-Allegro

INT. LONDON SCHOOL OF MUSIC - DAY - THE EARLY 1980S

As the music continues and the titles roll we are TRACKING

We pass a long series of MUSIC ROOMS - getting a glimpse in

INT. AUDITION ROOM - DAY

THREE MUSIC LECTURERS sit in a row, scrutinising a nervous

Supered Titles read “London School of Music. 1982”

The Music Lecturers consider him for a moment.

Jon pauses. This is his moment to tell the Lecturers of his

Jon stops playing.

MUSIC LECTURER (CONT’D)

Jon stares at him.

MUSIC LECTURER (CONT’D)

They stare at him.

They stare at him. Suddenly, Jon’s eyes widen in

INT. ELEVATOR - THE PAST

A FLASHBACK: Jon is standing in an elevator. The MUZAC is

INT. AUDITION ROOM - DAY

Jon blinks out of his flash-back.

He turns back to the piano and starts to play again.

It’s basically Ruby Tuesday.

The lecturers stare at him.

INT. TRAIN - DAY

Jon sits trying not to cry. He wipes his eyes, embarrassed,

EXT. TRUMPINGTON TRAIN STATION - DAY

The train pulls out leaving an upset Jon standing on the

I/E. JON’S HOUSE - BEDROOM - EARLY EVENING

A dull suburban house in a dull suburban street.

Jon’s room is decorated with cheesy music posters:

An Athena print of a KITTEN playing a violin; A PUPPY