Beard of Hate

INT. POST 232 - NIGHT

A DIY-garage rock venue. Dimly-lim, grungy. A decent
gathering of TEENAGERS and TWENTY-SOMETHINGS crowd around
the stage at the far end of the room.
MANAGER (O.S)
Ladies and gents, prepare yourself
for RED LENIN!
The kids all clap and cheer. THE BAND walks on-stage:
ANDY MASON sits behind the drums. He looks like a cartoon
character from the show Bobs Burgers. He smiles a cheesy
smile at the crowd.
JEFF BURNS, the rhythm guitarist. White as a ghost. He
fumbles with his guitar and looks at the floor.
BJ LOGAN, the bassist. He resembles a wildman who broke out
of a metalheads closet.
Finally, PETER MASON, Andys older brother, and
quintessential "rocker", walks on stage. Hes the front-man
of Red Lenin. A charismatic, hip dude with a well-managed
beard. He sways up to the mic defiantly, guitar in hand.
The band strikes up their first song, A ROCK FOR TWO. Its a
real heavy, pounding, rock anthem. The first few chords play
and then-CUT TO:
INT. MASON HOUSEHOLD - NIGHT
Peter sits alone in his room on his bed, guitar in hand.
Its messy and dark.
A prescription bottle sits, seal unbroken, on a desk.
Peter plays the same chords from A Rock For Two. Hes
struggling, and hits a lot of sour notes and messes up the
chords.
FADE TO BLACK:

2.

EXT. KEARNY, NEW JERSEY - DAY

The film switches to a documentary style. A majority of the
film is in this documentary style, occasionally breaking
from it for more stylized "off-the-record" action.
A series of establishing shots of the town of Kearny. A
park. A hill. A baseball diamond.
PETER (V.O.)
Ive um, Ive always taken
inspiration from, you know, my home
town in my music--well, really,
everything I do.
Abandoned factories dotting a river. A scenic view of New
York City.
PETER (V.O.)
I think the concept of a home town
is really cool. Like, theres
millions of little clusters you
could be from, but youre from this
one.
A movie theater. Pizzaland, made famous by The Sopranos. A
soccer pitch.
PETER (V.O.)
Just the whole, well, randomness of
it all. But its not random, cause
this is kinda where youre meant to
be, for better or worse, you know?
INT. MASON HOUSEHOLD - DAY
Peter Mason is interviewed in his room. The chyron reads,
"PETER MASON - SINGER-SONGWRITER".
PETER
Its kind of a comforting feeling.
Or maybe its sorta scary? Im not
really sure, but at least I know
Im here instead of, yknow,
somewhere else.
A few shots of things scattered around Peters room--a
drumset, stacks of records, an old Nintendo Gamecube, his
guitar.

(CONTINUED)

CONTINUED:

3.
PETER (O.S.)
I try to figure shit out like that
with my music.

We come back to him.

PETER
It helps.
EXT. MASON HOUSEHOLD - DAY
Andy Mason is interviewed outside, in front of his garage.
His chyron reads "ANDREW MASON - DRUMMER".
ANDY
Peters always been about music,
his whole life and shit. Weve been
playing in bands together since we
were, like, twelve.
Clips of several shows featuring Peter and Andy and a
revolving door of other band members as the two age.
ANDY
Ive always sorta just come along
for the ride. Hes always been the
guy in the limelight.
A clip of Andy playing the drums.
ANDY (V.O.)
Second banana? I dont know if Id
call it that exactly.
INT. DIAMONDS "OFFICE" - NIGHT
RONNIE DIAMONDS sits at his desk. Hes young, really
young--too young to convince us that hes the bigshot he
carries himself as. His ill-fitted suit is matched only by
his sunglasses indoors. His chyron reads: "RONNIE DIAMONDS BAND MANAGER"
RONNIE
Well, you know, I discovered the
Masons. I knew that Peter
especially had something special in
him. I knew it was important that I
work with him. Also, that sister of
theirs is pretty hot.
A family photo of the Masons is shown. One person,
presumably the Mason girl, is blurred out.
(CONTINUED)

CONTINUED:

4.

RONNIE
What can I say? Im a man of
business.
EXT. MASON HOUSEHOLD - DAY
Shot of the pool. A white picket fence.
ANDY
In all the years, Peters never
really been able to stick to one
gig. Hes always changing our
sound, our members, our band name.
More clips of shows are shown.
ANDY (V.O.)
At any point in time we were Sex
Piglet, Steely Dive-Man, Lick The
Churro--

INT. MASON HOUSEHOLD - DAY

James counts each name out on his fingers.
PETER
--Rock Em Sock Em Jagaloons, The
Last Temptations of Arty Fonz, Up
Yours Bea Arthur--

INT. FEINBERG HOUSEHOLD - NIGHT

Ronnie reads from a notepad.
RONNIE
--Top of the Mourning, Gumshoe
Spider Cloud, Parenthesis--

5.

EXT. MASON HOUSEHOLD - DAY

ANDY
--Buddy Holly was a Dick, but Im
relieved to think hes finally
settled on Red Lenin.

INT. MASON HOUSEHOLD - DAY

JAMES
Ive been thinking of changing the
band name again. Maybe something
like Body Double or Paper Ship.
EXT. MASON HOUSEHOLD - DAY
Some shuffling behind the camera. Mike looks at the
DIRECTOR, offscreen.
DIRECTOR (O.S.)
Did you say "Red Linen?"
ANDY
Pfffft. Linen? Whatdya talking
about? Lenin. You know, like the
Beatle?