You Can Count on Me

"YOU CAN COUNT ON ME" Screenplay by Kenneth Lonergan SHOOTING DRAFT 2000 FADE IN: INT./EXT. A CAR (MOVING). NIGHT The shifting lights from the odd passing car play over the faces of MR. and MRS. PRESCOTT, a pleasant-looking couple in their late thirties, dressed up for a night out. Mr. Prescott drives them along a dark hilly two-lane highway. MRS. PRESCOTT Why do they always put braces on teenage girls at the exact moment when they're the most self-conscious about their appearance? Pause. MR. PRESCOTT I don't know. UP AHEAD, near the top of the oncoming hill, a RED PICKUP TRUCK is poking its nose out of the short exit lane. MRS. PRESCOTT Tom -- MR. PRESCOTT I see him... The PICKUP LURCHES into the road, with not nearly enough time to spare. MRS. PRESCOTT Tom! MR. PRESCOTT Jesus! Mr. Prescott swerves OVER the DOUBLE SOLID WHITE LINE and clears the truck as -- Another pair of HEADLIGHTS from an oncoming truck RISES UP over the HILL directly in FRONT of them -- MRS. PRESCOTT (Screams) Tom! Mr. Prescott's FOOT STOMPS on the BRAKE. We BLACK OUT and there is the SOUND of a terrible CRASH. CUT TO: EXT. THE PRESCOTTS' FRONT DOOR. NIGHT The SHADOW of a big man looms up onto the front door. A big finger RINGS the BELL. A moment. AMY, a thirteen-year-old baby-sitter with braces, opens the door and looks up. In the b.g. we see TWO CHILDREN, SAMMY (Samantha) and TERRY PRESCOTT, in their pajamas, lying on their stomachs in the living room, watching television. Sammy is eleven.