NAME THAT TUNE

In one of the many great columns by appointed mentor TERRI ROSSIO, he compares lyrics in music to action description and dialogue in a good script. As he points out, in a screenplay, not everything has to rhyme, in fact, it shouldn't, unless you are writing the sequel to "MAMMA MIA".

By the way, the aforementioned brought in over 600 million bucks worldwide- incredible!

In doing so, Rossio uses several excerpts from songs by THE EAGLES to connect with California and the art, or sometimes dismal duty, of screenwriting.

"There she stood in the doorway- I heard the mission bell. I was thinking to myself... this could be heaven or this could be hell"

Eagles, "Hotel California", slightly edited, 1970-something, lol.

Good stuff, eh? I was thrilled to find it, and for all I know this is practiced in the first week of every "Screenwriting 101" course of every community college across the nation, but I don't care, it's FUN!

So, I'll cobble my own lyric-script excerpt for you to decipher, but it won't be as easy to figure out. Lyrics from one song will be included, but not always in succession. Words and names may be changed to protect the innocent. We reserve the right to, blah, blah, you know the story.

Here we go:

FADE IN

INT. WILLIAMS KITCHEN - DAY

It's a humid, southern summer day. Gloria sweats over the stove in her apron, Billy Bob in his wife-beater. He sits on a rickety barstool, picks his gapped teeth with a matchstick.

BILLY BOB
(snarly)
We've got some straightenin' out to do.

GLORIA
(defensive)
This has nothing to do with you!

BILLY BOB
(pissed)
You and your so-called career, thinkin' you can move off to Hollywood and write movies! All this shit about "peace and serenity", the internets, I don't know what's got into you!

Gloria dives a ladle deep into the boiling peas, wishing it was a knife into Billy Bob's chest. She THWACKS a pile onto a plate, shoves it in his face.

GLORIA
(defiant)
I've got to get a move on with my life.

BILLY BOB
(takes the plate)
Guess fairytales don't always have a happy endin'.

Gloria goes to the window, it's getting late, dark outside.

GLORIA
Billy Bob, it's time for me to be a big girl now.

FADE OUT

Do you know the song? And how about the artist, there's clues in them there lines!

Post your answer, thoughts, lyrics... and have a good weekend!