:12:00
It's just that it's,
well, rather unusual, isn't it?
:12:03
Not for me.
:12:05
I imagine you've given it
a great deal of thought.
:12:07
No, I haven't.
:12:10
So what have you been doing?
:12:14
What any red-blooded
American screenwriter
:12:17
would or should have been doing
:12:20
for the first 19 and a fraction weeks
of his employment.
:12:24
Water-skiing in St Tropez,
:12:26
lying in the sun in Antibes,
studying Greek.
:12:29
Greek?
:12:30
There was this starlet
representing the Greek film industry
:12:34
at the Cannes Festival.
:12:36
Then, of course,
a few weeks unlearning Greek,
:12:39
which involved
a considerable amount of vodka
:12:41
and an unpremeditated trip to Madrid
for the bullfights,
:12:43
which fortunately, since
I can't bear the sight of blood,
:12:46
had long since gone on to Seville.
:12:49
Weeks 17 and 18 were spent
in the casino at Monte Carlo,
:12:53
in a somewhat ill-advised attempt
to win enough money
:12:56
to buy back my $5,000-a-week,
plus expenses, contract
:12:59
from my friend, employer and patron,
Mr Alexander Meyerheim,
:13:03
thus not having to write the picture
at all. Take a note.
:13:06
For the textbook I will someday do
on the art of screenwriting,
:13:10
never play 13, 31
and the corners thereof
:13:14
for any serious length of time for
any serious money. It doesn't work.
:13:19
And now I have to. Shall we begin?
:13:24
An Alexander Meyerheim production.
:13:27
Caps, quotes. The Girl Who Stole
the Eiffel Tower.
:13:30
You do like the title?
:13:33
Oh, yes,
it certainly sounds intriguing.
:13:36
It intrigued Meyerheim, too.
He bought the title, script unseen.
:13:40
Original story and screenplay
by Richard Benson.
:13:44
Page one. Fade in. Exterior.
Paris, naturally.
:13:48
Let's see, night or day?
:13:51
Day.
:13:54
Begin... with a shot of...
of the Eiffel Tower.
:13:58
The camera zooms in. Standing
windswept and alone on a platform