Stealing from Thieves - Feature Screenplay

INT. DIAMOND DOGS - CASINO SECURITY ROOM - NIGHT

Digital screens display people at a casino. Gambling, eating, drinking. One of the screens is a DJ set by a lavish pool.

GREG HOWARD (mid 20s, boyish) is on the cameras, walking into a bathroom in the casino.

INT. DIAMOND DOGS - BATHROOM - NIGHT

Alone in the bathroom, Greg stares into the mirror. He’s wearing flashy clothes and has gelled hair.

GREG

Help yourself, it’s all paid for.

Way too polite. He readjusts his posture.

GREG

Help yourself, it’s all paid for!

Too much likes a salesman. He puts on sunglasses.

GREG

Help yourself! It’s all paid for!

Boastful. Bragging. Perfect.

INT. POOL PARTY - NIGHT

Greg sits at a VIP table around a massive outdoor pool at a Las Vegas resort. Bottles everywhere. Dance music throbs.

LOUISE (30s, glamorous) cozies up next to Greg in a black bikini. She gestures to a bottle of vodka on the table.

GREG

Help yourself! It’s all paid for!

DON (60s, wizened, short) comes up to them. SECURITY moves

velvet ropes away to let him in their section.

DON

What a racket. Some champagne might help numb your ears.

GREG

What do you think, ladies? It's the casino's money paying for it.

The women around him clap in agreement.

DON

You had a great string of luck, Mr. Howard. We’re offering you a suite, right in the casino. 32nd floor. Wake up to a view of the Strip, get breakfast, then hit the tables.

GREG

Thank you, Don.

Greg takes a fistful of CASINO CHIPS out.

DON

Casino staff aren’t allowed to accept tips, as much as I’d like.

GREG

You’re the manager, you could change the rules.

DON

I benefit in other ways.

Don leaves them. Greg throws the chips to his fellow partiers. They scramble to pick them up.

LOUISE

No wonder you have so many friends.

GREG

I don’t know them. I told security to let anyone hot in here. Looks like they nailed it.

Louise swishes the vodka bottle in her hand.

LOUISE

Feels heavy. You didn't have much.

GREG

I don't drink.

LOUISE

So you're this much of an asshole sober. Good to know.

Louise gets up to leave. Greg takes off his sunglasses and offers a handshake.

GREG

I didn’t mean to be rude. I’m Greg.

LOUISE

I’m Tricia, and you don’t have to try so hard.

Greg looks around before leaning in close.

GREG

If I want the high roller treatment, I have to act the part.

LOUISE

You’re spending money so you look like you’re spending money?

GREG

I spend money so I look like I lose money. I play blackjack, full-time.

LOUISE

Are you good?

GREG

It got me in here.

LOUISE

Where you don’t dance, and you don’t drink.

GREG

I like to swim. But it’s not that kind of party.

LOUISE

What’s the point if you don’t like any of it?

GREG

Just the cost of doing business.

Don comes back, glaring at a man leaning over to two beautiful women taking selfies in swimsuits.

DON

VIPs only. Get out.

The man waves Don off. Don slaps him across the face. Louise

picks up the vodka bottle before he falls onto the table.

DON

I know everyone’s face. It’s the cornerstone of customer service.

The man scurries off. Don turns to the VIPs.

DON

I apologize for the interruption.

GREG

That killed the mood. Maybe we can see this suite they gave me?

Louise walks away. Greg stands up to follow her.

GREG

Afraid of heights?

LOUISE

Cute. If you don’t drink, and you don’t dance, I think there’s a third thing you don’t do.

Louise leaves him. Don steps up to Greg.

DON

Would you like me to give her your room number?

GREG

No thanks. I need to cool off.

Greg jumps into the pool in his clothes.

INT. DIAMOND DOGS - HOTEL ROOM - NIGHT

Greg towels off in a lavish hotel suite.

Out the window, the Las Vegas strip.

INT. DIAMOND DOGS - CASINO SECURITY ROOM - NIGHT

Video screens show Greg stepping outside the DIAMOND DOGS

CASINO to wave for a cab. Don watches the whole time, angry.

EXT. GREG’S NEIGHBORHOOD - DAY

The cab pulls in front of a house in a modest suburban Vegas neighborhood. It’s stark, the desert landscape around them.

INT. GREG’S HOUSE - KITCHEN - DAY

Greg’s house is small and plain. No TV, no decorations.

SIDE ROOM

On the wall: a CALENDAR with artwork of a TROPICAL ISLAND BEACH. Each date has a large number written on it, plus or minus.

Under the calendar is a WHITE BOARD. It has “ONLY $872,720 LEFT TO GO” written in black marker.

Shelves are filled with receipts, handwritten notes, and stacks of cash bundled in plastic bags. He adds his winnings to one of the bags.

Greg writes “+ 14,750” on the calendar, filling in the previous day’s date – FEBRUARY 11.

He counts on his fingers, then rewrites the white board.

“ONLY $857,970 LEFT TO GO.”

To read more of this screenplay, contact Michael Papich.