31 Plays in 31 Days, #13 - “Man Cave”
Aug. 13th, 2021 08:38 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
breakinglight11Ah, now we’re on to something. This is also from that theoretical bottle episode I’d like to eventually do with Leah and Ryan for Dream Machine (season 2?) that I was noodling on with Day #8 - Flawless. This happens before that, when they first get to Ryan’s house to hang out and commiserate. I did a better job here of getting in that idea I had that they theoretically are hanging out to support each other through a difficult time, but every time one of them gets vulnerable about something, the other panics and deflects rather than engaging with it.
Other things I like about what I did here is that I thought it would be good and humanizing to give Ryan a slightly uncool hobby he doesn’t let a lot of people know about, and that this scene is actually kind of funny. Needs punching up, but not quite as much as some other scenes.
Day #13 - “Man Cave”
From Dream Machine
By Phoebe Roberts
~~~
LEAH LUCCHESI, showrunner of Offcomer at Dream Machine, mid thirties
RYAN DRESDEN, head of programming for Dream Machine, early fifties
Los Angeles, 2021
~~~
The door opens in Ryan’s entryway to his spare, expensive house, as he enters with Leah trailing behind him.
LEAH: Wow, this is very… gray and sterile. Could a divorced man possibly live here?
RYAN: Yes, but a very rich one.
LEAH: Hey, you got cigarettes? I smoked all mine when I hid out behind the Dumpster to escape Cory’s victory conga line.
RYAN: Yeah, but… no smoking in here.
LEAH: Are you kidding?
RYAN: Not everybody wants to live in an ashtray.
LEAH: Fine, Sister Mary Frances. Sorry if I didn’t think you’d be that big on discipline. Even I let people smoke when they come in my apartment.
RYAN: Isn’t coming the only reason you have anyone in your apartment?
LEAH: Ha ha. Seriously, you’re not going to let me smoke? After everything I’ve been through?
RYAN: (deep breath) In recovery… there have to be rules.
Beat.
LEAH: Wow. Downer. Well, where do you banish yourself and others when the old oral fixation kicks in?
RYAN: There is… one place.
LEAH: …yeah?
RYAN: But I haven’t really taken people in there.
LEAH: Do you smoke in the panic room? Butler’s pantry? Gift wrap suite? (Gasp) Ryan Aloysius Dresden! Do you have a man cave!?
RYAN: Of sorts.
LEAH: Oh, I can just picture it. Built-in stripper poles, floor-to-ceiling projection screen, giant mounted animal heads snarling down from the walls. Ryan Aloysius Dresden, I demand you let me into your smoky lair!
RYAN: Where the hell did Aloysius come from? That’s not my middle name.
LEAH: It is now, I just gave it to you.
RYAN: Okay, fine, come on. But I don’t want to hear any shit from you when you see it.
LEAH: I swear on my dead mom!
CUT TO Leah and Ryan in a cheerful, earth-toned rumpus room with much more personality. There’s a offset bar and a wraparound sectional couch. The walls are lined with movie posters, vintage pinball machines, and modern art pieces. But the majority of the space is taken up by…
LEAH: …that is a lot of model trains.
RYAN: What did I just say?
Other things I like about what I did here is that I thought it would be good and humanizing to give Ryan a slightly uncool hobby he doesn’t let a lot of people know about, and that this scene is actually kind of funny. Needs punching up, but not quite as much as some other scenes.
Day #13 - “Man Cave”
From Dream Machine
By Phoebe Roberts
~~~
LEAH LUCCHESI, showrunner of Offcomer at Dream Machine, mid thirties
RYAN DRESDEN, head of programming for Dream Machine, early fifties
Los Angeles, 2021
~~~
The door opens in Ryan’s entryway to his spare, expensive house, as he enters with Leah trailing behind him.
LEAH: Wow, this is very… gray and sterile. Could a divorced man possibly live here?
RYAN: Yes, but a very rich one.
LEAH: Hey, you got cigarettes? I smoked all mine when I hid out behind the Dumpster to escape Cory’s victory conga line.
RYAN: Yeah, but… no smoking in here.
LEAH: Are you kidding?
RYAN: Not everybody wants to live in an ashtray.
LEAH: Fine, Sister Mary Frances. Sorry if I didn’t think you’d be that big on discipline. Even I let people smoke when they come in my apartment.
RYAN: Isn’t coming the only reason you have anyone in your apartment?
LEAH: Ha ha. Seriously, you’re not going to let me smoke? After everything I’ve been through?
RYAN: (deep breath) In recovery… there have to be rules.
Beat.
LEAH: Wow. Downer. Well, where do you banish yourself and others when the old oral fixation kicks in?
RYAN: There is… one place.
LEAH: …yeah?
RYAN: But I haven’t really taken people in there.
LEAH: Do you smoke in the panic room? Butler’s pantry? Gift wrap suite? (Gasp) Ryan Aloysius Dresden! Do you have a man cave!?
RYAN: Of sorts.
LEAH: Oh, I can just picture it. Built-in stripper poles, floor-to-ceiling projection screen, giant mounted animal heads snarling down from the walls. Ryan Aloysius Dresden, I demand you let me into your smoky lair!
RYAN: Where the hell did Aloysius come from? That’s not my middle name.
LEAH: It is now, I just gave it to you.
RYAN: Okay, fine, come on. But I don’t want to hear any shit from you when you see it.
LEAH: I swear on my dead mom!
CUT TO Leah and Ryan in a cheerful, earth-toned rumpus room with much more personality. There’s a offset bar and a wraparound sectional couch. The walls are lined with movie posters, vintage pinball machines, and modern art pieces. But the majority of the space is taken up by…
LEAH: …that is a lot of model trains.
RYAN: What did I just say?
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