Ken Follett’s Foray into Film
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lackluster and uninspired attempt at one-upmanship, as in the following
example:
J 2 -I N T - The Flat - Night
(Richard and Nutsy are preparing to go oat. Their clothes are
smart-casual, and trendy. Nutsy is putting finishing touches to
her make-up in a hand mirror. Richard is filing his nails.)
RICHARD. His Holiness [the sheik] is one of the richest men
in the world, and he lives in a tent.
NUTSY. What does he spend his money on?
RICHARD. Middle-aged western women, by all accounts.
NUTSY. Really?
RICHARD. He wouldn’t like you, you’re too thin.
Anyway .. .
(She throws a cushion at him and he dodges, laughing.)
RICHARD. Anyway, he tried to buy an air force a while back,
but no one would sell him one.
(Nutsy has finished her make-up.)
NUTSY. So he wants to buy Britain instead—starting with
London Leasing Limited.
RICHARD. ... It’s a very small company to interest a
millionaire.
(He has finished his manicure.)
RICHARD.... (Pretending impatience.) Are you ready, for
goodness sake?
NUTSY. (Taking the bait.) Am I ready!?
(Then she meets his eyes and realizes she s been had.)
(Revised Screenplay 14-15)
This sort of hip, contemporary relationship, with its carefree banter and
casual attitude towards wealth and a night on the town, may have been the ideal
for the young writer, but neither the pilot episode of “Numbers Man” nor the
series was ever produced. Follett returned to the depiction of a modem
relationship, and to a final attempt to write for film, some ten years later. As we
shall see, it was a period of new directions, marked