Terry Dray
Writer
MA, BA (Hons)
BANK HOLIDAY WEEKEND
Feature. 90 pages. Comedy Drama
Premise
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Finding a mobile phone that belongs to a Gangster’s enforcer, a group of twenty somethings are led to a stack of cash in an Edinburgh Tenement. Quickly they are sucked into a dangerous and hostile world of Protection Racketeering, Drugs and Gangland activity.
Screenplay Synopsis
Nick’s friends (Simon, George, Tam and Donny) have decided to take him out on a drunken night out to help him forget about the loss of his job and being evicted from his apartment. Before they hit the town they visit the infamous Mad Jaffa – to score drugs for the night.
Meanwhile Marcus (a collection agent for the notorious gangster he simply calls “Bastard”) is seen collecting money from various business establishments.
On the night out Nick meets up with Beth, who has just had a boyfriend finish with her and is feeling vulnerable. They talk, and agree to meet up over the weekend.
As the night ends, a drunken Nick and the guys are heading off home in a taxi where he finds a mobile phone lying on seat. He asks if it belongs to anyone, all are too drunk to answer so he pockets the phone.
The next morning Nick is awoken by the ringing of mobile phone he found in the taxi the previous night. He answers and listens as a male voice, assuming he is talking to phone’s owner, tells him to bring the money he’s been collecting for him to a pub later that afternoon. Now awake, and after telling the rest of the lads about the phone call, they decide to follow up the mysterious meeting.
The guys go to the meeting at the pub where they see Bastard and three goons arriving, wait a while then leave. The guys follow. Outside they overhear Bastard tying to call Marcus but gets no answer. He then heads off to Marcus’s flat. The guys decide to follow with the intention of returning the phone, hoping to get a reward.
They reach the house of Marcus only to find the front door is ajar, the inside of the flat is a mess, it looks like it’s been turned over. In a back bedroom they find a bed overturned and the place ransacked. In a black plastic bin bag in the hallway of the flat they find a carrier bag with thousands of pounds. They think that their boat has come in, and they are sure no one saw them enter or leave the flat.
Enter Detective Inspector Loon and Sergeant Grieves. They find a body buried under an upturned bed in Marcus’ flat. A neighbour identifies Nick and his friends as the ones leaving the flat. At the coroners department they discover that the dead man was a small time drug dealer working for Mad Jaffa who in turn was buying from Constantine. This information and the eye witness descriptions of Nick and the rest of them leads Loon to our heroes.
Meanwhile Bastard has been tracking down Marcus which has brought him to Gianni’s Restaurant. Simon’s girlfriend Luciana’s dads restaurant. Marcus and his thug Thatcher has snuck in and is listening to Simon tell Luciana that they are the ones with the phone and that they have found money in Marcus’ flat. Bastard kidnaps Simon taken him to his scrap yard and warehouse.
While Nick and Beth are making out in her flat he is surprised to find that Beth’s ex-boyfriend has left a huge travel trunk of belongings behind. Nick persuades Beth to call her ex-boyfriend to come and get his possessions. When she dials his phone number, Marcus’ phone goes off in Nick’s pocket. To Nick and Beth’s surprise we find out that her ex-boyfriend and Marcus is one and the same person.
Donny is getting ready leave his flat to meet the rest of the guys at the local pub, as he opens the door he is confronted with DI Loon and Sgt Grieves.
Back at Beth’s flat Marcus’ phone rings again; it is Bastard telling Nick where to come with the money and they will get Simon and Luciana back unharmed. Nick calls the rest of the lads and tells them to meet him at Donny’s flat. When Nick and Beth get back to Donny’s they are met with Loon and some police constables, he knows everything and is offering to help, but he needs help from Nick and the gang.
There is a large machine lifting scrap cars with a huge grappling arm and putting them into a crusher at the back of the scrap yard. Once inside the warehouse the guys see Simon badly beaten and tied to a chair. Bastard asks for the money. Nick asks him questions, getting him to confess to murder of Billy, the man in Marcus’s flat. Nick has been wearing a wire and the confession has been recorded by the police waiting outside.
The police break down the warehouse door. They capture the thugs, except Bastard who escapes out a back door. Loon gives chase. Bastard hides behind the scrap, he reaches through the open car window and shoots at the police. The crane driver is oblivious to the goings on around him; he positions the grappling arm above the car that Bastard is hiding in and grabs the car, crushing the roof and trapping Bastard. He lifts the car and drops it into the crusher. Loon runs over to the crane, jumps up and tells the driver to stop, but it is too late. Bastard is in the crusher – dead.
Afterwards, and once the police leave, Marcus reveals himself. He tells the group that he was watching out for them for a while and asks the whereabouts of the money he skimmed off Bastard. They tell him that it has been given to the Police.
He tells them that he is going to take over the running of Bastard’s empire, but just at that moment Mad Jaffa appears with two Rastafarian goons. He takes Marcus off to deal with later. He then tells the group that they should look in the trunk that belonged to Marcus back at Beth’s, that they might find a surprise. Beth and Nick look at each other and run off towards their car. The others follow.
The group find over three hundred thousand pounds which is the real amount that Marcus had been creaming off from McNab’s business over the years in the travel chest and live happily ever after – maybe!