Caleb's revised Outline 11/29
Caleb Barrett
Heart Department outline
Teaser:
-Biskin is yelling at Bump for moving too slowly during surgery prep. They are behind schedule. Bump is being distracted by Maude, who is taking any chance she can to whisper snide comments in his ear.
-After the surgery is done Maude tells Bump she needs to talk to him. He insists she leaves him alone until work is over.
-Meanwhile in Joe’s office, he is swamped with work even though everyone is leaving the hospital. Liza sticks her head in to invite hi to dinner the following night. He agrees. Shortly after, Maggie enters and throws herself at Joe. He tries desperately to stop her, but fails and falls into lust.
-Bump and Maude are fighting in the parking lot. Bump tells her he doesn’t want to see her anymore, she tells him she is pregnant. (Act break)
Act one:
-Liza is at the hospital with her father. She cries as the Giants baseball game plays on the radio to no reaction from her father. She is petting a worn Giants hat that lies on his bed. His doctor enters and asks why she is not at work. They talk about her father, Liza is reminiscing about going to Giant’s games with him.
-Doctor Cavenaugh explains that her father will have to stay at the hospital for a few months. Liza insists she can care for him. Cavenaugh explains that his best chance for recovery is at the hospital with constant care. Liza asks him to dinner in a moment of weakness. He denies, citing professional reasons. She leaves suddenly.
-Back at the hospital two sets of characters are avoiding each other. Bump avoids Maude, who has turned to her father for support (she doesn’t know he knows that she is pregnant). She is seeking love from the only person she feels she can get it from. Biskin does not know how to act when Maude begins opening up to him in his office, asking him questions about his life after his marriage with her mother. They have their first honest conversation.
-Joe is avoiding Maggie, who teases him by visiting his office and pretending nothing has happened.
-A meeting is held to discuss possible candidates for a heart transplant. Liza arrives late and experiences frustration on Biskin’s side of the table. He throws a case file at her and demands she either selects or eliminates the candidate.
-After the meeting Joe asks Liza if she is still interested in dinner. When she ignores him he tries to get through to her. “I know you are preoccupied with your father- Just don’t forget that there are people here who care about you.” Liza explodes at him, “Don’t doctor me, I didn’t ask for your professional opinion!” After settling she invites him over later that night. (act break)
Act two:
- Joe drinks wine in her kitchen as Liza sweats over the stove, venting about Biskin and her father. Joe is clearly distracted by something, letting Liza talk to her frying pan. She laments about Biskin’s attitude towards her and her visits to her father, which take time away from her work.
- Joe snaps back into therapist mode when Liza brings up her mother’s visit. She discusses her Mother’s alcoholism and how it tore her family apart when she was a child. At this, Liza starts drinking more and cheering up. Joe looks worried by her style of consumption.
- As Liza loosens up she turns the heat on Joe about why he has been acting strange at work. She claims to be able to tell that he is distracted by a woman. He tries his best to change the subject, acknowledging the fact that there is indeed a women tormenting him, he comes to terms with the fact that he wants Maggie (no to Liza).
- At work Liza meets with her patient and learns she suffered from thyroid cancer and completed chemo only a few years ago. This somehow slipped out of the report. Liza begins bonding with her, exchanging therapy stories and other very personal information. Liza promises her that they can help her, a promise she cannot keep.
- Liza seeks Joe out in his office and tells him there is an important patient he needs to see. She explains how her patient needs anti anxiety medication (which she discussed with the patient). Joe agrees to help not yet aware of her history of cancer.
- As Liza leaves, Maggie arrives, Prompting Liza to shoot Joe a intriguing look. Maggie puts up a front until Liza leaves, then quickly unbuttons her blouse to Joe’s disapproval. He tries to tell her she can’t do this at work, but before he can stop her she is on top of him. (act break)
Act Three:
- Liza receives a call from her mother while at work. She is taking off and will arrive in a few hours to meet with Liza. Her mother insists on meeting for dinner, which agitates Liza, who is swamped with work and concerned about her patient.
- Meanwhile Bump is trying to talk to Maude. She won’t speak to him but he stops her finally and pulls her into an empty room next to Mark’s. He tells her he loves her but that they can’t have the baby. Maude slaps him across the face and says she is having it. Mark hears everything.
- Liza sneaks out of work early again and meets her mother at the airport. The two burst into tears upon seeing each other.
- Back at the hospital Maggie is checking on Mark. He has offered himself up as her guinea pig for some “alternative” treatments. He really just likes the attention. He pesters her about Joe until she confides in him their secret. She tells Mark she thinks she is in love.
- Meanwhile Joe is interviewing Liza’s patient about her anxiety when the patients divuldges her history of cancer. Joe asks if she told Liza this, and the patient explains that they both bonded over the subject and that Liza assured her she could get the transplant. She doesn’t quite explain that Liza had cancer. Joe is caught in a difficult position, and the patient can tell he is uncomfortable. She questions him and he can’t help but confess that her chances of transplant are cannot be promised. This crushes the patient. (act break)
Act four:
-Liza is at dinner with her mother, who is drinking tonic water. The conversation revolves around the mother, her new boyfriend and job, and recovery. Liza is not buying it all, and clearly does not enjoy the subject.
-When Liza brings up her father things become tense. Liza does not think her mother truly cares about her or her father. Her mother becomes aggressive, taunting Liza about “everything I’ve done for you” and Liza accuses her mother of abandoning the family. The two eventually calm down and share a cry over the father. Liza takes her mother to the hotel.
-The next day at the hopital, Biskin and Maude are clearly becoming closer. He is beginning to trust her and favor her over the other interns. He lets her sit in on surgeries she has not earned. This angers Bump, who is very distracted by her presence.
- Meanwhile Liza and her mother visit the hospital and talk to Dr. Cavenaugh. Liza’s mother bursts into tears when she first sees Harry (her ex-husband). Dr. Cavenaugh brings them up to speed on his therapy, and they actively participate in his daily session.
Dr. Cavenaugh pulls Liza aside and apologizes for his attitude the previous day. He asks her if he can take her out to dinner later that night. Liza asks him to another night that week, but is very pleased. (act break)
Act five:
-Joe and Maggie are getting it on in an empty hospital room. She seduced him with an act including an emphasis on “alternative medicine” to help his stress. He snaps out of it when he realizes he is late for the board meeting.
-He enters during Liza’s pitch, which is going smoothly. As Biskin is showing his satisfaction with the report, Joe blurts out a comment about the patient’s past with cancer. Liza shoots daggers at him, and tries to keep up her story. Biskin won’t buy it and the cause is lost.
-Liza explodes at Biskin, calling him a “stubborn, cold, old man”. Biskin tries to put her in her place by suggesting she is unprofessional. Liza finally lets loose her past with cancer, shocking everyone. Joe can’t believe what he is hearing.
-Everyone goes silent as Liza gives a speech about second chances and what the heart department stands for. Biskin doesn’t buy it and ends the meeting, telling Liza to stay. Joe waits outside as Biskin and Liza go head to head. (act break)
Act 6:
- Liza exists the meeting room and Joe follows closely in her wake.
He just wants to help, he can’t believe she had cancer and he didn’t know. Finally he desperately asks, “Why didn’t you tell me?” She angrily replies, “Because I don’t need you to save me!”
-Liza enters her patient’s room with no option but to tell her she cannot promise a transplant. The two cry with together as Liza tries to explain that it is not a lost cause.
-The patient explains that she does not know how long she can live like she does, that the pain is overwhelming, and her family is watching her deteriorate. Liza breaks down, trying to make sense of her life, not realizing she is thinking out loud.
-The patient holds her hand and with tear-filled eyes forgives her for her failure. She explains that Liza has the chance to change her life if she can only forgive herself for her inability to save the people around her.
-Biskin is listening outside the door. This conversation seems to be filling him up with sorrow. He holds his head and exits to find Maude around the corner entering a equipment closet in tears. He enters and finds her having a nervous breakdown. She won’t tell him why, but he knows. “We all have to make hard choices, ones that hurt the people we love. Choose what keeps you going.” (or something like that)
-Meanhwile at the other hospital, Liza’s father starts speaking. He repeats her name to the empty hospital room as a janitor passes in the hallway.
(act break)