The Ghost Dancer
Working Script
Chapter One
Page 1 – 2
Scene:  Late night at a diner in a northeastern city in the US or Canada.  While located on the corner of an old neighborhood, the diner is more or less nondescript.  Exteriors should show no details of the street, and the more the diner looks like “Serious Eats” in Edward Hopper’s Nighthawks, the better.  Jon Dalton is seated at a booth, he is at the short end of average height and in reasonably good shape, though maybe getting a little soft from the beginnings of middle age. He is losing his dark brown hair, although it just seems to be thinning and retreating at this point.  He wears round glasses on his round, friendly face, making him look like Phil Collins if Collins had decided to turn his back on huge piles of money and take up the teaching of small foreign children.   The image of the mild-mannered and non-threatening teacher is carried into his wardrobe:  an old and slightly shabby tweed suit over a well-worn sweater vest and oxford shirt.
He rises as Michael O’Riordan enters the diner.  Michael is very tall and broad-shouldered.  He wears a tailored suit under a long overcoat.  His deep-set eyes, while not looking haunted, still manage to betray a lack of trust in his surroundings.  He looks about him constantly without losing focus and without turning his head.  If DALTON notices that MICHAEL’s left hand seems less in his pocket than it does poised to draw something from under the coat he holds slightly open, MICHAEL notices every detail of DALTON’s ensemble, including the fact that DALTON uses both a tape recorder and a notebook.  His red hair is cropped close to his square head, not quite long enough for a flat top, but still thick enough and straight enough to convey the military look the style suggests.
They greet each other, and MICHAEL sits in DALTION’s booth and they talk.
Dialogue:
DALTON:  Mr. O’Riordan?
MICHAEL:  Dalton.
DALTON:  Thanks for coming.
MICHAEL:  I owe CN a favor.  He owed you.  Now everyone’s square.
(pause)
DALTON:  CN tells me you can’t die.
MICHAEL:  That’s not entirely true.  Everything dies, even the gods.
MICHAEL:  It’s more like I don’t really have to die if I don’t want to.
DALTON:  How’s that different?
MICHAEL:  People who can’t die are usually cursed in one way or another.  I just happen to be immortal.
MICHAEL:  Maybe I can illustrate by telling you about Light Horse.
DALTON:  Who’s that?
MICHAEL:  A friend of mine.  We met some time ago.

Page 3
Title Splash
Scene:  Late 19th century city exterior.  Michael can be seen over the crowd entering a brownstone office building.
Dialogue:
NARRATION:  Back around the turn of the last century, I was working for Parkinson Security.  Headbreaking, of one kind or another, mostly Union-busting.  The Old Man, that’s Zachariah Parkinson, called me into his office after a particularly rough job.  I knew the Old Man from the States’ War, and he knew me, even though I’d gone through a name change since.
TITLE:  Ghost Dancer — Chapter One:  The Mug’s Game
EDITORIAL:  B. Hainley / Script.  Jonathon Dalton / Art.
Page 4 – 5
Scene:  Parkinson’s office.  This is a large office and is set up in the traditional fashion.  A large desk dominates, with a luxurious desk chair.  Parkinson begins seated here.  He is old, thin and rangy.  His thinness makes him appear taller than he actually is.  He has a rectangular, finely chiseled face and thinning grey hair above a bristly, close-cropped beard, making him appear somewhat like Robert E. Lee.  As Michael enters, he jumps straight into business, offering Michael a cigar and a seat.  Throughout the ensuing interview, Parkinson provides most of the movement in the scene, standing, gesturing and posing as needed.
DIALOG:
PARKINSON:  I hear that mine job went south on you fairly hard.  Thirty dead including three of our own?  (Michael shrugs (?) and looks neither contrite nor challenging.)
NARRATION:  Sometimes it’s best to stay quiet.  Defending yourself can cause more trouble than just letting people talk themselves out.
PARKINSON:  Turns out Morgan had an interest in the mine.  I can’t prove it, but I’ve got safe money he had a lot to do with some of the weapons and tactics you reported.  I gather you knew something was up but didn’t have the information to adapt to it.  
(He sits, tiredly.)
PARKINSON:  This is a mugs’ game, Sam.  I think headbreaking’s on its way out.  (He produces a few copies of The Strand magazine.)  Fellow named Doyle wrote some stories in here.  He talks about a new kind of police work, where the cops spend more time looking into things and working out the facts of the case before they break any heads.  That way, they make sure the right heads get broke.  That’s what we need to do.
MICHAEL:  All right.
PARKINSON:  I’m glad you agree.  (He hands Michael a file.)  This is your next job.  It’s mostly a clean-up in an old mining town.  I’ll send a crew out to you when you call, but I want you to go out ahead and figure out what’s what.  If this works out, you’ll be the first detective of our new Private Investigations division.