EXT. MIDWESTERN TOWN - MORNING

A small town in the middle of North Dakota sparsely decorated with houses and shops.

SNOW begins to fill the landscape - thick, heavy, ruinous SNOW.

INT. BEDROOM - HOUSE

The bedroom is dim and largely quiet save for the sound of roaring snow and wind outside.

Decorated with modest furniture, some political signs and pictures of a couple.

LILY SMITH (31) fumbles around the bed, half-awake and stumbling to turn on the light -- the snow wakes her up.

Her husband, SPENCER BROWN (33) sleeps next to her and is awoken by a phone call.

LILYSpencer, look outside.

SPENCERHo-hold up.

(grabs the phone)Good morning, Brown/Goldberg For Governor. Yes, we’ll be--

LILYPut the phone away, look outside.

He looks outside much to his dismay. The snow isn’t letting up.

SPENCERI heard flurries last week. You’re kidding me.

Lily sits upright and turns the TV on to a weather forecast showing North Dakota under a blizzard warning. Flashing, alarming colors.

Almost two feet of crippling, school-closing, road-destroying snow is what the news blasts at them.

Spencer takes a deep breath. The show must go on.

They get out of the bed and talk while Spencer gets dressed down the stairs to the main hallway.

His patience worsens with each breath.

LILYWeren’t you supposed to go to the debates today?

SPENCERDo not “past tense” me. Goldberg and I are supposed to go to the debates today in Grand Forks.

LILYIt looks like World War III outside and you’re still going. You’re kidding me, right?

SPENCERThe election is in two weeks. The debate is tonight. Why wouldn’t I?

LILYTry and get it rescheduled.

SPENCER(making his point, enraged)

The people of North Dakota vote in two weeks. I don’t care about some snow.

LILY(air quotes)

The “people of North Dakota” can wait for 2 feet of snow.

SPENCERNo, they can’t. I’m going to the debate whether you like it or not.

LILYYou don’t listen, do you. It looks like hell outside and you want to drive 2 hours?

(to hell with it)Fine. Go. But keep in touch, at least.

He opens the door to go outside. Blasted by snow and wind. Not fun.

SPENCERLily, I’ll be back at 5. Be seeing you.

2.

The door is slammed shut by the wind, bringing in a little snow with it.

The snow piles, causing Spencer to trek outside slowly through the thickness.

This goes on for a while until he reaches his car, a BROWN HONDA sedan.

He enters and begins to make an effort.

INT/EXT. HOUSE

Lily opens the door to the house slightly ajar to peek outside and check on him.

Spencer insists he’ll be fine despite his dingy metal turd with wheels.

SPENCER(from the car)

I drove to Yellowstone in this piece of metal ass, it can take some hits!

(starts up car; completely stalled)

Wait. Motherf-(tries again)

Lily!

Lily motions for him to wait.

She comes outside dressed for the weather - hastily putting a coat - and runs outside in the cold.

EXT. HOUSE - DRIVEWAY

Lily runs outside to the stalled brown car, unable to move in some feet of snow.

Stunned at what has just happened.

LILYWhoa.

SPENCERIt’s terrible but it’s nothing new. We can try again.

Getting the car out of the driveway, take 2: Spencer tries again to move his car even an inch out to the driveway and on his way.

3.

No dice.

Spencer lets out an audible, exasperated, disappointed groan. Gets out of the car and kicks it.

SPENCER (CONT’D)Shit!

LILYCalm down! You’ll break the thing.

He walks inside the house, furious. This is not supposed to happen. This was never supposed to happen. Lily follows.

SPENCERWhat the hell is going on? I have places to be!

LILYWell, maybe you should’ve planned beforehand.

SPENCERMaybe that fucking weatherman who predicted “2-3 inches” should get a new job!

LILYCalm down. Find a plan B.

SPENCEROK. I’ll maybe call Goldberg.

LILYShe’s in Bismarck, right?

SPENCERAnd she drives a fu-

(stops himself from cursing again)

An Escalade. She has this snow down. Gimme a minute.

He goes over to a space in the house with phone reception, this time the living room.

INT. HOUSE - LIVING ROOM

His saving grace. His running mate/future Lieutenant Governor JANET GOLDBERG.

He gets on the phone to call her and hopefully make the debates in time.

4.

For some long seconds, there’s just a dial tone. After a while, though...

A sigh of relief comes over him. Finally.

SPENCERGoldberg.

(chatter over the phone)Yes?

(more chatter)My car’s stuck in the driveway. In the snow. Come down from Bismarck.

(more chatter)OK.

(more chatter)What?

(more chatter)Just tell me when you get here, OK. Bye.

He hangs up, knowing there’s a modicum of hope.

Goes over to Lily ecstatic in the other room.

INT. HOUSE - KITCHEN

He goes to where Lily is now and makes himself a cup of coffee.

SPENCERGoldberg’s coming and we’ll be off out east pretty soon. Finally.

LILYGood.

SPENCERIt won’t take long.

LILYYou have 20 minutes to kill. What are you going to do?

He goes outside again to give starting his car a final, honest effort. Maybe it’ll move.

EXT. HOUSE

Spencer goes outside to give starting the car one last try. After this, he better hope Goldberg comes.

5.

He goes inside the car and does what he did the first two times, which was start up the car and try to move it anywhere at all.

It finally moved. An expression of joy comes across Spencer’s face... that quickly turns to regret, sadness and disappointment.

The car comes to a halt, not because of the snow but because of large, billowing smoke coming out of the hood. He gets out and pops it open.

Much to his dismay, the engine is completely busted.

SPENCERLily!

LILY(she goes back outside)

What?

SPENCERThe car’s busted.

LILYI can see it from here, inside the house! What did you do?

SPENCERGood question! I think I overworked it a little.

SLILYA little? I don’t think you have a car anymore.

SPENCERWater under the bridge. I don’t care.

He comes inside the house and tries to kill time waiting for Goldberg.

About 20 minutes pass when a black Cadillac parks in front.

Spencer hopes its what he needs right now, but instead a GUY comes out. Blonde, 20, very disheveled.

Runs up to the front door and rings the bell.

RANDOM GUYHi, can I use your bathroom? I’m on my way to Saskatchewan.

6.

SPENCER(annoyed)

In the back.

The guy notices his face. Unamused, almost annoyed.

RANDOM GUYDid I offend you or something?

SPENCERNo, you have the exact same car as someone I’m looking for is all.

A nod as he goes.

The guy goes to use the bathroom and leaves on his way some minutes later.

Some more minutes later, a second Cadillac pulls up to the house.

INT/EXT. HOUSE

Spencer recognizes who it happens to be - actually for this time, JANET GOLDBERG (34), blonde, dressed in typical lawyer fashion and also his running mate.

She rings the doorbell and comes inside.

SPENCERJanet, hello.

JANETYou called?

SPENCERMy car’s having trouble, so we need to carpool to Grand Forks.

JANETFor what?

SPENCER(uhhhhhh?)

The debates at the convention center. I’m at 6pm, you’re at 9?

JANETOh, those. Yeah, those were postponed.

He doesn’t believe it. He wasted an entire day for something that is not even happening anymore.

7.

She pulls out her phone to show him as proof. Sure enough, the email is from the organizers postponing it until Friday because of weather.

Lily comes in and notices her.

SPENCERLily, the debate’s been postponed.

LILYSo you spent an entire morning doing nothing, basically?

SPENCER(um...)

I did... things. Sometimes, things just happen, you see.

LILYRight. When are they now?

SPENCERFriday at 5.

Everyone just nods and goes along with it.

LILYCan I come?

SPENCERSure, I guess you can be the... Michelle to my Barack?

She laughs to his terrible joke.

LILYJanet, do you want coffee or something? Warm up?

JANETYeah, thank you.

The three go into the kitchen.

INT/EXT. HOUSE - TWO WEEKS LATER

No snow this time around.

Election night. A smattering of people are gathered in the living room behind assorted “Brown/Goldberg 2016” paraphernalia like banners, cups, balloons.

They all gather around the TV as coverage continues.

8.

ANNOUNCER ON TVWe have a projection.

They start cheering and hope for the best. The ticker on the bottom of the TV shows Spencer in a close second and the incumbent in 1st. It then shows a map of the whole state.

ANNOUNCER ON TV (CONT’D)We can now project that Spencer Brown is North Dakota’s next governor.

People start joyfully cheering, popping open champagne bottles and celebrate what appears to be a victory.

They start dancing, pouring drinks and overall appreciate the moment.

SPENCERHoly shit.

LILYDude!

The program on the television has something to say otherwise and the house shuts up for a second. More counties and votes were being totaled.

A banner of “North Dakota Votes 2015” and the words PROJECTION appear on the screen.

JANETGuys, hush.

A dead silence.

ANNOUNCER ON TVWe’ve made an error. With one of the western counties going red, we instead project a tie. Both the incumbent and Mr. Brown have 50.0% of the vote.

The dead silence continues for a good solid minute, only broken by a loud, deafening, unusual interjection.

SPENCERMotherf-

(bites his tongue)I’ve been trying to control it. I’m sorry. I’ll go away now.

9.

He leaves to go outside to where his car, newly fixed and on dry ground is and as before, kicks it. Only this time, it’s repeatedly.

Rabidly cursing where no one can hear him.

Inside the house, everyone who was there to support him wonders exactly what happened. A tie?

LILYWhat do we do now?

JANETI don’t know. Get Spencer back in here before he breaks that car again.

On the TV, the current governor speaks. The GOVERNOR is your typical politician.

Your well-groomed, well-vested man with a family making references to how good his state is and how wonderful the people are.

References religion and God. Breaks out a massive American flag.

Comes out to some sickeningly patriotic country. Loves the attention.

Uses his family for applause and acts like he’s winning. Gets more applause. In 15 minutes, during which Spencer comes back inside, he’s still not done talking.

Breaks into Biblical references, which get applause.

Tolkien references, which also get applause.

Makes a jab about his rival. More applause.

Over that time, all of the other guests aside from Janet have left.

SPENCERHe’s still talking?

LILYIt’s been 15 minutes.

JANETOK, while he’s doing that - Spencer.

10.

He turns around to her.

SPENCERYeah?

JANETDid you find out about what happens in a tie?

He breathes heavily and gives her his answer.

SPENCERNo.

JANETWhat do you mean ‘no’?

SPENCERNo for now. I need a break. Find me after Hanukkah and we’ll talk. Maybe they have an answer.

JANETA break.

SPENCERYes. I will retire to my room, grab some liquor and sleep for the next 3 years. Keep watching the TV to see if something happens.

JANETThat... sounds good.

SPENCERLily went upstairs and there’s way too much food here. Help yourself.

She nods.

Spencer retires upstairs to his room and Janet stays glued to the TV for one final news update.

After several hours at 1:30 in the morning, the final, final results are coming in. The tie was only a projection.

The only one awake in the house is a slightly drunk Janet that’s been there since 4:30 in the afternoon.

The TV projects that Spencer Brown wins the election and becomes governor.

With no one awake, she does the honors of telling him herself of the outcome.

11.

INT. BEDROOM - LATE AT NIGHT

1:30 AM. Only Janet knows that Spencer won when all the counties were counted.

She goes upstairs to his bedroom and turns the light on, awaking and slightly blinding everyone in the house.

SPENCER(groggy)

Not cool, Janet. Ow...(beat)

Don’t you have work in like six hours?

JANET(very slurred)

Jews are going to Bismarck.

SPENCERWhat?

JANETThe Jews are going to Bismarck!

SPENCERAre you saying I won? Cool. Now get the hell back downstairs and sleep it off.

She stumbles back downstairs.

SPENCER (CONT’D)Governor Brown... has a nice ring to it.

He goes back to sleep.

12.