Both Ends Burning (Sample)

                                                                     1


             A PIANO begins playing softly ...
             The melody is slow, bittersweet ...

             FADE IN:

             FLAMES IN THE NIGHT --

             Floating far away.  Silent.  Dreamlike.  Distorted.
             Blackness beyond.

             A woman speaks, her voice smoky and pensive.
             We shall soon know her as CHASE DESMOND ...

                                      CHASE (V.O.)
                       Every summer it's the same -- an
                       endless 4th of July.

             The flames are seen through the sides of a large glass
             tumbler.  Ice cubes and Jack Daniels bend the image.

                                      CHASE (V.O.)
                       Grandma and I used to sit on the
                       back porch at night and watch the
                       flames burn down the hills.
                                (beat)
                       Sometimes there were houses in the
                       way...  They never stood a chance.

             Her fingers dip into view and wipe some of the conden-
             sation from the side of the glass.

             The fingers then move slowly across her lips, applying
             the moisture.

             The distant blaze continues dancing through the glass.

                                      CHASE (V.O.)
                       Grandma used to tell me L.A. was
                       quite a place ... back when it was
                       still a 'town.'  You could barhop
                       and listen to Oscar Peterson in one
                       joint and Bud Powell in another.
                       All it cost you was the price of a
                       drink.  Once she was a nightclub
                       owner herself.  A place called 'The
                       Living End.'  Then things happened ...

             Her hand lifts the glass up out of view, to reveal that
             the flames are coming from a brushfire in the parched
             hills north of downtown.