Daily Dialogue — March 31, 2016

BUD BRUMBER: A writer! What could you write about? You’re not oppressed or gay.
SHAUN BRUMBER: Not all writers are gay.
BUD: Well, they’re all poor.
SHAUN: That’s not true. What about Tom Clancy, Stephen King, Anne Rice?
BUD: Three people in the history of literature.
SHAUN: The truth is, I don’t care about making money.
BUD: Shaun, I have a burst blood vessel in my brain. I could die at any moment. But I keep plugging away, day after day, because I want to leave you something special, a business. A legacy.

Shaun’s half brother, JAKE, who is five or six with a severe attitude problem, escapes from his nap upstairs, bursts into the room and starts picking up things on Bud’s desk.

JAKE: I want my poody!
BUD: Hey, pal. Control yourself. Can you give me that back?

The phone rings. Jake runs around. It’s chaos.

JAKE: I want my poody.
BUD: Where’s your mother? (yelling) Rosa, will you get in here?
ROSA, Bud’s housekeeper, appears. She had been chasing Jake, but the little brat is too fast for her.
ROSA: I’m coming.
BUD: Rosa, will you get him out of here?
SHAUN: Doesn’t he need a nap?
BUD: I want him to learn some limits. Shaun… This is my life’s work here. When I started, I had nothing. Now look at me. I’ve got a million square feet in Irvine alone, an empire, and I want to leave it to you. This is the life I want for you.
SHAUN: But, what about what I want?
BUD: A writer? Before that you wanted to be a professional surfer, so it’s hard to take you seriously, Shaun.
SHAUN: Fine. I don’t want your money. But for the record, you’ve never done anything for me. It’s always about you.

— Orange County (2002), written by Mike White

The Daily Dialogue theme for the week: Parental advice, suggested by Michael Waters. Today’s suggestion by RealThndrMonkey.

Trivia: Jack Black is writer Mike White’s next-door neighbor; his part in the movie was written specifically for him. Surprisingly little was improvised.

Dialogue On Dialogue: Commentary by RealThndrMonkey: “Sometimes advice from parents are just for their benefit with little or no regard to the child they are speaking to.”