Shamrock

References

• Saint Patrick’s Day
• The Story Behind Green Beer
• Corned Beef and Cabbage
• Brigid of Kildare
• David Caruso
• Futurama
  • The Luck of the Fryrish
• Saoirse Ronan
• Chris O’Dowd
• Drowning the Shamrock
• Falling Inn Love
• Taco Tuesday
• The Quiet Man
• Leap Year
• Arrested Development Sad Walk
• Tom Collins
• Tom Hanks
• Phil Collins
• Colin Hanks

Transcript

[Intro music begins]

[Emily]
Makes the best Tom Collins.

[Shep]
He makes the best what?

[Emily]
Tom Collins. I don’t know. Naming a drink.

[Shep]
It cut out. I heard “The best T-” and then nothing. I’m like, “He makes the best Taco Tuesday? What the hell did Emily say?”

[Emily]
He makes the best Tom Hanks, because we’re going to just put that in there.

[Thomas]
Makes the best Phil Collins.

[Shep]
Yes. There we go. He makes the best Colin Hanks! We were there. We have him, a full circle.

[Intro music]

[Thomas]
Hey there, story fans. Welcome to Almost Plausible, the podcast where we take ordinary objects and turn them into movies. St. Patrick’s Day is coming up soon, so today we’re going to come up with a movie about a Shamrock. I’m Thomas J. Brown, and I am lucky to have with me on the show Emily-

[Emily]
Hey, guys.

[Thomas]
And F. Paul Shepard.

[Shep]
Happy to be here.

[Thomas]
So do either of you celebrate St. Patrick’s Day?

[Emily]
Yeah.

[Shep]
Does drinking count as celebrating? Then yes.

[Emily]
Well, I grew up Catholic and we have a wee bit of Irish in us. And my kids are obsessed with catching leprechauns because they still believe in all things magical. So we set traps.

[Shep]
My father is Irish and Catholic, but my mother is not and Protestant, so yeah.

[Thomas]
I feel like not covered both of those.

[Shep]
You can be not Catholic, and it’s fine, but if you’re Protestant, that’s, whoa, that’s another level of not.

[Thomas]
That’s a good point. I don’t either. I’m not catholic, I’m not Irish, I’m not religious, and I’m too old to drink.

[Shep]
You’re too old to drink?

[Thomas]
Seriously, like, a couple of servings of alcohol, and I wake up the next day like, “Oh, my head.”

[Shep]
Is that why they check ID at the bar? “Oh, I’m sorry. You’re too old to drink.”

[Thomas]
“Normally, sir, we’d let you in, but this is a young person’s holiday.”

[Shep]
Right. “This is a club, and you’re over- you’re not in your 20s anymore, so no.”

[Thomas]
Right.

[Emily]
“You are no longer 29.”

[Thomas]
I’ve never had green beer. I mean, I’m not complaining. I’m not sad about this. I’m just- statement of fact.

[Shep]
I mean, I’ve never knowingly had green beer, but I can’t see green, so maybe, who knows?

[Thomas]
Well.

[Shep]
I have gone to the pub on St. Patrick’s Day.

[Emily]
I’ve had green beer. I eat the corned beef and the cabbage. I buy the Dubliner’s cheese. I’m all about it. I embraced my Irish heritage, even though I’m far more Norwegian and French.

[Shep]
I mean, I eat the corned beef and the cabbage. Not because of St. Patrick’s Day, just because it’s delicious.

[Thomas]
Yeah.

[Emily]
And it’s on sale that time of year.

[Thomas]
Well, Shamrock. This is a tricky one for me. Did you guys fare any better?

[Shep]
No, this was awful. I had nothing.

[Emily]
I came up with ideas.

[Shep]
Yeah.

[Thomas]
I can say the same. Let’s hear what yours are.

[Emily]
Are they good? Let’s not get ahead of ours.

[Thomas]
We’ll soon find out.

[Emily]
Yeah, we’ll soon find out. My first one: I have an animated romp about a horse who eats a magical shamrock and becomes a unicorn. We can go lots of places with that.

[Thomas]
Okay. I like that.

[Emily]
Maybe in order to become a horse again, it has to find the same clover patch or whatever.

[Shep]
Why would you want to be a horse again if you’re a unicorn?

[Thomas]
Yeah, that was my follow up question.

[Emily]
I don’t know. Because you’re not-

[Shep]
What if a person eats the magic shamrock? Do they turn into a leprechaun?

[Emily]
No, they just get a horn in the middle of their head.

[Shep]
I don’t wear hats, so that’s not a deal breaker.

[Emily]
Second one: stereotypical Irish lass named Bridgett, uses shamrock magic to heal the ailments of the village.

[Thomas]
Why Bridget? Out of curiosity.

[Emily]
Because there’s a patron saint in Ireland named Bridget.

[Thomas]
Ah, okay.

[Emily]
And finally: dead bodies start showing up in Boston.

[Shep]
Here we go.

[Emily]
Why Boston? Full of Irish. All have shamrocks left on them. They’re being killed by a priest who thinks they’ve all been possessed by Satan.

[Shep]
That checks out.

[Emily]
Yep.

[Thomas]
Yeah. The Clover Killer?

[Emily]
The Clover Ki-

[Shep]
It’s their unlucky day.

[Thomas]
Hey, that’ll be the tagline for the on the poster,

[Emily]
What’s that guy from CSI Miami? What’s his name? We have to hire him to do it. And he’s got to take off his glasses when he says it.

[Thomas]
Right?

[Shep]
Oh, golly. What is his name?

[Emily]
David… That’s all I got.

[Thomas]
Yes. David Saligot. I got everybody remembers.

[Emily]
David Saligot!

[Thomas]
Look him up on IMDb real quick here. Yes, CSI. There we go.

[Shep]
David Caruso.

[Thomas and Emily]
Caruso!

[Emily]
There you go.

[Thomas]
That’s right. Shep, what do you have for us?

[Shep]
Okay, a seven-leaf clover that gives you incredible luck.

[Thomas]
Damn it, Yancy!

[Shep]
Yes. Okay. An animated tail of clovers where the number of leaves indicates how old they are. They get more leaves as they grow up, and a young clover with only three leaves becomes a hero somehow.

[Thomas]
What if instead of as they age, they get more leaves, you have to basically, like, perform a miracle. You have to, like, do some heroic deed and then you’ll get an extra leaf. So he wants to be a four-leaf clover because they’re viewed as heroes, essentially, in their community.

[Shep]
See, I was thinking that she has an older brother that’s a four-leaf clover because he’s older and his parents or her parents are always comparing her to him. “Why can’t you be more like your brother” where, you know, he’s a star athletic or whatever? But, yeah, in the end, it turned out she was the hero, even though she only had three leaves. You don’t need four leaves to be a hero.

[Thomas]
How many leaves did her parents have?

[Emily]
Yeah.

[Shep]
Oh, like seven-

[Emily]
Does she have like, a really old grandma that has like 20?

[Shep]
Bouquet of leaves.

[Thomas]
Kids are telling stories. “Somebody had 15 leaves.” “No, surely not. How could you ever live that long?”

[Shep]
All right, Thomas, what do you got?

[Thomas]
I have one where the main character finds a four-leaf clover and gets four wishes.

[Shep]
I mean, I find four-leaf clovers all the time.

[Thomas]
Yeah, they’re actually not that uncommon.

[Shep]
Should I be making wishes? Because I just don’t even pick them.

[Thomas]
An American tourist travels solo to Ireland and stays in an inn called the Shamrock Inn. And that inn is run by an attractive local with whom they fall in love.

[Shep]
Who plays the local?

[Thomas]
Well, do we want the local to be a man or a woman?

[Shep]
I can’t think of Irish actresses. I can only think of Irish actors.

[Thomas]
Isn’t Saoirse Ronan Irish?

[Emily]
Yeah-

[Thomas]
Yeah.

[Emily]
Saoirse.

[Shep]
I don’t know who that is.

[Emily]
But also it could be Chris O’Dowd because-

[Shep]
Right. Chris O’Dowd is the first person that I thought of.

[Emily]
There are also, like, probably Irish actors and actresses that we don’t know about in Ireland that we could introduce the world to.

[Thomas]
We could really mix everything up. And the local is an American who years ago moved to Ireland and runs this inn. And the solo traveler is a person originally from Ireland who grew up in Ireland, has been living in America for however long, and is visiting their family.

[Shep]
See, that would be interesting because the Irish living in America knows all the latest American culture, whereas they wouldn’t know the Irish culture, whereas the American living in Ireland would know the Irish culture and not the American culture, so they could catch each other up on what they’ve missed.

[Thomas]
So you make the inn owner a woman and the solar traveler a guy. And we’ve just switched everything all around. It’s great. It’s perfect.

[Emily]
Yeah.

[Thomas]
It’s the same story as it always is, but that’s what we want. Right?

[Emily]
100%.

[Thomas]
My next idea is: Shamrock is the name of a young rabbit or leprechaun or something else, and they go on a harrowing adventure.

[Emily]
I was trying to come up with something with a rabbit and a shamrock.

[Thomas]
Right. I have this idea in my head of rabbits eating clover.

[Emily]
Yes.

[Thomas]
So that’s what I was thinking when I came up with that. My last idea is: a story about a group of friends on St. Patrick’s Day. They’re doing a pub crawl. Of course, there are shamrocks everywhere, but they also plan to “drown the shamrock” at the last pub. So if you have, like, a little sprig of shamrocks with you, like, clovers, right? And you would typically wear that in your hat or on your lapel or something. And then at the last drink that you have for the night, you would put the shamrocks into the glass and drown the shamrock.

[Shep]
I see.

[Thomas]
I think you drink it down and you take them out and you throw them over one of your shoulders.

[Emily]
Oh, this is like a thing.

[Thomas]
I forget which one. It’s a thing. Yeah. So those are my ideas.

[Shep]
All right. What jumps out at us?

[Emily]
Well, I’m always for a pub crawl movie, but also the lovely shamrock inn.

[Thomas]
We all do love a rom-com.

[Emily]
Yeah.

[Shep]
Yes.

[Emily]
We do lots of rom-coms.

[Shep]
Do we? Has that come up before? I could see the Irish traveler explaining to her the Bridget name and its significance, and she goes, “Oh, that’s really interesting.” And then later he hears some other inn guest explaining the same thing to her, and she goes, “Oh, that’s interesting.” The same thing that she said to him, because, of course, she’s heard it thousands of times.

[Thomas]
Right.

[Emily]
Yes, I like that.

[Thomas]
So it’s funny because I was just thinking something along similar lines where he’s used to using his Irishness to pick up women in America because it’s so novel to them.

[Shep]
Oh, yes.

[Thomas]
So he comes back and he’s trying to use those moves that he’s so used to on her, and because she’s American and she’s just like, “Great, whatever.” Because it’s not interesting or novel to her. She’s been here for years.

[Emily]
Like “You’re a dime a dozen guy.”

[Thomas]
Right. Is this the one we’re doing?

[Emily]
Probably.

[Shep]
I mean, it is rom-com, and that’s what I like.

[Thomas]
If we’re following the rom-com format, what is the initial, that meet cute. Why do they hate each other?

[Shep]
Yeah, why is she single if she’s got this exotic-

[Emily]
She’s a strong, independent woman. She don’t need no man.

[Shep]
Yeah, but she’s got an exotic American accent overseas.

[Thomas]
Exotic.

[Shep]
Yes.

[Emily]
Do I need to move to Ireland? Because I could do that. Are we doing Enemies to Lovers? Do they have to hate each other? I guess with movies they do a lot of Enemies to Lovers, not Friends to Lovers.

[Thomas]
I mean, it’s pretty typical for the rom-com format, but we’ve subverted everything else. Do they start off having a wild romance? I mean, they have to be antagonistic toward each other at some point, right?

[Emily]
Right.

[Thomas]
Because that’s the whole point of the rom-com, is they overcome that.

[Emily]
Yeah.

[Thomas]
So if we’re trying to subvert as much as possible, we could start them like-

[Shep]
Oh, we could start them as enemies. Because he is going back home again. But you can’t go home again. That’s the whole point. So he goes to his hometown to visit his family, and he’s going to stay at this traditional inn that’s been there for hundreds of years, and he goes there, and it’s all Americanized because some American came over and bought it and took it over, and she serves American food, and it’s just like this … unacceptable changes!

[Thomas]
Why does he not just stay with his family?

[Emily]
Because his family turned his bedroom into a gym and a sauna.

[Shep]
Yeah, their house is full. It’s full. “You can’t come home. All the rooms are full.”

[Emily]
Because three of his seven sisters have also come home.

[Shep]
Right.

[Thomas]
Oh, because he’s the only single child. They’ve got to have rooms for the families and the kids.

[Shep]
Oh, yes.

[Emily]
Yeah.

[Shep]
Right. That’s a priority.

[Thomas]
“The grandkids are going to stay with us. The adults can go stay at the inn.”

[Shep]
Right, yeah.

[Thomas]
So does he have siblings or family members who also have rooms at the inn? So he’s sort of trying to hook up with this girl who runs the place, but he’s-

[Emily]
Keeps getting cock-blocked by his sister.

[Thomas]
Well, yeah, like, he’s got family members there who he’s trying to not let them see that he’s doing that.

[Shep]
Or he has a brother who’s married who’s flirting with the innkeeper.

[Emily]
We can have both because he can have multiple siblings.

[Thomas]
Yeah.

[Emily]
I like the idea of his older sister. He’s going to be the youngest, we say. Right. So he’s the baby.

[Thomas]
Right, sure.

[Shep]
Wait, so do all of the siblings live elsewhere? They all moved away.

[Thomas]
I think a lot of them still live in Ireland, but other parts, this is like a small town and they’ve kind of moved to the city.

[Shep]
Okay.

[Emily]
Yeah.

[Shep]
Why are they all getting back together? His great grandmother’s 100th birthday or some reason. It’s not just a random family reunion.

[Thomas]
Right.

[Emily]
They can make a jab at him about how he normally only comes back for funerals.

[Thomas]
The grandmother should make a jab at him about it. Like, “I don’t know if you should be here, this is bad luck for me.”

[Emily]
“Not dead yet.”

[Thomas]
Maybe he wasn’t originally going to show up, so none of the plans that have already been made include him.

[Emily]
I like that.

[Shep]
I like that. Let’s make him a middle child as well.

[Thomas]
That’s why he has to stay at the inn.

[Emily]
Yeah, because they didn’t expect him.

[Thomas]
They didn’t expect him.

[Shep]
Right.

[Thomas]
There’s no room in the house. Everything’s full up at the house. Well, you can go stay at the inn. So maybe now he’s at the inn by himself.

[Shep]
Yeah.

[Emily]
Okay.

[Shep]
I like this because why would they expect him to come all the way from America?

[Thomas]
Right.

[Shep]
Everyone else lives in Ireland and it’s not a funeral.

[Thomas]
Yeah.

[Emily]
It’s not a funeral.

[Thomas]
That’s good. All right. So why does she own this inn? She won it in a contest she entered while she was drunk. Wait a minute.

[Shep]
What was the name of that movie? Was it just The Inn?

[Emily]
Falling Inn Love.

[Thomas]
That’s right.

[Shep]
I was almost going to say, ‘I’m never going to tease Thomas for his terrible puns,’ but that’s a lie.

[Emily]
I want her to just have made smart investments, worked hard, earned a little extra money early on in her life and just decided she’s going to retire early and buy an inn in Ireland. She moved to Ireland and then this inn came up for sale. So she just bought it.

[Thomas]
Okay. Does she have Irish, like, ancestors?

[Emily]
Maybe.

[Thomas]
So she has this American connection to Ireland.

[Emily]
Yeah. She’s like my connection to Ireland, where it’s like, that romanticized-

[Thomas]
Right.

[Emily]
“I’m Irish,” you know. Everybody in the fucking world is Irish, right? Everybody is Irish on St. Patrick’s Day.

[Thomas]
What does she do? This is a total aside. What does she do in the pub for St. Patrick’s Day?

[Emily]
I want at least well, because she’s owned it for a while.

[Thomas]
Right.

[Emily]
Right. So nothing now.

[Thomas]
That should be a conversation they have about, oh, the first time-

[Emily]
The first time she tried to throw a big-

[Thomas]
She spent all this money making corned beef and cabbage, and everybody was like, “What is this now?” And she had green beer and everybody was like, mad.

[Shep]
Well, is this a popular inn? Do the townsfolk like her?

[Thomas]
Now? I think they do. Right?

[Emily]
Yeah, I think she’s grown on them.

[Thomas]
How small of a town is this? Are there other pubs? What kind of competition does she have? Or is this just like, this is the place, so it doesn’t matter whether they like her or not. This is where you go to drink.

[Shep]
Well, if he doesn’t like that things changed at the beginning, then why wouldn’t he go somewhere else? If somewhere else were available?

[Emily]
Yeah.

[Thomas]
It’s a good point.

[Emily]
I think this needs to be the only inn at least. But maybe there’s another pub. But yeah, the people of the town do like her. They’re not going to be- yeah, she’s doing things different and she’s very American and doing things in a very American way. But they think she’s cute and adorable for it.

[Shep]
What if they like the American stuff because it’s so-

[Emily]
Well, yeah, because it’s different.

[Shep]
Right. They’re all international, but this guy who’s been living in America and is tired of American stuff and wants traditional Irish stuff, and he gets American stuff, and it’s like, “I just had American stuff in America.”

[Emily]
She’s got to have Taco Tuesdays.

[Shep]
Where did she get the ingredients?

[Emily]
They have ground beef and spices. Not that hard to have tacos in England or Ireland.

[Shep]
I used to live in Japan and it was very hard to have tacos.

[Emily]
Well, in Japan, yeah, that’s different.

[Shep]
Yeah.

[Emily]
Yeah. They have to have Taco Tuesday because this will be his incitement to go to the other pub is he’ll come down and be like, “What’s?” Because it’s an inn. They only do, like, one meal a day or whatever, right? And she’s like, “Oh, it’s Taco Tuesday,” and all the town comes in because they like Taco Tuesday.

[Thomas]
This is fun for them. This has become a thing in the town.

[Emily]
Yeah, that’s their thing. And then he’s like, “What?” He gets into some of the like, “No, we’re supposed to have soda bread and shepherd’s pie and things like that.” And she’s like, “Well, I have tacos, so you can eat here or you can go down the road.” And so he goes down the road and then does the whole-

[Thomas]
Here’s another idea. Instead of him being angry about Taco Tuesday, the whole town is there. He can’t get a seat.

[Emily]
Yeah.

[Thomas]
The restaurant is full, so even if he wants tacos, it’s too bad.

[Shep]
Oh, no. That shouldn’t be the first thing that happens when he finds out that’s what the dinner is going to be. That’s when he goes the other inn, doesn’t like what they have. He goes, “Fine, I’ll go back and have tacos.” He goes back and it’s packed because everyone in town is there and there’s no room for him.

[Thomas]
Does he get tacos delivered to his room or something? He has to take them back up there, he’s eating by himself, sitting on the edge of his bed, eating tacos.

[Emily]
I like, maybe he’s going to go home and just see what Mom’s cooking. But she’s like “It’s Taco Tuesday.”

[Thomas]
Yeah. He comes back from the other bar. He’s like, “All right, fine. I’ll eat here.” There’s no seat. Right? And he’s leaving to go to his mom’s house, and she’s walking in the door. Is it the case that they have a table reserved for Taco Tuesday? And he does squeeze in with them then?

[Emily]
Yeah, because then he can start having a conversation with them about how things are changing.

[Shep]
I think that he shouldn’t. Okay, here’s why I want him to eat alone in his room.

[Emily]
Okay,

[Shep]
I want him to be able to hear how much fun everyone’s having downstairs while he sits alone in his room and stews in his loneliness because it’s early in the movie.

[Thomas]
Right.

[Shep]
This has got to be when things are bad for him.

[Thomas]
So he gets his tacos and takes them upstairs. Just as he walks upstairs, his family comes in to sit at the big table. So he misses them entirely. He comes back down with the plate, and his fucking family is sitting at the table having a grand old time. He’s like, “What the hell?”

[Emily]
“You guys didn’t invite me?”

[Shep]
Why didn’t they invite him?

[Thomas]
Maybe he makes some comment earlier about it being Taco Tuesday.

[Shep]
Oh, yeah. He must complain to his mom before he goes to the other pub about how ridiculous it is. And so he tells them the plan, which is he’s going to go to the other pub.

[Thomas]
Yeah, maybe he just makes a big deal about it. Maybe they’re trying to tell him, like, well, that’s what… I feel like they would say something, though.

[Emily]
Yeah. He’s just so negative and angry.

[Shep]
Or maybe his mom.. no, because his mom, if they told him they were going… So his mom knows that he’s not going to be there for Taco Tuesday, so she doesn’t tell him “We’re going to be there.” Although she would, she’d say, “Well, if you change your mind…”

[Thomas]
Right.

[Shep]
Writing is hard. So this is when the innkeeper should come to his room and let him know that his family’s here. She’s not antagonistic to him, right?

[Emily]
Not yet.

[Thomas]
Well, I think it’s a good thing to bring up, because do they become antagonistic toward each other, and if so, when and how? Because right now, we’re spending a lot of time focused on tacos. And this is a rom-com, not a taco-com.

[Shep]
Right. Well, we should’ve eaten before we started recording because this is what happens when you bring up tacos.

[Thomas]
We’re very serious about how tacos are handled and filmed. So.

[Shep]
We’ve spent 20 minutes talking about a three-minute passage of time in the film.

[Emily]
All right, so she comes up, he’s stewing upstairs. He hasn’t seen his family yet. He-

[Shep]
He hasn’t seen his family yet? Or he hasn’t seen them that night, that he hasn’t seen them-

[Emily]
Hasn’t seen them that night.

[Shep]
Okay.

[Emily]
Maybe his mom says, “Go back to the inn, get some rest, you’re jet lagged.” And he’s still stewing about everything. So he’s going to go to the pub and then he doesn’t realize they’re going to come there and maybe they had intended to go and knock on his door or have the innkeeper go and fetch him when they get there. So that’s why the innkeeper shows up after he’s sitting up there alone, eating his tacos, listening to the revelry downstairs. And the innkeeper has been sent by his parents to fetch him. And so this is where we can have either they become antagonistic where he’s just so rude to her. She’s like, “Fine, stay in your room. I don’t give a shit.” Or they make sweet, passionate love really quick, and then they go down and he has tacos.

[Shep]
Why would he be mad at the innkeeper?

[Emily]
No, he’s just grumpy because he’s jet lagged. There’s an American running the inn in his village. There’s only a chain restaurant to go to. His mom’s not making him dinner. Nobody expected him here. He can’t sleep in his own room.

[Shep]
Right. But if he’s stewing in his loneliness and then someone comes and says, “Hey, your whole family is here, come downstairs,” he’d be happy. He’d go downstairs.

[Thomas]
Are we trying too hard to have the family show up to Taco Tuesday?

[Shep]
It’s possible.

[Emily]
Probably.

[Shep]
But if the family is having dinner at the mom’s house, why doesn’t he have dinner with them?

[Thomas]
Right.

[Shep]
He has to have tacos.

[Thomas]
Well, what do we want the outcome of this taco meal to be? Does he like the tacos? He’s like, “Ah, shit, these are actually pretty good.” Or is this an affront to all things taco?

[Emily]
I think he should like them.

[Thomas]
This feels like it needs to come later. He needs to already be angry at her, and then he has her tacos, and he’s like, “Oh, shit. These are really good tacos, actually.”

[Emily]
Or maybe they’re just white people tacos, so he’s like, “There’s better tacos in the world.” But this is Ireland, so white people tacos are amazing.

[Thomas]
Well, that’s why I think you should be surprised by how good they are because he’s like “Tacos in Ireland?” And then that’s one of the things that starts to soften him to her. In fact, he takes something that he fused incredibly negatively, like, “Oh, my god, Taco Tuesday? Ireland doesn’t need this.” And so he’s, like, really upset, and then, “Shit, these are actually really good tacos. I mean, I’ve had better, but not in Ireland.”

[Shep]
Where does he live in America?

[Thomas]
Probably a major city.

[Shep]
Are there street tacos? Are there proper street tacos wherever he lives in America?

[Thomas]
Do you want there to be?

[Shep]
Yeah.

[Thomas]
Okay, so, like, LA. San Diego.

[Shep]
So I’m saying whatever tacos he has there, maybe there are also proper, like, street type tacos. And so he’s surprised because he’s thinking, you know, Taco Bell tacos.

[Thomas and Emily]
Right.

[Shep]
Right. Again, we’re now 25 minutes into talking about tacos.

[Emily]
We’re still talking about Taco Tuesday.

[Shep]
We’re still talking about it.

[Emily]
We are concentrating way too much on tacos.

[Shep]
Yeah. Let’s skip the tacos.

[Emily]
Okay.

[Shep]
At this point, what is their relationship? I think that the innkeeper is friendly because professionally, that’s the job. And he is initially antagonistic because he doesn’t like change in his hometown.

[Emily]
Well, he’s lived in America a long time, so he’s kind of gotten more jaded and grumpy.

[Shep]
Yeah.

[Thomas]
Okay. She probably doesn’t run this entirely by herself. So it’s not her who checks him in. It’s some employee. So the next morning, he comes down and he’s complaining loudly to her, not realizing she’s the owner because maybe she’s just, I don’t know, having breakfast herself in the dining room or something like that. For whatever reason, she’s not behind the counter or something. He doesn’t realize she’s the owner.

[Shep]
She’s just sitting at the bar having breakfast.

[Emily]
Yeah.

[Shep]
He sits next to her.

[Thomas]
Yeah.

[Shep]
Doesn’t she have an American accent? Wouldn’t he be suspicious that everything’s Americanized and there’s an American here? Oh, he’s got to complain to her about it’s all Americanized. She must love it.

[Thomas]
Right.

[Shep]
“You must love all these nontraditional things.”

[Emily]
“They’ve changed this all for you and the rest of your touristy kind.”

[Thomas]
He’s totally calling out the standard rom-com trope of the solo American female going to Ireland.

[Emily]
He’s like, “What, are you here to find a husband? To meet your one true love?”

[Thomas]
Right.

[Emily]
“Discover the magic of the Emerald Isle?”

[Thomas]
And she’s just letting him dig that grave even deeper.

[Shep]
Right. What’s the end of the scene? Like, the person behind the counter comes up to her and says, “Hey, boss, I’m going to go on break.”

[Thomas]
Right. “And you own the inn, don’t you?”

[Shep]
She’s got to think it’s funny.

[Emily]
Yeah.

[Shep]
So it’s not really making her antagonistic toward him.

[Emily]
Does she have to ever be antagonistic towards him? Because we’re doing the rom-com trope, but twisting it.

[Thomas]
Right.

[Emily]
A lot of the times the men in the rom-coms aren’t antagonistic towards the women at all. It’s always the women who are making these assumptions and projecting these things onto the men, and then the men are just like, I”‘m just here doing my thing. You’re the one going crazy.”

[Shep]
“I’m just running the inn.”

[Emily]
Yeah.

[Thomas]
So the person behind the bar comes out, says something to her that causes her to need to leave that area, but makes it clear she’s the owner and he’s, like, scuttles out of there all embarrassed or whatever, so she doesn’t have a chance to come back and demonstrate that she’s not upset.

[Emily]
Right.

[Thomas]
He just assumes, like, “Oh, god, I’ve pissed her off, I need to get the hell out of here.”

[Shep]
What does he do? What is his job? Does he do a job where he has to interface with the public? Where he would complain to his family about how awful customers are and then he realizes he’s the awful customer now?

[Emily]
He has a service industry job.

[Shep]
How does he live in America with just a service industry job? Why did he move to America to get a service industry job? I’m trying to think of what his job could possibly be that takes him to America, but he also interfaces with the public, but also would leave him free to go back to Ireland if he found his one true love there.

[Thomas]
Maybe he has a job at a brewery.

[Shep]
They hired him because he’s Irish.

[Thomas]
Yeah.

[Shep]
He’s a mascot at a brewery?

[Thomas]
I mean, actually, if he was working at a popular Irish pub in a major city as a bartender, he could with a proper Irish accent and everything, he could potentially be getting decent tips.

[Shep]
Well, yeah, he moved to LA to be an actor and that didn’t work out.

[Emily and Thomas]
Right.

[Emily]
Didn’t work out.

[Thomas]
He gets a lot of little bit parts or not a lot. He gets some every once in a while, he gets cast.

[Emily]
Whenever they make an Irish movie or something, he’s the third guy on the right.

[Shep]
It’s like, why did he get hired? They keep cutting out his line.

[Thomas]
Right.

[Shep]
Why did they hire him to say the line in an Irish accent when they don’t even keep the line? He’s just a background extra in, like, three movies.

[Thomas]
Because those are definitely jobs he could easily walk away from and he probably has a roommate.

[Emily]
Yeah. Maybe that’s why he went back this time, because it’s not a funeral, and that’s why he only normally comes back for funerals, because he doesn’t make a ton of money and he has a roommate. He’s a bartender. Actor by day, bartender by night. But he comes back partially because he’s just feeling like a failure over in America now, and he’s going to go home, and things are going to be better at home.

[Shep]
Here’s the one thing I want to change.

[Emily]
Okay.

[Shep]
He was just in a part that he thinks is going to be his big break. This is the one where they gave him, like, three lines and it’s going to take off. This is going to be where his career really, truly begins. It hasn’t aired yet, but it’s going to air soon. And he wants to go back home, not because he’s depressed, but because he’s celebrating. He wants to be with his family and show them that he made it because they all told him he couldn’t and he wouldn’t, but he did. But then the show airs while he’s there and they basically cut out his part.

[Thomas]
Maybe it’s one of those roles where the contract he signed has, I don’t remember what the type of part is called, but it’s like, “Oh, you’re going to be on this episode and we might want you in future episodes.” So there’s this, like, potential. This door is not shut anymore. It’s like, still partly open. He’s like, “Oh, yeah.” And he thinks, “Oh, I’ve done it. I did a great job,” and feels really strongly like, “Oh, yeah, this is good. This is going to take off. They’re going to use me again. I’m going to start getting booked. These recurring roles.” And-

[Emily]
His character doesn’t test well, so they cut it.

[Thomas]
But his character gets cut way down. Yeah.

[Emily]
I like that. Although if he was depressed because he’s a failure, that would explain why he’s so extra grumpy.

[Shep]
See, let’s make him depressed for being a failure, but just later in the movie.

[Emily]
Okay.

[Shep]
That’s when he has this lowest low. Like, he convinces the innkeeper to put the episode on the TV in the pub so they can all watch it.

[Thomas]
Oh, yeah.

[Shep]
And the townsfolk are like, “Yeah, local boy makes good,” and whatever. And the credits are rolling and the townsfolk are like, “When does it get to you?” So that’s when he’s depressed and the innkeeper could try to make him feel better because it’s a hospitality, it’s a hospitality job. She wants to make him feel better, but he just sees it as patronizing and gets upset to her, like, you know, she’s pitying him. And also, she ruined his favorite pub and took his family away. So now he’s not making it in his career and he’s alone and his family’s too busy for him because he showed up unexpected. So is this the lowest low? Now he goes through the town trying to reminisce about all the good times, but everything’s changed wherever he goes because he’s been gone for 20 years or however long. How old is this guy?

[Emily]
We’ll make it ten years. He’s been gone ten years because then he’s a 30-ish.

[Shep]
All right, all right.

[Thomas]
All right. Let’s take a break here. And when we come back, we’ll figure out what happens next at the Shamrock Inn.

[Break]

[Thomas]
We’re back. And I’m wondering, is there enough friction happening between the inn owner and our main character?

[Emily]
Well, I think it would be- we could add another element if some well-meaning people in the town think she’s lonely and needs a young beau, but obviously-

[Thomas]
They’re trying to ship them.

[Emily]
Yeah. And so she’s a little like, “It’s not going to happen, guys. One, he doesn’t like me. Two, I don’t need a man in my life. I’m a strong, independent American woman.”

[Thomas]
What if this is the pub that he used to work at when he was living there? And so when he goes to LA, he’s like, “Oh, I have all- years of experience working in an actual Irish pub.” And so that’s just like, one more thing when he comes back. Well, it could be the case that the previous owner told him, “You always have a job here.”

[Emily]
Yeah.

[Thomas]
And so not that he was coming back to look for that, but that door is shut now.

[Emily]
Right.

[Thomas]
That’s not even an option anymore.

[Emily]
Yeah. Because when he comes back, he doesn’t know it’s owned by her yet.

[Thomas]
Right.

[Emily]
Maybe he makes comments about the previous owner, and they’re like, “Oh, she retired to Florida,” or… They have to have some sort of bonding moment too, at some point. Right? They have to have some conversations where they see that they have some things in common.

[Shep]
Well, if he works in a pub or in a bar, maybe one of her employees calls in and can’t make it.

[Emily]
Yeah.

[Shep]
And so they both work behind the bar one evening.

[Emily]
During some big soccer match or something. Football match.

[Shep]
Yeah, some big time when there’s going to be a lot of people. That’s why she needs the extra help. And he’s good at it.

[Emily]
And they have fun.

[Thomas]
But he doesn’t want to because he’s on vacation and he’s grouchy and so she has to entice him. “I’ll give you all the tips” or something like that.

[Shep]
Why would she want someone who’s grouchy to work behind the bar?

[Emily]
His mom makes him do it. She guilts him into it.

[Thomas]
Oh, yeah.

[Emily]
She’s a good Irish Catholic mom. She’s like, “Oh, no, honey, she needs help. You’ve got to help her. You don’t have anything going on tonight. Your sister’s got this, your grandma, we’re doing this and that. We weren’t expecting you. We don’t need your help. You stay and you help her.”

[Shep]
See, I like that because then he’s doing it because his mom told him to, and then he has to convince her to let him help her. She doesn’t want his help. He’s been grumpy. But then once he gets behind the bar and gets into his groove and gets into that customer service mindset and starts forcing himself to smile and be happy and treat the customers well.

[Emily]
Maybe this is where you start seeing some old friends.

[Thomas]
That’s good. If some of his friends show up, “What are you guys doing here?”

[Shep]
Right. Or they’d say that to him, “What are you doing here?” They didn’t expect him to be in town, let alone working behind the bar at the pub. And then life’s not so bad.

[Emily]
And brings them back to that happy place.

[Shep]
Right.

[Thomas]
And then they have that quiet time after the whole place is closed down and they’ve cleaned up and they’re sitting there having a drink and chatting. So they get that bonding moment. Like you were saying, Emily.

[Emily]
And you can see the attraction building between them.

[Shep]
Not that either one is looking for it.

[Emily]
No.

[Thomas]
Right.

[Shep]
But it’s there. We can see it.

[Emily]
But it’s there. Yeah.

[Shep]
So is this before or after his acting debut falls through? This got to be before, right?

[Thomas]
Yeah.

[Emily]
I think this would be before because then that’s how he’s able to convince her that “I have this show coming up.” Maybe he tells her first in that moment.

[Shep]
Oh, yeah. Maybe he wants it to be a surprise for his family.

[Emily]
Yeah. And so she’s all on board for it because they just have this great experience together. They’re bonding.

[Shep]
Oh, he wants it to be a surprise for his family. He hasn’t told them about it, but they’re coming to the pub that night to hang out for whatever.

[Thomas]
Because it’s Taco Tuesday.

[Shep]
No more Taco Tuesday. So he doesn’t tell them that that’s why he wants to hang out with them, but that’s why. So he tells her so that she can put it on the TV. But of course she tells her employees and they tell other people and then everybody in town knows, even though he didn’t tell everyone.

[Thomas]
Yeah, that’s good.

[Emily]
Great. I like that.

[Shep]
So they’re expecting it. And then when it doesn’t happen-

[Emily]
Yeah. And then he’s back in his grumpy place and she tries to be empathetic towards him and be like, “Oh, sorry. I know you were really looking forward to sharing this with your family.” And he’s like “(Growls)” and then he blows up at her again.

[Shep]
Right.

[Thomas]
He says something nasty.

[Shep]
Why would she forgive him if he said something so nasty? Because he’s basically a stranger. You don’t need to put any more effort in, just cut that guy out. No, he’s going to be like this when he’s upset. Just hard pass.

[Thomas]
That’s a good point. I mean, I think that he doesn’t have to say something nasty. Maybe he’s just rude. Or brusque or whatever.

[Shep]
Oh, there’s got to be a rude customer earlier that he sees. And so she has this sort of smile that she puts on and this repeated phrase that she’s like, “I’m sorry, that’s all- that’s the best that I could do.” Whatever. It is some repeated phrase that’s like, they can’t go any further than this. And so when he starts to complain to her, she smiles and she says that phrase to him, and he knows that he’s crossing the line.

[Emily]
I can buy that. And then she’s not like, super mad at him.

[Shep]
Right. She understands, but at the same-

[Emily]
But she’s holding her boundaries and protecting herself.

[Shep and Thomas]
Right.

[Shep]
Just because she understands doesn’t mean she’s got to put up with his shit.

[Emily]
Right.

[Shep]
They’re not in a relationship.

[Emily]
Yeah.

[Shep]
He’s just a guest at her inn that’s the extent of it right now.

[Thomas]
How do they eventually end up getting together?

[Emily]
It rains there…

[Thomas]
Of course, always rains.

[Emily]
Yeah. Because they have to be soaking wet and kiss under the stone arch of a crumbling Irish ruin.

[Thomas]
Are we thinking of the same movie?

[Emily]
That’s a very common-

[Thomas]
Yeah.

[Shep]
So what do you want to actually happen?

[Emily]
It’s a rom-com. So we have to have the happy rom-com ending. Otherwise what was the point of this movie?

[Shep]
Yes. There are a lot of movies where I go, what was the point of it? Oh, it was Oscar bait. Okay, hard pass. I’m not interested. I watch movies for escapism. I don’t need absurd, pain drama.

[Emily]
No, not anymore.

[Shep]
Yeah. I don’t need any help crying.

[Emily]
Yeah. Got that covered. Thank you, Hollywood.

[Shep]
What are her dreams? What are her aspirations?

[Thomas]
She’s living the life she wants, isn’t she?

[Emily]
That’s what I feel like. She’s reached it. She’s fulfilled. She doesn’t need him.

[Shep]
Well, I was thinking there could be some reason for them to celebrate, not because of something in his life, but because of something in her life. Like, she wants to start franchising out her pub and become, like, this American restaurant in Ireland.

[Emily]
Oh, yeah? Why not?

[Shep]
And so she’s looking for financial backing. She wants to open a second location in some other small town.

[Thomas]
What are each of their goals ultimately?

[Shep]
He wants to be a famous Hollywood actor. She wants to open a chain of Irish restaurants.

[Thomas]
And so what are their goals in the, like, week that this film takes place?

[Emily]
She has meetings with investors, so she has to convince them her business is good. But she’s got this grumpy asshole hanging around all the time complaining about shit.

[Thomas]
I mean, that’s good. Those are good stakes.

[Shep]
They just need to show up for Taco Tuesday.

[Emily]
Right. And then they know.

[Thomas]
Yeah.

[Shep]
So you just see on the Taco Tuesday part, you just see guys in business suits at one point.

[Emily]
Yeah.

[Shep]
No explanation.

[Thomas]
Right.

[Emily]
You just see them there.

[Thomas]
The camera kind of comes by and they’re making faces like, “Hey, these are pretty good tacos.”

[Shep]
They’re writing in notepads.

[Thomas]
Yeah. What’s his goal during that week?

[Shep]
Part of the reason he came was for his grandmother’s birthday.

[Thomas]
Right.

[Shep]
But the real reason he came was to show his family that he was going to be a successful actor and that doesn’t work out.

[Thomas]
So to prove his success to his family is his goal.

[Emily]
Yeah.

[Shep]
Yes.

[Emily]
That was his goal.

[Thomas]
Okay. Can he achieve that goal or I guess maybe how does his goal change after the movie career clearly isn’t going to work out?

[Emily]
He could become the face of the restaurant because he’s an actor.

[Thomas]
Right.

[Shep]
Well, he doesn’t want to work for her because that’s not a good- if he wants to be romantically inclined toward her, he doesn’t want to be her employee. Do they get together romantically?

[Thomas]
If we’re doing the whole reverse rom-com thing, then they have to hook up right away at the beginning and then have a big falling out. And then at the end, they’re sort of maybe not together romantically, but perhaps they’ve realized, like, “Oh, actually, we have similar goals, and we can help each other achieve those goals.” However.

[Shep]
Do we want to subvert the rom-com tropes?

[Thomas]
Some of them, certainly. I don’t know if that’s one, that might be a step too far.

[Emily]
I think that’s a step too far. I have seen some where they attempt this and it is-

[Thomas]
Right. And it’s never as satisfying.

[Emily]
Unsatisfying.

[Thomas]
Right. It’s not what you want.

[Emily]
No, you’re like, “This is not what I signed up for.” Yeah.

[Thomas]
But I think we can subvert the trope in that they maybe do hook up early on, have a falling out, and then come back together.

[Shep]
Why do they get together at the beginning?

[Thomas]
It could be the case that the first night he’s there, he sees ugh, American whatever and goes to the other pub that night, meets her there.

[Shep]
Is he going there that night when he gets there? Because he’s getting there at the middle of the night. I thought we already had this.

[Thomas]
No, I have him arriving earlier now, in time for dinner.

[Shep]
Okay.

[Thomas]
Because that way he can meet her. The first time he meets her is not in her own place.

[Emily]
He meets her at the other bar. He thinks she’s a tourist, they hook up.

[Thomas]
Right.

[Emily]
And he’s like, sweet scored an American tourist. And then the next morning, then he goes downstairs and she’s there eating, and he’s like, “Oh, you’re staying here,” and then goes into the whole thing-

[Shep]
Oh, he thought that she came there for the American breakfast because she is American. That’s why he’s assuming that she came there. She doesn’t- he doesn’t think that she’s staying in that inn.

[Thomas]
Yeah.

[Shep]
Also, this is why he feels comfortable complaining to her about all this stuff because they just spent the night together, and he’s already made assumptions about where she’s staying and what she likes-

[Emily]
And who she is.

[Shep]
And who she is.

[Emily]
Yeah.

[Shep]
She’s an American tourist, and he’s like, “You should experience more Irish stuff, not this American stuff. You can have this American stuff when you go back home.”

[Emily]
Perfect.

[Shep]
So there we got it. They hook up right away, and then we’re back to where we were before. So how do they get back together at the end? Is he going to quit trying to be an actor and settle down back in Ireland?

[Emily]
Well, that’s why I was going to ask, because I feel like she’s not going to want to leave. So he would have to come back.

[Thomas]
Well right.

[Shep]
Right.

[Thomas]
It would be much harder for her to leave. She’s got the whole pub and everything like that, the inn.

[Emily]
Right. So what is his motivation for coming back? Is he just accepting his failure? Is he-

[Thomas]
Yeah. There’s definitely something else that we’re missing here.

[Shep]
Okay. Everything that I can think of doesn’t work because the town is so small. I was thinking, you know, maybe a talent scout comes through and he’s really funny and they want him to whatever, but it’s like they wouldn’t be in this town of 300 people or whatever.

[Thomas]
Unless this town’s whole big thing is we’re the biggest town. We’re a small town, but we’re the biggest town between these two huge cities, and it takes… Oh no, Ireland is small, isn’t it? I’m thinking on America terms.

[Shep]
Yeah, you’re thinking on American scales.

[Emily]
Because Ireland is smaller than England, and he can drive the whole of England in a day.

[Thomas]
Right. Plus, you’d probably be taking a train or something.

[Emily]
Yeah.

[Thomas]
I don’t know.

[Shep]
Yeah. This public transportation. What a crazy, fantastical world they live in.

[Thomas]
Truly the luck of the I- no.

[Shep]
It’s not luck. It’s urban planning. So what is his new career that he has in Ireland that makes him want to stay there?

[Emily]
That’s why I want him to be the face of her franchise, because now he’s going to be that guy. Like, he’s the mascot of the franchise. Everybody will recognize him. Everybody knows him. So he has that fame that he’s always sought. But at home.

[Shep]
Oh, you know who wants him to be the face of the franchise? The investors who came to the pub when he was bartending, because they think he works there.

[Thomas]
Right.

[Shep]
But if he wants to be an actor, even in Ireland, he’s probably not going to live in this tiny, tiny, tiny town.

[Emily]
Oh, no, he’d have to move to Dublin.

[Thomas]
What is his new goal then? Has he already kind of decided, like, it’s this or nothing? Is there some other pressure at home where he’s not going to be able to afford to live in LA anymore?

[Emily]
I think he should, seeing his luck is changing, but he had had a conversation with his roommate. His roommate’s moving out.

[Thomas]
Right.

[Emily]
He can’t afford an apartment on his own if this job doesn’t work. But he’s got this job, so it’s not a problem. He’s going to go home, he’ll come back, and he gets this whole big apartment to himself because now he’s got this job and he’s on top of the world. It’s going to be fantastic. And then not only when they cut his lines, he knows he doesn’t have that job anymore, but also he has that realization of, “Oh, shit,”

[Shep]
Or his boyfriend’s moving in with him and they’re kicking Steve out?

[Thomas]
Yeah, actually, I like that idea of they’ve asked him to leave, and he thinks, “Oh, yeah, I’ll get a new apartment, no problem, because I’ll have more money.”

[Emily]
Yeah. Oh, yeah. “I can afford my own space now.”

[Thomas]
Right. So he’s already agreed to move out. It’s not like he can just get a new roommate.

[Emily]
Right, okay. Yeah, that makes sense.

[Shep]
Or he had he went to LA with the goal: Ten years. That’s the goal. “I’m going to make it in ten years or I’m going to cut my losses.”

[Thomas]
Right.

[Shep]
“I’m not going to be one of those guys that’s still tending bar as an old man trying to get acting gigs. No, ten years.” That’s the promise. So this was just under the wire. This success was coming in right at the last minute.

[Thomas]
What was his backup plan originally? Was it to come back and tend bar in his hometown because he always has a job at that pub?

[Shep]
I was going to say no, he was only being a bartender because he’s an actor and he just needs a side gig. But you’re right. You said earlier he knew the previous owner. He tended bar there before. He always has a job there. Yeah, maybe that was his backup plan, and now it’s owned by someone else. That’s ruining his plans. But it’s fine because he actually made it as an actor. It’s okay. And then they cut his part, and it’s like, “Well, fuck!”

[Thomas]
And so now he has yet another reason to kind of take it out on the woman, the American woman.

[Shep]
Right. She took his backup plan from him.

[Thomas]
So it’s not really her fault at all. She had no idea, nothing to do with it. It wasn’t her intention. But it’s just one more fucking thing that he could be mad about, and it’s an excuse for him to lash out at her unfairly and then come back and apologize and say, like, “I’m stupid. I’m sorry.”

[Emily]
Does she then put him in his place and have the whole speech of, “You made these choices and they didn’t work out. That’s not my fault. You need to figure out how you can change your life,” because that could be what we see in the second act, is his selfishness, where he’s always blaming someone else for his problems, even though his problems aren’t necessarily a direct result of any of his actions, but they are based off of his choices.

[Shep]
Oh, yeah. It’s just because he’s unlucky.

[Emily]
Yeah.

[Shep]
It comes back to the shamrock. There we go.

[Emily]
And so she just kind of gets tired of it when he’s needling her, and so she puts him in his place, and then he has to come back and apologize after he goes and walks in the rain and is sad.

[Shep]
And the Charlie Brown music plays. See, I like this. If his character flaws that he’s selfish and he doesn’t take responsibility for his own actions, and that could be his growth, is that he starts to take responsibility for his actions and make better choices. Not that they were bad choices. He’s just unlucky.

[Thomas]
And then actually, that could help the idea of moving the tending bar scene into the third act, where he comes back and he’s like, “I want to do this for you. You need help.” For whatever reason, he knows the investors are coming and that she’s short staffed. He’s like, “Let me do this. I owe you for being a jerk earlier.”

[Emily]
He knows, because in her whole speech to him about his selfishness, she’s like, “I got my own things I need to deal with.”

[Thomas]
Right.

[Emily]
“I have investors coming because I’m trying to franchise this place.”

[Shep]
Right.

[Emily]
And so that’s when he’s like, “Hey, I can help you.”

[Shep]
Yeah. Oh, this is where the mom comes in, because she’s already there. So he comes in, is like, “Hey, your regular guys out, and I’m volunteering to help you.” And she’s like, “Fuck off.” She’s not taking any of his shit. And he’s like, “No, I can actually do this. I’m really good at this.” And the mom is like, “Honey, let him. Just let him.”

[Emily]
Makes the best Tom Collins.

[Shep]
He makes the best what?

[Emily]
Tom Collins. I don’t know. Naming a drink.

[Shep]
It cut out. I heard “The best T-” and then nothing. I’m like, “He makes the best Taco Tuesday? What the hell did Emily say?”

[Emily]
He makes the best Tom Hanks, because we’re going to just put that in there.

[Thomas]
Makes the best Phil Collins.

[Shep]
Yes. There we go. He makes the best Colin Hanks! We were there. We have him, a full circle.

[Thomas]
Hey! All right. So how do they end up together?

[Shep]
If the bartending scene, the bartending scene together, is really towards the end, and they were flirty at the beginning, and they had already hooked up at the very beginning-

[Thomas]
Right.

[Shep]
And then they were friendly until his world fell apart and his lowest low, then this could be the end. This is where they get back together after their successful night.

[Emily]
He helps her. It’s wildly successful.

[Shep]
Wildly successful.

[Emily]
And they’re cleaning up. And then he, or she, because I think it would be better if it was her, is like, “Hey, let me thank you.” And then she tries to sleep with him again.

[Shep]
Tries to sleep with him again?

[Emily]
Sleeps with him again.

[Shep]
So what is their plan going forward?

[Emily]
He’s going to be the face of the franchise. I’m going to keep pushing that.

[Shep]
I have no objection to that. If it’s the investor’s idea.

[Emily]
Yeah, I think the investor, she should come in, do the whole “Yeah, I got it,” blah, blah, blah. And then also-

[Shep]
When does she bring that up?

[Emily]
I don’t know.

[Shep]
During sex?

[Emily]
I was going to say the next morning.

[Thomas]
I feel like we have enough of a framework that the writers could figure it out from here. What do you guys think?

[Emily]
I think we do.

[Shep]
Well, I think we should talk about more about Taco Tuesday and really nail down the sequence of events.

[Emily]
That scene is so crucial to this movie.

[Shep]
Everything hangs upon this. That’s what you want in an Irish movie, is the strong emphasis on Taco Tuesday. Put that on the poster.

[Thomas]
We’d love to hear your thoughts on today’s show. Was it rolling in clover, or was it just a fake stone?

[Shep]
(VERY PAINED GROANS)

[Emily]
No.

[Thomas]
Wow. You guys got that a lot faster than I expected. Let us know by leaving a comment on our website, reaching out on social media, or sending us an email. Links to all of those can be found at AlmostPlausible.com When you follow or subscribe to our show in your podcatcher of choice, you’ll be able to automatically download each new episode as soon as it’s available. So take a moment right now to follow or subscribe to the show and ensure you never miss an episode. And if you’re already subscribed thanks! Emily, Shep, and I will see you again on another episode of Almost Plausible.

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