BLESSINGS FROM BUFFALO "Pilot" written by Angelo Ierace 561-329-5879 [email protected] COLD OPEN EXT. CONGOLESE VILLAGE - DAY - 1991 AJALA (7, Black) runs with a group of other KIDS toward a stack of large boxes on a dirt road in the epicenter of their small village. Ajala opens one of the boxes to reveal dozens of folded t- shirts, all of them the exact same. Ajala unfolds one of the shirts to reveal the writing on it: Buffalo Bills Super Bowl XXV Champions. AJALA (V.O.) The first set of boxes came when I was just seven years old. The shirts inside all told us the same thing...that the Buffalo Bills had won the Super Bowl. EXT. CONGOLESE VILLAGE - DAY - 1992 Ajala, now 8 years old, grabs a t-shirt from the box and unfolds it for all the KIDS to read: Buffalo Bills Super Bowl XXVI Champions. AJALA (V.O.) And every year after that for the next three years in a row, more boxes came. And every year the shirts in those boxes let us know that the Buffalo Bills had won the Super Bowl yet again... EXT. CONGOLESE VILLAGE - DAY - 1993 Ajala, now 9 years old, grabs a t-shirt from the box and unfolds it for all the KIDS to read: Buffalo Bills Super Bowl XXVII Champions. AJALA (V.O.) ...and again... EXT. CONGOLESE VILLAGE - DAY - 1994 Ajala, now 10 years old, grabs a t-shirt from the box and unfolds it for all the kids to read: Buffalo Bills Super Bowl XXVIII Champions. 2. AJALA (V.O.) ...and again. And ever since that time, I've dreamed about going there. I've dreamed about going to America. Ajala, beaming with pride, removes a crisp cap from the box that reads Buffalo Bills Super Bowl XXVIII Champions and puts it on his head. INT. AJALA'S HOME - ROOM - DAY - PRESENT DAY CONGO Ajala, now in his early thirties, packs a suitcase as his best friend OLUWA (30s, Black) looks on. Ajala wears his Super Bowl XXVIII Champions cap that is now worn and faded. OLUWA America?! AJALA Yes, America. OLUWA What do you mean? To travel? AJALA To live! I've been awarded a green card. OLUWA How? AJALA The green card lottery. I entered it last year, did everything that was asked of me and I have officially been granted a green card. (beat) I am going to America, Oluwa! OLUWA How is it that your best friend did not even know that you applied for an American green card? AJALA I did not want to get my hopes up. But if it makes you feel any better, you are only the seventeenth person I have told. 3. OLUWA Seventeenth?! What an honor indeed. (beat) But why leave, Ajala? You have a good job here breeding goats. AJALA Yes and it is because I am a dwarf goat breeder that I have been able to save enough money to go to America. OLUWA How much have you saved? AJALA It has taken me thirteen years, but I have saved a total of three thousand dollars. Of which, two thousand will pay for the flight there. OLUWA One way? AJALA Of course it is one way. No regrets! OLUWA America is a big place. Where will you go? AJALA Buffalo, New York. OLUWA What's in Buffalo? AJALA (pointing to his token cap) The Buffalo Bills. I shall play for them. OLUWA Not again with that childish nonsense, Ajala. I thought you'd long given up that dream. AJALA Given up the dream?! The dream dies when the man dies. 4. Packed in Ajala's suitcase are the four commemorative shirts from his childhood along with three tattered commemorative caps. Ajala zips the suitcase shut. OLUWA So this is it, then? AJALA Yes. I fly out tomorrow. OLUWA To Buffalo? AJALA Yes. To the greatest city on earth. Buffalo, New York. The city of champions! ACT ONE EXT. BUFFALO NIAGARA INTERNATIONAL AIRPORT - RUNWAY - DAY An airplane comes to a SCREECHING stop. INT. AIRPLANE - CONTINUOUS Ajala, overjoyed by the landing, lifts both arms in a classic 'touchdown' signal. AJALA Touchdown! (beat) The first of many I assure you. Ajala turns to the MAN next to him, hoping he, too, shares his enthusiasm. He doesn't. EXT. BUFFALO NIAGARA INTERNATIONAL AIRPORT - MOMENTS LATER Ajala, suitcase in tow, barges through the airport doorway and into a BLIZZARD outside. AJALA Hello, Buffalo! 5. Bundled up LOCALS and TOURISTS alike stare at the underdressed Ajala. An AIPORT PORTER opens the backseat door of a taxi cab and Ajala slides into: INT. TAXI CAB - CONTINUOUS The perpetually disgruntled TAXI DRIVER looks at him through the rearview mirror. TAXI DRIVER You're not cold? AJALA My eyelids are frozen open. I cannot blink if I tried. (beat) All the better because I do not want to miss anything as we drive! TAXI DRIVER Where to? AJALA Take me to the Buffalo Bills. TAXI DRIVER It's Wednesday. They're not playing today. AJALA Very well. Take me there anyway. Taxi Driver grumbles as he starts the meter. INT. TAXI CAB - MOMENTS LATER (DRIVING) Ajala takes in the sights from the backseat of the cab. TAXI DRIVER So how long are you in town for? AJALA Forever. I am in town forever. How about you? Are you from Buffalo? TAXI DRIVER Born and raised. AJALA Oh the luck! 6. TAXI DRIVER Luck? I wouldn't exactly call it luck. AJALA Spoken like a true winner indeed! EXT. NEW ERA FIELD - FIELD HOUSE - DAY The taxi cab pulls up in the vacant parking lot outside of the Buffalo Bills Field House. Ajala exits the cab, suitcase in tow, and trudges through the blizzard toward the front door of the Field House. The taxi cab drives away. AT THE FRONT DOOR OF THE FIELD HOUSE: Ajala frustratedly pulls on the locked door. A SECURITY GUARD inside approaches the door. SECURITY GUARD We're closed. Ajala continues to pull incessantly at the door. Security Guard opens the door halfway. SECURITY GUARD (CONT’D) We're closed, dude. Ticket office is over there, but that closed at five. You can come back tomorrow for tickets or you can go online. But what you can't do is keep tugging on this door like you're about to rip it off. Okay? AJALA I am not here for tickets. I am here to play for the Buffalo Bills. My name is Ajala Tinibu. SECURITY GUARD Never heard of you. AJALA Very well. Where shall I enter? SECURITY GUARD You shall not enter. If you do enter, that's trespassing. So if I were you, I'd leave before I got arrested or hypothermia. 7. Security Guard SLAMS the door shut. SECURITY GUARD (CONT’D) Nice hat by the way. Ajala looks around the vacant, snow-covered parking lot. Dressed in only a t-shirt and shorts, Ajala is ill-prepared for both the blizzard and the monumental undertaking of playing for the Buffalo Bills. Ajala reaches in his pocket and takes out a slip of paper with an address scribbled on it along with: Stewart Bishop - go to if Bills are not home EXT. STEWART'S APARTMENT - NIGHT Ajala, suitcase in tow, KNOCKS on the door. The door opens, revealing STEWART (20s, Black). STEWART Yeah? AJALA Are you Stewart? STEWART Yeah. Who are you? AJALA I am Ajala Tinibu. We corresponded on the Internet about the bedroom. The Bills were not home, so I wish to take you up on your backup offer until I am able to live with the Bills, which will hopefully be tomorrow. May I come in? Ajala starts to enter anyway, but is blocked by Stewart. STEWART Hold up. I coulda sworn you were catfishing me. AJALA Was I to bring you a catfish? I did not know it was customary for one to bring one's roommate a catfish upon moving in. Maybe that is why the Bills did not let me in. I shall make a note to retrieve a catfish before tomorrow. 8. STEWART I thought you were fake is what I'm saying. AJALA I am very real, I assure you. STEWART I can see that. But I thought that whole email thing was a scam because it kinda sounded like those Nigerian Prince emails. AJALA I am no prince. I am just Ajala Tinibu from Congo. STEWART It's not every day you get an email from an African dude who isn't trying to get your bank account information. AJALA What? STEWART You've heard of that, right? The whole Nigerian Prince thing. Saying they have millions of dollars from an inheritance but he needs your bank account information to transfer the funds. AJALA I have never met a Nigerian Prince. STEWART I got a question. In Africa, do you guys get emails from an American Prince telling you about an inheritance? AJALA I have only used basic Internet a couple of times so I am unsure. (beat) May I come in now? STEWART I guess? 9. Ajala walks past Stewart into the apartment. Stewart, dumbfounded, looks around the apartment complex, as if trying to find hidden cameras. INT. STEWART'S APARTMENT - CONTINUOUS Ajala makes his way to the living room. Stewart closes the door and follows. STEWART I'm gonna be real with you, the only reason I let you in is because my roommate straight up peaced out last month without a word so I'm a month behind on rent and I need another roommate stat.