Post by Sam Kidsgrove on Feb 7, 2021 13:46:26 GMT -5
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By S. Kidsgrove
Written by S. Kidsgrove
FADE IN
INT - GOOD SHEPHERD CHURCH - DAY
SAM KIDSGROVE, Hollywood A-Lister and philanthropist is with ZOOEY DESCHANEL, cute as a button actress, adored by many talking to the priest of the good shepherd church. MILES MCLEAN, priest to the stars of Hollywood. The meeting is jovial and everyone is relaxed, drinking water and chatting.
MCLEAN
Of course I can accommodate this! I’m always happy to help the man who turned my life around!
KIDSGROVE
I thought that was God.
MCLEAN
OK, but who helped me get to God?
Kidsgrove shakes his head, being too humble to take the credit.
DESCHANEL
I’m sorry, am I missing something?
MCLEAN
Oh! I thought you knew, he talks about you all the time so I assumed he’d tell you everything that goes on!
Deschanel squints her eyes in mock hurt and side eyes Kidsgrove playfully.
DESCHANEL
No, but continue.
MCLEAN
This guy
He stands up and starts becoming animated, this story clearly moves him.
MCLEAN
OK, so this guy right, we met in rehab like a decade ago, we hit it off and decided to get clean together. You know, like a mini support group. He’s supported me through so many bad times in my life and even helped me get back on the straight life when I fell off the wagon a couple years back.
KIDSGROVE
It was nothing, really.
Mclean laughs heartily.
KIDSGROVE
Nothing he says! Mid shoot he calls a wrap, hops on his private jet and comes here to talk me down from the ledge for 2 days. He checks us both back into rehab, even though he didn’t need it and pays for it all.
DESCHANEL
Wait, was this the Knight Rider shoot?
KIDSGROVE
I think it was, yeah.
DESCHANEL
The press had a field day with that one! They said you went off the deep end and you were doing your bad boy of Hollywood thing. The studio ended up cancelling the picture!
KIDSGROVE
Sounds about right.
DESCHANEL
And you checked in, when you didn’t need to?
KIDSGROVE
Yeah.
DESCHANEL
Why?
MCLEAN
To protect me. You see I went off on the deep end because, well it’s something I’m not proud of and to this date it haunts me. I basically got into a bind with some bad men and this church was desecrated. By that I mean I was blackmailed into allowing some men to use it as a front for modern slavery. People were bought and sold in the catacombs and I was forced to allow them in and be quiet about it.
Zooey looks extremely angry about this.
DESCHANEL
WHAT?
Mclean immediately bows his head in shame, Kidsgrove puts his hand out to placate Zooey.
KIDSGROVE
He was a new priest here, I helped him find God when we were in rehab and suggested he came to this church so we could continue our meetings and be there for each other. These guys knew about his past and threatened to go public.
DESCHANEL
Most of Hollywood are addicted to something so how…
KIDSGROVE
Yeah, that’s not the problem.
MCLEAN
No, my 10 year stint on the sex offender’s register is.
DESCHANEL
Wait, what?
KIDSGROVE
It’s what drove him to drugs in the first place, long story short, he had consensual sex with a woman who, well, he shouldn’t have.
MCLEAN
To my shame. She said it was her 18th birthday. Didn’t mention it wasn’t till next month.
DESCHANEL
Oh….Well. I’m sorry, I don’t know what to say.
MCLEAN
Nothing to say, I should have been more careful, I paid for it and hit the bottom. Sam here though, well, I saw him going through hell at the same time as me but being strong, like. Being fearsome, knowing that he has his issues, he has his faults, but he is standing there as an example for someone like me to be better. He helped me remember who I was and more importantly, who I wanted to be. So it’s thanks to him I’m here now.
DESCHANEL
What happened to the modern slavery thing?
MCLEAN
Well, Sam sorted that out too. Didn’t ya?
KIDSGROVE
Yeah.
Kidsgrove sighs and looks to his feet.
KIDSGROVE
And I gotta do it again, but you know, Miles, I’m feelin’ a lot less like the guy you just described to be honest with ya. I don’t know if I got it any more to influence these people.
MCLEAN
Why so?
KIDSGROVE
I tried to steer Bull away from this kinda path a few months back, I tried to help him become the guy he wants to be. Got him and Fehl a little part in one of my pictures, they seemed to be doing fine. Then all of a sudden Fehl turns against us and destroys me while joining Harrison and his crew of misfits. Since then, well, everything’s been on a slippery slope downwards. I need to help Bull, to get him out of the situation he’s in, being in thrall to that jackass Lowe isn’t a good place. So I want to take this random matching as an opportunity to help him. In theory, helping him beat two of the guys of the next generation who came to AW with a massive splash, creating a huge name for themselves is a slam dunk.
MCLEAN
But I sense it isn’t that simple?
KIDSGROVE
No, not that simple. I’m in a funk, I feel my light is waning and I can’t do this anymore. I was in that ring with Fehl and Cranley last week and I felt for the first time in my career that I was becoming an old man. I don’t know the world Cranley inhabits and I was easily pushed aside by Fehl, just like TV pushed away the silver screen for a while, just like Netflix pushed away TV and just like Social media pushed away TV news. I feel like I just can’t keep up now.
MCLEAN
You can’t or you don’t want to?
KIDSGROVE
I want to, there’s so much injustice out there, so many people who can’t fight and need someone to stand up for them. Yet when I try to help them, the majority of people get annoyed, or ignore it. It’s like the world has shifted to this state where people cry out for help and refuse the help they are given because they don’t want to hear it. You speak to them, show them the way and they think it’s too much effort or want immediate results.
MCLEAN
Such is the world, this is happening in the church too. People come in here, looking for guidance. What does God say, how can God fix this? I always say the same thing. God wants you to look in yourself for the right result, God wants you to fix this by remembering why you’re on the Earth and who you are. Less and less people are content with that now though and most don’t come back and my sermons are a quarter full. Sure enough though, we get a pandemic? Standing room only.
KIDSGROVE
Yeah, I’m sorry I don’t come.
MCLEAN
I accepted that you’re never going to be a follower of God a long time ago my friend. If you were at my sermons, I’d be more worried than if you weren’t. Enough about me though, what’s wrong with you?
KIDSGROVE
I’ve just said, I…
MCLEAN
Tell me your name.
KIDSGROVE
I’m Sam Kidsgrove.
MCLEAN
Right. You’re Sam Kidsgrove, but who are you?
KIDSGROVE
I don’t know….
MCLEAN
Don’t be an ass, you’re here for a reason right? You literally just told me you’re fed up with people asking for help and ignoring you or not putting in the work. You got a big match on Monday, so once again, who are you?
KIDSGROVE
I’m Sam Kidsgrove. And you know what, I’m one of the Action Wrestling stalwarts and that means something. It means I’ve passed the grade, not with Tort, not with Gravedigger or Pasta or Deruty or whoever’s in charge, but with the people that matter. Fans come to the arena to see people like Bull and I. They come in their thousands and go wild when they see us, they have gone through the good and bad with us over years so we are their people and they are ours. Max Daemon and Graham Baker?
They’ve not been around long enough to know how to tap into that buzz of the crowd in the last moments, to use their energy and convert it into a last ounce of strength for a Box Office Smash and a cover for a three count. They have not had to face death itself and lose only to come back stronger. Hell when Graham Baker lost his U.S. title to me, he didn’t come back for it, he didn’t want that fight again, he retreated to where it’s safe in the shadow of his buddies the Man Made Gods. Only when he thought he was safe again to put his head over the wall did he decide to go solo again, or was it they kicked him out because he wasn’t the star they thought he was gonna be? I’m not sure. All I know is Baker just hasn’t been the same since he lost the U.S. title. He was on a roll, he was unbeatable, he was just ready to go on to the world title scene. Hell he was the next guy. Unfortunately for him, he was the next guy, the next guy to have a career defining match with one of the stalwarts of AW and unfortunately fail the test.
Yes, I’m going through a similar thing, but I’ve done it before, I’ll do it again. I’ve said time and time again that a true champion is never based on how long they held a title for, it’s gauged on how many times you can get back up after being knocked down. I’ve been continually knocked down these past few months but I know the path to redemption. Does Baker? Same can be asked of Max Daemon over there as well. He came into the place and within a match or two placed himself the head of the table in the pure division, beating a legend in the pure division to do so. He had an impressive unbeaten streak that was just abruptly ended when he got wrapped around the ring post in the whitehouse garden. The question is how’s he going to react. Is he going to spiral like Baker? Hell, he got unceremoniously dumped by Zmac in the same match, if that’s not an illustration of what I’m talking about I don’t know what is.
These boys faced one of the major fixtures in AW and got absolutely massacred and there are major question marks on how they’ll react. We already know Baker will probably spiral, but Max? Who knows? I’d like to think he’s made of stern stuff and he’ll come out with a point to prove on Monday but, as we know he’s part of this new generation. Chances are he might just fall apart as well and spiral. He has all the qualities to be a big name here. He has all the qualities to make a huge name for himself after his spectacular start but there is always that little doubt at the back of your mind, that little thing that asks “am I worthy?” after a brutal loss. I’ve been there, Bull’s been there and if these two guys think that we are going to be pushovers? Well, that’s just not gonna happen is it? I might be a yard slower, I might not be as strong as I was, I could have better cardio, but you know what? I’m still Sam Kidsgrove. The fans know it, I know it and after Monday, Baker and Daemon will also know it.
FADE OUT
END