Chapter 1 - ch1

Ghostbusters





FADE IN:





EXT. NEW YORK PUBLIC LIBRARY - DAY



The sun shines brightly on the classic facade of the main library at Fifth Avenue and 42nd Street. In the adjacent park area, pretty hustlers and drug peddlers go about their business.





FRONT STEPS



A few people lounge on the steps flanked by the familiar stone lions.





INT. MAIN READING ROOM - DAY



People are dotted throughout the room sitting at the long oak tables polished by decades of use. Reading lamps with green glass shades cast a golden glow on the tables. The patina of age is everywhere. It is very quiet.





LIBRARIAN



A slightly stout, studious looking girl in her late twenties circulates quietly among the tables picking up books and putting them on her cart. Everything seems completely normal and peaceful.





POV



A single eerie musical note signals the presence of something strange looking down on the Librarian from a vantage point high above the room. It follows the Librarian as she pushes her cart around the corner.





INT. WORK AREA



The Librarian is alone in a back room sorting books for reshelving. Behind her is the card catalogue. One of the books attracts her interest and she starts leafing through it.





THE CARD CATALOGUE



Another eerie note is heard as one of the drawers silently slides open behind the Librarian and hundreds of index cards start popping out. The Librarian continues reading completely oblivious to this strange phenomenon.



She gets up and moves past another row of cabinets. Two more drawers quietly slide open, and thousands of file cards start shooting out of the open drawers just behind her, but the Librarian still doesn't notice.





THE STACKS



The Librarian works her way through rows and rows of old iron shelves containing many thousands of volumes stacked from floor to ceiling. As she puts the books back in their proper places, she slowly gets the feeling that she's being watched. She continues her task but suddenly hears a scratching noise and stops.



LIBRARIAN

(puzzled)

Hello? Is anybody there?





A ROW OF BOOKS



As the Librarian walks down the aisle, books start shooting off the shelf behind her. She turns suddenly and sees the fallen books.





THE LIBRARIAN



Frightened now, she walks slowly to the end of the aisle and tentatively peeks around the corner. Seeing no one, she starts to scratch her head and suddenly a dozen books fly off the shelf right in front of her and fall to the floor.



LIBRARIAN

(frightened)

All right! Who's there? Lyle? Is that you?



Very slowly now, her heart pounding, the Librarian tiptoes to the other end of the aisle. She gets to the corner and starts to peek around it, afraid to look but unable to resist.





INT. THE NEXT AISLE - DAY



The Librarian comes slowly around the end of the stacks and gets her first look at the thing that's been watching her. Her eyes go very wide and her mouth opens in horror. She screams.





EXT. COLUMBIA UNIVERSITY - DAY



Students are entering and leaving a neo-Gothic building on the University's upper west side campus. A sign identifies the building as: "Weaver Hall - Department of Psychology"





INT. BASEMENT - WEAVER HALL - DAY



At one end of the dingy corridor is a door marked "PARANORMAL STUDIES LABORATORY". A sign dangles from the doorknob: Maid - Please Make Up This Room. Scrawled across the door is a line of student graffiti that reads: "Yusuke Burn In Hell!" It looks like it's been written in blood.



YUSUKE (V.O.)

Now I'm going to turn over the next card and I want you to concentrate and tell me what you think it is.





INT. PARANORMAL STUDIES LAB - SAME TIME - DAY



DR. YUSUKE VENKMAN is administering an ESP test to two student volunteers, a boy and a girl, who sit across the table from him separated from each other by a screen.



Yusuke is an associate professor but his rumpled suit and the manic gleam in his eyes indicate an underlying instability in his nature. However, while a little short on academic credentials, Yusuke is long on confidence, charm and salesmanship.



He turns to the male volunteer, an obnoxious SOPHOMORE, and pulls out a card from the standard deck of ESP symbols. The card is visible to the camera over Yusuke's shoulder but hidden from the sophomore by a masonite board that rests between them on the table. The card shows a star symbol on it.



YUSUKE

All right. What is it?



SOPHOMORE

(concentrates)

A square?



YUSUKE

(shakes his head)

Good guess - but no.



He shows the Sophomore the star card then presses a button on the table which administers a mild electric shock to the volunteer. The Sophomore twitches involuntarily as the shock passes through the electrode attached to his fingertips. Then Yusuke turns to the female volunteer, a very beautiful COED.



YUSUKE

Now just clear your mind and tell me what you see.



He turns over a card with a circle on it.



COED

(thinks hard)

Is it a star?



YUSUKE

(feigning surprise)

It is a star! That's great. You're very good.



The Coed beams proudly as Yusuke turns back to the Sophomore without showing her the card.



YUSUKE

(to the Sophomore)

Now think.



He turns up the diamond card.



The Sophomore glances nervously at the electrodes, then ventures a guess.



SOPHOMORE

Circle?



YUSUKE

Close - but definitely wrong.



He shocks him again and swivels around to face the Coed.



YUSUKE (CONT'D)

Ready?

(she nods and he turns up the triangle card)

What is it?



COED

(biting her lip)

Ummm - figure eight?



YUSUKE

(lies)

Incredible! Five for five. You're not cheating on me here, are you?



COED

(amazed at her own ability)

No. They're just coming to me.



YUSUKE

Well, you're doing great. Keep it up.



He turns back to the Sophomore who winces as the next card is turned up - two parallel wavy lines.



YUSUKE (CONT'D)

Nervous?



SOPHOMORE

Yes. I don't like this.



YUSUKE

Well, just 75 more to go. What's this one?



SOPHOMORE

(takes a deep breath)

Two wavy lines?



YUSUKE

(burying the card)

Sorry. This isn't your day.



He zaps him again but this time the Sophomore really jumps.



SOPHOMORE

(angry)

Hey! I'm getting a little tired of this.



YUSUKE

You volunteered, didn't you? Aren't we paying you for this?



SOPHOMORE

Yeah, but I didn't know you were going to give me electric shocks. What are you trying to prove?



YUSUKE

I'm studying the effect of negative reinforcement on ESP ability.



SOPHOMORE

I'll tell you the effect! It pisses me off!



YUSUKE

Then my theory was correct.



The Sophomore gets up, pulls the electrodes off his fingertips and exits.



SOPHOMORE

(as he goes)

Keep the five bucks. I've had it!



Yusuke turns back to the Coed and shrugs.



YUSUKE

Well, I guess some people have it and some don't.



COED

(provocatively)

Do you think I have it, Dr. Yusuke?



YUSUKE

Definitely. I think you may be a very gifted telepath.



Suddenly the door opens and KUWABARA STANTZ enters.





KUWABARA



He is Yusuke's colleague and best friend. A hard scientist with a good academic background, Kuwabara is a maverick who genuinely loves a challenge. At the moment, he seems really keyed up.



KUWABARA

Drop everything, Yusuke. We got one.



He starts rummaging through cabinets and drawers, gathering up a variety of electronic devices.





YUSUKE



He frowns at the intrusion and turns to the Coed.



YUSUKE

Excuse me for a minute.

(he crosses to Kuwabara)

Kuwabara, I'm right in the middle of something here. Can you come back in about an hour?



KUWABARA

(excited, but hushed and confidential)

Yusuke, at 1:40 this afternoon at the main branch of the New York Public Library on Fifth Avenue, ten people witnessed a free-roaming, vaporous, full-torso apparition. It blew books from shelves at twenty feet away. Scared the socks off some poor librarian.



YUSUKE

(unimpressed)

Sure. That's great, Kuwabara. I think you should get down there right away and check it out. Let me know what happens.



KUWABARA

(insistent)

No, this one's for real, Yusuke. Kurama went down there and took some PKE readings. Right off the top of the scale. Buried the needle. We're close this time. I can feel it.



Yusuke looks at Kuwabara, then back at the Coed, torn between duty and pleasure.



YUSUKE

(decides)

Okay. Just give me a second here.

(he crosses back to the Coed)

I have to leave now but if you've got some time I'd like you to come back this evening and do some more work with me.



COED

Eight o'clock?



YUSUKE

(lying again)

I was just going to say "eight." You're fantastic!



He waves good-bye and exits with Kuwabara.





EXT. PUBLIC LIBRARY - DAY



Yusuke and Kuwabara arrive in a taxi and trot up the front steps. Kuwabara is loaded down with equipment.



KUWABARA

Kurama and I have charted every psychic occurrence in the Tri-State area for the past two years. The graph we came up with definitely points to something big.



YUSUKE

Kuwabara, as your friend I have to tell you I think you've really gone around the bend on this ghost stuff. You've been running your @$$ off for two years checking out every schizo in the Five Boroughs who thinks he's had an experience. And what have you seen?



KUWABARA

What do you mean by "seen?"



YUSUKE

Looked at with your eyes.



KUWABARA

Well, I was at an unexplained multiple high-altitude rockfall once.



YUSUKE

Uh-huh. I've heard about the rockfall, Kuwabra. I think you've been spending too much time with Kurama.





INT. MAIN READING ROOM - DAY



KURAMA SPENGLER is looking for spirits when Yusuke and Kuwabara arrive. Kurama is a real egghead, a New Wave Mr. Spock, who single-handedly got Yusuke through graduate school. Kurama is incredibly intelligent but amazingly dense at the same time. At the moment he is listening to a table using a stethoscope connected to stereo earphones. Yusuke comes up behind him and taps on the table to get his attention.



YUSUKE

Kurama?



Kurama hears the tapping and thinks he's made contact with the spirit world. Then Yusuke slams a heavy book down on the table.



YUSUKE (CONT'D)

Kurama!



Kurama jumps at the deafening noise in his earphones and turns to see Yusuke and Kuwabra.



KURAMA

Oh! You're here.



YUSUKE

What have you got, Kurama?



KURAMA

Oh, this is big, Yusuke. This is very big. There's definitely something here.



YUSUKE

Kurama, somehow this reminds me of the time you tried to drill a hole in your head. Do you remember that?





HEAD LIBRARIAN



A choleric, middle-aged civil servant, MR. DELACORTE, hurries over to meet them.



HEAD LIBRARIAN

(nervous)

Hello, I'm Roger Delacorte - the Head Librarian. Are you the men from the University?



YUSUKE

Yes. I'm Dr. Yusuke and this is Dr. Kuwabra.



HEAD LIBRARIAN

(leads them off)

Thank you for coming. I'd appreciate it if we could take care of this quickly and quietly.



YUSUKE

One thing at a time. We don't even know what it is yet.





INT. AN OFFICE - A LITTLE LATER



Yusuke is questioning the plump Librarian who saw the spirit, while a Paramedic continues treating her for shock.



LIBRARIAN

I don't remember seeing any legs, but it definitely had arms because it reached for me.



KUWABARA

(excited)

Arms! Great! I can't wait to get a look at this thing.



Yusuke glowers at him, still skeptical.



YUSUKE

(to the girl)

All right, miss. Have you or has any member of your family ever been diagnosed schizophrenic or mentally incompetent?



LIBRARIAN

Well, my uncle thought he was St. Jerome.



YUSUKE

(looks at Kuwabara)

I'll call that a big "yes."

(to the girl)

Do you yourself habitually use drugs, stimulants or alcohol?



LIBRARIAN

No.



YUSUKE

I thought not. And one last thing. Are you currently menstruating?



HEAD LIBRARIAN

(shocked)

What's that got to do with it?



YUSUKE

(snaps)

Back off, man! I'm a scientist!

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