Hollywood, 1935. Young screenwriter Harry Hubert has been called by producer Louis Lipton to discuss his newest script.

Lipton: Harry, my boy, this is terrific!

Hubert: Do you like it?

Lipton: Best script I read all year!

Hubert: That is great to hear...

Lipton: We just have to make a couple of changes before we can make it into a film.

Hubert: Oh.

Lipton: Nothing major, my boy! Nothing to worry about!

Hubert: What exactly are you talking about?

Lipton: This villain you have in there. Love it. Love everything about him.

Hubert: Wonderful!

Lipton: Just one thing, my boy. Why is the villain wearing a metal suit through the whole picture?

Hubert: Well, he's terribly disfigured...

Lipton: We can't have that, Hyman!

Hubert: Harry, Mr. Lipton.

Lipton: Err... Right, Harry. We can't have a cripple on the screen! You think the audience wants to see a cripple?

Hubert: Well, they won't, he's wearing a metal suit...

Lipton: Think about it, Harry. I am paying you to think, am I not?

Hubert: Well...

Lipton: What actor am I gonna get to wear a metal suit for the entire motion picture?

Hubert: I was thinking...

Lipton: You were thinking? Am I paying you to think?

Hubert: Well...

Lipton: No actor will wear that thing, Hyman.

Hubert: It's Harry, Mr. Lipton.

Lipton: Sure it is... Stop interrupting! Where was I?

Hubert: The suit...

Lipton: Yes, the suit! Ditch the suit, Harry.

Hubert: But...

Lipton: I don't want to hear any buts, my boy! Do you know who I got lined up to play the villain in this picture?

Hubert: No...

Lipton: Von Stronheim!

Hubert: Erich von Stronheim? The silent actor?

Lipton: The one and the same! Such a villainous face! He's been doing quite a few talkies now.

Hubert: But... he is a Jew who always plays Germans.

Lipton: What do you have against Germans?

Hubert: Well, I don't...

Lipton: You and your people! Germans this, Germans that!

Hubert: What I mean, Mr. Lipton, is that Mr. von Stronheim has a distinctive German look which will not work with the picture's setting...

Lipton: You are not thinking, Harry!

Hubert: I am not thinking?

Lipton: We change the setting!

Hubert: Oh?

Lipton: Germany, 1924. She is a down-on-her-luck opera singer. He is her brother, a hapless actor. In comes von Stronheim... a benevolent benefactor? Someone who is after something sinister? That's Hollywood gold, my boy!

Hubert: But... but...

Lipton: What are you babbling about, my boy?

Hubert: Well, in my script, the villain is revealed to be the father...

Lipton: HE IS?

Hubert: Yes, right here at the end of the second act...

Lipton: Well, we can't have that! Can you imagine, von Stronheim trying to seduce his own daughter!

Hubert: Seduce who now?

Lipton: Don't worry about the details, my boy! And the names, the names have to go. Darth? What kind of a name is that?

Hubert: But, but...

Lipton: Just minor, minor changes, my boy! Such a terrific script. We'll be in touch!

Hubert: ...Thank you?

Lipton: No, thank you, Harry! You watch, this will be the most talked about picture of the year, if my name is not Leo Lieber... — Louis Lipton!