Feature Screenplay: Roll Over Beethoven, by Gene Ayres

Roll Over Beethoven

Written by Gene Ayres

A world-class concert pianist, unable to perform in public any more due to an onset of stage fright, is teaching music at a small college. He gets a notification from his home town that his father is in the hospital, having had a stroke. Fortunately, it is the Christmas break, so he returns home, gets his father out of the hospital, only to discover that he never signed up for Medicare, and has no health insurance. In a panic, he spirits his father out of the hospital, wondering what to do. Meanwhile, a famous rock star who lives in the same town, has been caught in flagrante by his wife, in bed with a hooker, in a hotel adjacent to the hospital. She leaves in a huff, and commandeers the first taxi she sees. Which happens to be occupied by the pianist and his father. Paying them no mind, she orders the driver to go to a certain expensive private school to pick up her daughter. She recognizes the pianist, however, which leads to the beginning of a possible romance. Meanwhile the pianist needs work, and her husband has quit the band in a huff. So she invites the pianist to play keyboards, knowing it would be a cinch for him. Madness, mayhem and romance result, when the pianist discovers two things: one, in a crazy costume (think Kiss) no one recognizes him and his stage fright is gone. And two, he is falling in love with the woman.

Comedy

Feature screenplay