Cash Flow

by D.B. Gilles

Things are not going well at the Gallagher Publishing Company, an old-line textbook house which is faced with mounting losses because of the failure of its latest publishing venture. Staving off financial ruin is the pressing problem, and the men who head up the company have varying opinions as to how to deal with the crisis. Elliot Gallagher, the ineffectual son of the former (and very dynamic) president (and now president himself) wants to bring in a rather shady outside investor, but his colleagues fear that this would lead to a takeover which could cost them their cushy jobs. Marty Blasingame, the meek-mannered company treasurer, urges that they file for bankruptcy; while Casey McDermott, the hard-driving veteran sales manager, has a more draconian suggestion burn down their warehouse and collect the insurance money. They even go so far as to interview a professional arsonist, who proves to have more conscience than they do when he turns down the job because of the possibility of harming people in nearby tenements. One glimmer of hope is an imaginative new educational program devised by the resourceful editorial chief, Carolyn McNeil, but where to find the money to develop it? In the end Elliot, after wrestling with the spectre of personal as well as professional disaster, pulls himself together and decides to invest his own money in the business a move considered radical in corporate circles but, in this instance, perhaps the only way to salvage not only the company but also the integrity of those committed to it.

72 pages, Paperback

First published October 1, 1989

About the author

D.B. Gilles's began 2015 with the publication of his first Young Adult novel THE PUG THAT ATE PARIS, about a Paris-based talking dog, food critic and bon vivant! Sticking with his Paris theme, in 2014 he published PARIS TIME, a Paris time-travel novel set in Paris in 1889. Last year he came out with WRITERS REHAB: A 12-STEP PROGRAM FOR WRITERS WHO CAN'T GET THEIR ACTS TOGETHER (from Michael Weise Publishing) which is a departure for him. Unlike his previous books, which tell people who to write a screenplay and go to Film School on their own, WRITERS REHAB gets into the nitty gritty of every writer: "Why aren't you writing?" and "What can you do to get started again?"

In 2012 DB entered the world of e-books. In August, I HATE MY BOOK CLUB, debuted: a comic novel about an all-female book club with membership problems that reluctantly decides to allow men to join. In March, his suspense/thriller COLDER THAN DEATH appeared: a small town funeral director helps a teenage girl solve a murder that leads him to the realization that a serial killer has been feeding on local women for 25 years.

In 2011 he had 2 books published: YOU'RE FUNNY! TURN YOUR SENSE OF HUMOR INTO A LUCRATIVE NEW CAREER and THE SCREENWRITER WITHIN: NEW STRATEGIES TO FINISH YOUR SCREENPLAY & GET A DEAL (the 2nd edition of THE SCREENWRITER WITHIN published in 2000 by Random House).

THE PORTABLE FILM SCHOOL, published in 2005 by St. Martin's Press, continues to be a popular book with young filmmakers unable to go to film school.

D.B. Gilles is also one of the most in-demand Script Consultants and Writing Coaches in the United States. He is on the faculty of the Undergraduate Film & Television Department at New York University's Tisch School of the Arts where he teaches screenwriting, television writing and comedy writing.

He has also taught in the Graduate Film Department at Columbia University, The Department of Dramatic Writing and The Gallatin School of Individualized Study at New York University. He is a produced and published playwright, screenwriter and television writer.

Also a playwright, 2012 saw the New York production of his play INADMISSIBLE produced at The Canal Park Playhouse which also produced as their premier production in 2010 his play SPARKLING OBJECT. Four of his plays are published by Dramatists Play Service: Men's Singles, The Legendary Stardust Boys, Cash Flow and The Girl Who Loved The Beatles, a One Act two-character play that has become a standard audition piece for actors.

He wrote the screen adaptation of Spinning Into Butter which starred Sarah Jessica Parker. He has worked in television creating two pilots for CBS: The Late Bloomer and Man of the House. He has also written episodes for Herman's Head (FOX) and My Kind of Town (FOX).

He welcomes Followers on his screenwriting blog: WRITER'S REHAB: FOR WRITERS WHO CAN'T GET THEIR ACTS TOGETHER

He is a member of The Writers Guild of America and The Dramatists Guild.

You can contact him by Googling Writers Rehab or directly at dbgillescript@gmail.com

Twitter: @dbgilles