THE INSIDER

                         HELEN CAPERELLI
                   (historic)
               Our standards have to be higher than
               anyone else's, because we are the
               standard...for everyone else...

     Whatever that means...

                         LOWELL
                   (wry)
               Well, as a "standard"...I'll hang with
               "is the guy telling the truth?"

                         HELEN CAPERELLI
               Well, with tortious interference, I'm
               afraid...the greater the truth, the
               greater the damage.

                         LOWELL
               Come again?

                         HELEN CAPERELLI
               They own the information he's disclosing.
               The truer it is, the greater the damage
               to them.  If he lied, he didn't disclose
               their information.  And the damages are
               smaller.

                         LOWELL
               Is this "Alice in Wonderland"?

                         MIKE WALLACE
               You said "on this one."  What about "this
               one"?

     And Lowell hears a changed note in Wallace's voice.  After a
     beat.

                         HELEN CAPERELLI
                   (familiar, seductive)
               If this holds up, and it very well may
               not, Mike...but, if it did.  And we aired
               this segment?  And CBS was sued by Brown
               & Williamson?  I think we could be at
               grave risk.

                         MIKE WALLACE
                   (a beat)
               How grace?

                         HELEN CAPERELLI
                   (and she's been waiting for
                    this)
               Well, at the end of the day...because of
               your segment...the Brown & Williamson
               Tobacco Company...could own CBS.

     As if on cue, the alarm on Helen Caperelli's watch beeps.
     She glances at it.

                         HELEN CAPERELLI (CONT'D)
               You know, I am sorry.  But I'm due
               upstairs.

     She gets up, gathering her things.

                         LOWELL
               Is CBS corporate telling CBS News do not
               go to air with this story?

                         HELEN CAPERELLI
               You're getting ahead of yourself.  We're
               all in this together.  We're all CBS.
               We'll find out soon.  Thank you,
               gentlemen.

     And taking up her briefcase, she leaves.  Don and Mike rise.

                         LOWELL
               "Tortious interference"?  Sounds like a
               disease caught by a radio.

                         DON HEWITT
                   (to Mike)
               Lunch?

                         MIKE WALLACE
               Sure.
                   (to Lowell)
               Don't worry, we call the shots around
               here.

     Lowell finds himself angry and alone.  He crosses to the
     window and pulls out his cell phone and goes to work.

                         DEBBIE DELUCA'S VOICE (OVER)
               Hello?

                         LOWELL
                   (into phone)
               Debbie, it's me.  I want you to check
               some filings and give me John Wilson's
               number at Bear-Stern.

     INT. CBS, HEWITT'S OFFICE - DAY

                         LOWELL
               What now?

                         DON HEWITT
               Kluster's coming over.

     Hewitt's on an unrelated call.  Lowell crosses to look out
     the window, a manila folder (the filing) under his arm with
     whatever he found out, like a bomb, feels distant from these
     people.  The door opens, and Eric Kluster, the President of
     CBS News enters...

                         ERIC KLUSTER
               Hello, Lowell, Mike, Don.

     Hewitt hangs up the phone.

                         ERIC KLUSTER (CONT'D)
               There has been so much soul searching
               about this Wigand, I've decided we should
               cut an alternate version of the show
               without his interview.

                         LOWELL
               So, what happened to Ms. Caperelli's
               checking with outside counsel first, all
               that crap?

                         ERIC KLUSTER
               That's happening.  And, hopefully we
               won't have to use the alternate, but we
               should have it in the can.

                         LOWELL
               I'm not touching my film...

                         ERIC KLUSTER
               I'm afraid you are.

                         LOWELL
               No, I'm not...

                         ERIC KLUSTER
               We're doing this with or without you,
               Lowell.  If you like, I can assign
               another producer to edit your show...

     Lowell's stunned.  He looks like he's been hit with a
     hammer...

                         LOWELL
               Since when has the paragon of
               investigative journalism allowed lawyers
               to determine the news content on "60
               Minutes"?

                         DON HEWITT
               It's an alternate version.  So what if we
               have an alternate version?  And I don't
               think her being cautious is so damned
               unreasonable.

                         ERIC KLUSTER
                   (wry)
               So, now, if you'll excuse me, gentlemen,
               Mr. Rather's been complaining about his
               chair again.
                   (laughter)

     As they start to leave...

                         LOWELL
                   (mild)
               Before you go...

     And Lowell takes out...

                         LOWELL (CONT'D)
               I discovered this.  SEC filing...
                   (he gets their attention)
               For the sale of the CBS Corporation to
               Westinghouse Corporation.

                         MIKE WALLACE
               What?

                         DON HEWITT
               Yeah, I heard rumors.

                         LOWELL
               It's not a rumor.  It's a sale.
                   (rhetorical answer)
               If Tisch can unload CBS for $81 a share
               to Westinghouse and then is suddenly
               threatened with a multibillion-dollar
               lawsuit from Brown & Williamson, that
               could screw up the sale, could it not?

                         ERIC KLUSTER
                   (serene)
               And what are you implying?

                         LOWELL
                   (to Kluster)
               I'm not implying.  I'm quoting.  More
               vested interests...
                   (reading from SEC filing)
               "Persons Who Will Profit From This
               Merger...
                   (beat)
               Ms. Helen Caperelli, General Counsel of
               CBS News, 3.9 million.  Mr. Eric Kluster,
               President of CBS News, 1.4 million..."

                         DON HEWITT
               Are you suggesting that she and Eric are
               influenced by money?

                         LOWELL
               Oh, no, of course they're not influenced
               by money.  They work for free.  And you
               are a Volunteer Executive Producer.

                         DON HEWITT
               CBS does not do that.  And, you're
               questioning our journalistic integrity?!

                         LOWELL
               No, I'm questioning your hearing!  You
               hear "reasonable" and "tortious
               interference."  I hear...  "Potential
               Brown & Williamson lawsuit jeopardizing
               the sale of CBS to Westinghouse."  I
               hear...  "Shut the segment down.  Cut
               Wigand loose.  Obey orders.  And fuck
               off...!"  That's what I hear.

                         DON HEWITT
               You're exaggerating!

                         LOWELL
               I am?  You pay me to go get guys like
               Wigand, to draw him out.  To get him to
               trust us, to get him to go on television.
               I do.  I deliver him.  He sits.  He
               talks.  He violates his own fucking
               confidentiality agreement.  And he's only
               the key witness in the biggest public
               health reform issue, maybe the biggest,
               most-expensive corporate-malfeasance case
               in U.S. history.  And Jeffrey Wigand,
               who's out on a limb, does he go on
               television and tell the truth?  Yes.
               Is it newsworthy?  Yes.  Are we gonna air
               it?  Of course not.  Why?  Because he's
               not telling the truth?  No.  Because he
               is telling the truth.  That's why we're
               not going to air it.  And the more truth
               he tells, the worse it gets!

                         DON HEWITT
               You are a fanatic.  An anarchist.  You
               know that?  If we can't have a whole
               show, then I want half a show rather than
               no show.  But oh, no, not you.  You won't
               be satisfied unless you're putting the
               company at risk!

                         LOWELL
               C'mon, what are you?  And are you a
               businessman?  Or are you a newsman?!
               Because that happens to be what Mike and
               I do for a living...

                         MIKE WALLACE
               Lowell.

                         LOWELL
                   (runs on)
               "Put the corporation at risk"...?  Give
               me a fucking break!

                         MIKE WALLACE
               Lowell.

                         LOWELL
               These people are putting our whole reason
               for doing what we do...on the line!

                         MIKE WALLACE
               Lowell!

                         LOWELL
               What?

                         MIKE WALLACE
               I'm with Don on this.

     And there it is.

     EXT. LOWELL'S HOUSE, BERKELEY - AFTERNOON

     We see Sharon in a vegetable garden in their side yard...
     She turns, seeing him standing behind her...

     After a moment.  She knows.

                         SHARON
               What's wrong?

                         LOWELL
               They're killing the Wigand interview...

                         SHARON
               What?!

                         LOWELL
               They're pretending it's process.
               Bullshit, it's foregone.

                         SHARON
                   (beat)
               What are you and Mike going to do?

                         LOWELL
               I'm alone on this...

                         SHARON
                   (beat)
               Oh, baby...

     And the phone RINGS...  Sharon goes in the house to get it...
     She comes back out...

                         SHARON (CONT'D)
                   (after a beat)
               Jeffrey Wigand...

     INT. LOWELL'S OFFICE, BERKELEY - LATE AFTERNOON

                         LOWELL
               Jeffrey...

     INT. A HOTEL ROOM, LOUISVILLE - NIGHT

     And we see Wigand looking rough, unshaven, sitting on a couch
     in a hotel room.  And we see his belongings, clothing, some
     boxes, a bottle of vodka, his computer, what's left of his
     world, are around the room.

                         LOWELL'S VOICE (OVER)
               Jeffrey, how are you?  How's the family,
               okay?

                         WIGAND
               There is - there is no family.

                         LOWELL'S VOICE (OVER)
               What do you mean there is no family?