THE INSIDER

                         WIGAND
               Liane has filed for divorce...

     INT. LOWELL'S OFFICE, BERKELEY - LATE AFTERNOON

     And Lowell's dead quiet.

     INT. THE HOTEL ROOM, LOUISVILLE - NIGHT

                         WIGAND
               And, so, I moved out...  I see the girls
               a couple of days a week...

                         LOWELL'S VOICE (OVER)
                   (concerned)
               Where you staying now?

                         WIGAND
                   (sarcastic)
               Our favorite hotel, honey...  I checked
               into Room 930.  Odd choice?  Huh?

     And we don't know what he means by that...

     INT. LOWELL'S OFFICE, BERKELEY - LATE AFTERNOON

     The last of the daylight shadows his office.

                         LOWELL
                   (after a beat)
               I don't know how to say this, Jeff,
               except to just say it right out, so I'll
               say it.  They do not want to air it.

                         WIGAND
                   (stops)
               What?!

                         LOWELL
               B & W may have threatened litigation...
               CBS is on the block...
                   (a beat)
               But you, I mean, I know how...

                         WIGAND
               No.

                         LOWELL
               No?  No, what?

                         WIGAND
               I do not think that you "know" for
               me...what it is to walk in my shoes...
                   (beat)
               ...for my kids to have seen it...for them
               to know why I've put them through what I
               did...the public airing of that...the
               testament to why I did what I
               did...you're telling me is not going to
               see the light of day.

     Lowell's quiet.  And Jeffrey starts to hang up...

                         LOWELL
               Jeff...

     And Jeffrey hangs up.

     INT. JEFFREY'S HOTEL ROOM, LOUISIANA - (PROCESS) - NIGHT

     Jeffrey silently sitting in the chair.  We COME AROUND and
     see why he's been purposely sitting there.  Why he's chosen
     this room.  Directly across the street is the Brown &
     Williamson Building.  The lights are on.  The building lit
     up.  And in an upstairs office Brown & Williamson lawyers,
     moving around a conference room, talking.  And as Jeffrey
     looks out the window...

     EXT. A SMALL TOWN, UPSTATE NEW YORK - DAY

     A peaceful, suburban street.  Small houses.  A PRIVATE
     INVESTIGATOR (P.I.) from IGI, in a raincoat, getting out of a
     car, going up the walk.  He knocks on the door.  Some
     moments.  A Woman in her late forties, handicapped, in an
     electric cart answers the door...

                         P.I.
               Mrs. Wigand?

                         THE WOMAN
               It hasn't been Mrs. Wigand for some time.

                         P.I.
               Well, I'm an investigator and I was - I
               was wondering if I could ask you a couple
               of questions about that?

                         THE WOMAN
               Alright...

     INT. JOHN SCANLON'S PUBLIC RELATIONS FIRM, A MEDIA ROOM,
     NEW YORK - DAY

     And on a TELEVISION SCREEN, SUSAN WIGAND, the woman in the
     electric cart, giving a taped interview to the P.I....

                         SUSAN WIGAND
               ...seven months after we were married we
               found out that I had multiple
               sclerosis...

     We PULL BACK to see John Scanlon and his Staff watching the
     tape...  His firm's logo, public relations campaigns for some
     of his high-profile clients are on the walls.  Scanlon's on
     the phone talking with somebody as the tape runs...

                         P.I.'S VOICE (OVER)
                   (on television)
               And, you had a daughter, Diane, with him,
               is that correct?

                         SUSAN WIGAND
                   (on television)
               Yes, in 1973.

                         JOHN SCANLON
                   (on the phone, whispering)
               ...come on, Tommy Sandefur told me
               himself, he's not gonna allow Brown &
               Williamson to be demonized to the
               American public, so I told Peter Jennings
               and I...hold on...

     He stops, listening to the videotape...

                         P.I.'S VOICE (OVER)
                   (on television)
               Would it be fair to say when he divorced
               you he left you in a precarious
               situation?  You had multiple sclerosis;
               you had a small child to raise.

                         JOHN SCANLON
                   (ignoring that part; to staff)
               Mention that part in the executive
               summary and in the chapters "First Wife"
               and "Estrangement of Daughter."
                   (beat; into phone)
               So, I was telling Pete, I said, "You've
               been taken in by this guy...

                         SUSAN WIGAND
                   (on television)
               Yes...
                   (beat)
               But you have to understand, the divorce
               was something that we both wanted...

                         JOHN SCANLON
               He's a total bullshit artist.  He's a
               shoplifter.  He's a convicted shoplifter.

     And as we end in a sea of documents, affidavits, court
     records, all from Louisville, all about Jeffrey.  We
     understand the war has only been begun...

     INT. CBS, "60 MINUTES," CORRIDOR, LOWELL'S OFFICE - MORNING

     Lowell, in his office, his door open for anyone to see him,
     an immovable force, sitting behind his desk.  Hewitt appears
     in his doorway...

                         DON HEWITT
                   (after a beat, cold)
               So, what are you going to do?

                         LOWELL
               Well, what do you think I'm going to do?
               Quit in protest?  I'm not going to do
               that.

                         DON HEWITT
                   (surprised)
               You're taking "no" for an answer?

                         LOWELL
               No.  I'm not going to take "no" for an
               answer.  No.

                         DON HEWITT
               Then what are you going to do?

     Hewitt looks at him...

                         LOWELL
               I'm staying right here.  Doing my job.
               Fighting to get my show on the air.  You
               don't like it?  Hey, I'll tell you
               what...fire my ass...

                         DON HEWITT
               End up in a high-profile lawsuit with
               Lowell, the First Amendment martyr?  I
               don't think so.
                   (laughs)
               Take a look at this...  This is a summary
               of a dossier that's being prepared.

     And he gives him a copy of it.

                         DON HEWITT (CONT'D)
               He would lie about his whole life...?
               Who's going to believe him about anything
               he says...?
                   (a beat, and the coup de grace)
               The Wall Street Journal's doing a major
               story and I think the Post.  You backed
               the wrong horse...

     He turns and starts off along the hall.  As he goes...

                         DON HEWITT (cont'd)
                   (his parting shot)
               The version without his interview is
               going to air the week after next.

     Lowell watches him walk away.  Debbie enters.

                         DEBBIE DELUCA
               What was that about?

                         LOWELL
               Get me Wigand.

                         DEBBIE DELUCA
               Sure.

                         LOWELL
               ...fuck is this?  Fuck!

     INT. THE PHONE BOOTH, HIGH SCHOOL, LOUISVILLE - DAY

                         LOWELL'S VOICE (OVER)
                   (on the phone, upset)
               You never told me you were married
               before...that you had a daughter...

     And Wigand is in the phone booth at the High
     School...students walking by...

                         WIGAND
                   (outraged)
               Well, how is that any of your business?!
               That is not something that you people
               need to know!

     His voice carries, a student looks over...

     INT. LOWELL'S OFFICE - DAY

                         LOWELL
                   (frustrated)
               Oh, you know what we do or do not need to
               know?  Since when have you become a media
               expert?

     INT. THE PHONE BOOTH, LOUISVILLE HIGH SCHOOL - DAY

                         WIGAND
                   (upset)
               What do you want to do, Lowell, look up
               my ass, too...!

     And he realizes he's said it too loud, a couple of passing
     students stop, looking at him...

     INT. LOWELL'S OFFICE, CBS - DAY

                         LOWELL
               Oh, my God.

                         WIGAND'S VOICE (OVER)
                   (after a beat, lowering his
                    voice, but contentious)
               You're not even on this anymore...  What
               do you care?

                         LOWELL
               Jeff!  Wake the fuck up!  Everybody is on
               the line here.  If they can catch you in
               a lie, they can paint everything with
               that brush.  Do you understand?
               Everything you say!

                         WIGAND
               I told the truth!

                         LOWELL
               Everything...you...say!  And I can't
               defend you, man, with one hand tied
               behind my back!  Because you keep from
               me...what they can discover.  And they
               will discover everything!  Believe me.

     INT. THE PHONE BOOTH, LOUISVILLE HIGH SCHOOL - DAY

     Wigand's quiet.  He looks out the phone booth.  After some
     moments...

                         WIGAND
                   (meaning his first wife and
                    their child, upset)
               ...I was young.  I was
               young...confused...  We didn't handle it
               the right way...

     INT. LOWELL'S OFFICE, NEW YORK - DAY

                         LOWELL
                   (after a beat)
               She sued you for back payments of child
               support?

     INT. THE PHONE BOOTH, LOUISVILLE HIGH SCHOOL - DAY

                         WIGAND
               She did not sue me.  We had a dispute
               over money...  I settled it, she dropped
               the complaint...
                   (angry)
               Any other questions?

     And we'll go back and forth...