THE INSIDER

                         LOWELL
               Yes.  Did you lie about being on the
               American Judo Team in the Olympics?

                         WIGAND
               What?

                         LOWELL
               Some public relations guy got a hold of a
               tape of an interview...where you're
               saying you were on the American Judo Team
               in the Olympics...?

                         WIGAND
                   (explosive)
               What kind of shit is this?  I was not on
               the team, I sparred with the Olympic
               Team...okay?

     And we see, unbeknownst to Wigand, the P.I. in the raincoat,
     who interviewed his ex-wife, coming out of an administration
     office, walking towards us along the hallways...

                         LOWELL
               Alright...the ABC Telemarketing Company?

                         WIGAND
               ABC...?

                         LOWELL
               ABC Telemarketing Company.

                         WIGAND
                   (the absurdity)
               A can opener!  A $39.95 can opener.  I
               cancelled payment...  It was junk.
                   (sarcastic)
               You ever bounce a check, Lowell?  You
               ever look at another woman's tits?  You
               ever cheat a little on your taxes?
                   (a beat, angry)
               Whose life, if you look at it under a
               microscope, doesn't have any flaws...?

     The P.I. in the raincoat passes Jeffrey, now, and doesn't
     even glance at him...

                         LOWELL
               That's the whole point, Jeffrey.  That's
               the whole point.  Anyone's.  Everyone's.
               They are gonna look under every rock, dig
               up every flaw, every mistake you've ever
               made.  They are going to distort and
               exaggerate everything you've ever done,
               man.  Don't you understand?

                         WIGAND
                   (shouts)
               What does this have to do with my
               testimony?

                         LOWELL
               That's not the point.

                         WIGAND
               What does this have to do with my
               testimony?!  I told the truth!  It's
               valid and true and provable!

                         LOWELL
               That's not the fucking point, whether you
               told the truth or not!  Hello...?

                         WIGAND
               I told the truth...  I told the truth.

     And Wigand's quiet, a deep, dark depression.  The school bell
     RING snaps him out of it...

                         WIGAND
                   (after a beat)
               I've got to teach class.  I've got to go.
               I've got to teach class.

                         LOWELL
                   (undaunted)
               And I've got to refute every fucking
               accusation made in this report before The
               Wall Street Journal runs.
                   (a beat)
               I am trying to protect you, man!

     Wigand's quiet.

                         WIGAND
                   (after a beat, the killer)
               Well, I hope you improve your batting
               average.

     And he SLAMS the phone down.  And as he stands in the phone
     booth, like a man in a glass booth, all alone...

     EXT. CBS BUILDING, ROOFTOP - DAY

     ON the door to the roof.  It SLAMS open.  An enraged Lowell
     enters and walks out into the cold rain.  Like a prize-
     fighter, shoulders hunched against the cold, he buries his
     hands in his jacket pockets.  He crosses to the edge of the
     roof high above the city.  He's pissed off.  He takes out his
     cell phone.  He dials...  Lowell hears background NOISE...

     INT. WALL STREET JOURNAL - NEWS MEETING - DAY

     Twenty sub-editors and section heads sit and stand in a clear
     area...  One of them, a large man, is CHARLIE PHILLIPS on a
     cell phone.

                         CHARLIE PHILLIPS
               Hello?

                         LOWELL'S VOICE (OVER)
                   (cautious)
               It's Lowell.  Are you guys planning to do
               a piece on a former top executive in Big
               Tobacco?

                         CHARLIE PHILLIPS
               You caught me in a news meeting.

                         LOWELL
               Well, are you or are you not, Charlie?

                         CHARLIE PHILLIPS
               You bet we are.  And I can't talk to you
               now.

                         LOWELL
               We gotta hook up.

                         CHARLIE PHILLIPS
               Sure.  Where?

                         LOWELL
               P.J.'s.

                         CHARLIE PHILLIPS
               I'll be there.

     INT. A PHONE BOOTH, NEW YORK - NIGHT

     A busy New York street.  Light mist.  And we see Lowell is on
     the phone in a phone booth...

                         LOWELL
               Yeah, I got it.  500 pages of it.  They
               looked in every corner of this guy's
               life...from a spousal abuse charge, to
               shoplifting, to a traffic ticket he got
               once for running a red light.  It's Terry
               Lenzner's outfit, IGI.  Jack, listen to
               me.  Their strategy:  discredit this guy,
               ruin his reputation in The Wall Street
               Journal, and then nobody will ever listen
               to what he's got to say about tobacco.
               He's dead.  Unless I can get this thing
               knocked down.

     INT. A HOUSE IN SAN FRANCISCO - NIGHT

     A townhouse with a commanding view of the Bay.  And we see a
     broad-shouldered man in his late forties sitting at a desk on
     the phone.  JACK PALLADINO.  His wife, SANDRA SUTHERLAND,
     sitting across from him on another phone.  They're Private
     Investigators...

                         LOWELL
               To make it even a little more attractive,
               I don't know if you're ever gonna get
               paid.

                         SANDRA SUTHERLAND
               Is there any truth to any of it?

                         LOWELL
               That's a good question.  "Is there any
               truth to any of it?"  I doubt it.

                         PALLADINO
               What's their deadline?

                         LOWELL
               Soon.

     Palladinos exchange looks; she nods.

                         PALLADINO
               Fax me the summary.

                         LOWELL
               That's great, Jack.

     Lowell hangs up and walks towards us to enter...

     INT. BAR - NIGHT

     CLOSE on Lowell entering, moving through the crowd of sports
     writers, feature writers, sub-editors, etc.  He comes upon a
     rugged-featured man, JIM COOPER from The New York Times,
     sitting next to Charlie.

                         JIM COOPER
               Hey, Lowell.

                         LOWELL
               How are you, Jim?

                         JIM COOPER
               Hey, listen, I hear you guys are sitting
               on something sensational over there.

     Lowell looks at Cooper quizzically.

                         LOWELL
               Really?  Hi, Joan.

     Just then Jim's wife enters.  They exchange greetings.

                         JIM COOPER
               Hi, baby.

                         LOWELL
               Catch you later.

     Cooper and his wife leave.  Charlie and Lowell are alone in
     the crowded bar.

                         LOWELL (CONT'D)
               When's your deadline?

                         CHARLIE PHILLIPS
               Monday.

                         LOWELL
               Push it.

                         CHARLIE PHILLIPS
               What?  Forget it.

                         LOWELL
               It's a smear campaign, Charlie.

                         CHARLIE PHILLIPS
               It's drawn from a selectively
               circulated...

                         LOWELL
                   (cuts in)
               Oh, it's real selective...about as hard
               to get a hold of as the Manhattan phone
               book.

                         CHARLIE PHILLIPS
               Well, it's authoritative and is
               overwhelmingly documented.

                         LOWELL
               And it's bullshit.  And if I'm right, are
               you going to put the Journal's reputation
               behind a story that's going to blow up in
               your face?

                         CHARLIE PHILLIPS
               I'll take a look at what you got.  But I'm
               not moving any deadlines 'cause you say
               so.

     That's the way it lays.  In a different, personal tone...

                         CHARLIE PHILLIPS (cont'd)
               Are you all right?

                         LOWELL
               Yeah.  Catch you later.

     INT. A COFFEE SHOP, LOUISVILLE - DAY

     And we see a Policeman sitting at the counter having a cup of
     coffee...

                         SANDRA SUTHERLAND
               Officer Murabchick?

     He turns as Sandra Sutherland sits at the counter to the left
     of him.

                         SANDRA SUTHERLAND (cont'd)
               Officer Muravchick.  How are you?  I'm
               Sandra Sutherland.

                         POLICEMAN
               How do you do?

                         SANDRA SUTHERLAND
               Fine, thank you.  I'm doing a background
               check.  Mind if I sit down?

     INT. COURTROOM, LOUISVILLE - LATE AFTERNOON

     An older Man is on the bench.  He's just recessed his court.
     As everybody streams out, going against the tide is Jack
     Palladino.  He approaches the judge, crossing to a side
     door...

                         PALLADINO
               Your honor, could I have a word with you?
               You presided in a dispute over support
               payments...

     INT. A COFFEE SHOP, LOUISVILLE - DAY

                         POLICEMAN
               Jeffrey Wigand?  Yeah, I cited him.

     INT. EDITING ROOM, CBS - DAY

                         DAN RATHER
                   (on monitor)
               CBS is under criticism, because the CBS
               News program "60 Minutes" will not be
               presenting an interview...

     Lowell's destroying his own work product, taking apart his
     creation that we saw earlier to be so impactful.  Tony gets a
     call as Hewitt enters.

                         DON HEWITT
               What the hell are you doing?

                         LOWELL
               What does it look like I'm doing?  I'm
               editing.

                         DON HEWITT
               No, not that.  I'm talking about the
               Associated Press.  They got this story
               that we pulled this interview and they
               talked to Mike and I.  Did you tell them
               that we were lying?

                         LOWELL
               No.  I should have.  I told them I
               disagreed with you, Mike and Kluster that
               this segment is as good as the original.
               I'm not lying for you.  I'm not gonna
               shut up for you.  Not on any of it.

                         DON HEWITT
               Hey!  I'm not going to fire you, okay?
               Take a vacation.  Now!

     INT. LOWELL'S OFFICE - EVENING

     A suitcase is on the floor.  Lowell, finishing packing up his
     things from his office.

                         MIKE WALLACE'S VOICE (OVER)
               Lowell.  I decided to preface Sunday's
               show.  I did three minutes on the
               "Evening News."  You'll want to see it.
                   (beat)
               Where you going?

     And he sees Wallace has stopped at his door...

                         LOWELL
               I've been banished.  In lieu of being
               fired.

                         MIKE WALLACE
                   (disinterested)
               I took off on Tisch.  I took off on
               corporate.  They'll know they're not
               going to see everything on Sunday
               night...

                         LOWELL
               I don't know.  How does that get Wigand
               on the air?

                         MIKE WALLACE
                   (goes up)
               Do me a favor, will you?  Spare me, for
               God's sake.  Get in the real world.  What
               do you think?  I'm going to resign in
               protest?  To force it on the air?  The
               answer is "no."  I don't plan to spend
               the end of my days wandering in the
               wilderness of National Public Radio.
                   (beat)
               That decision I've already made.

                         VOICE
                   (from corridor; to Mike)
               It just started, Mike...

     Wallace waves Lowell's remark aside and exits.  We dwell on
     Lowell until he exits...

     INT. CBS CORRIDOR - EVENING

     ...into the hall.  Dan Rather introduced Mike.  As Lowell
     exits, we SEE Hewitt, Kluster and Caperelli outside of
     Hewitt's office watching...  Lowell, disgusted, takes a
     cursory look and moves towards the elevator.  But he hears...

                         MIKE WALLACE'S VOICE (OVER)
               Where's the rest?  Where the hell's the
               rest?!!

     Lowell turns to see Wallace shouting up at the monitors in
     disbelief...

                         MIKE WALLACE (CONT'D)
               You cut it!  You cut the guts out of what
               I said...!

     Wallace moves in on Kluster...

                         ERIC KLUSTER
               It was a time consideration, Mike...

                         MIKE WALLACE
               Time?  Bullshit!  You corporate lackey!
               Who told you your incompetent little
               fingers had the requisite skills to edit
               me!  I'm trying to Band-Aid a situation,
               here, and you're too dim to...

                         HELEN CAPERELLI
                   (interrupts, familiar)
               Mike...  Mike...  Mike...

                         MIKE WALLACE
               "Mike?"

     It was a big mistake.  Now, he turns on her.  Zeroing in,
     getting closer...

                         MIKE WALLACE (CONT'D)
               "Mike?"  Try "Mr. Wallace."  We work in
               the same corporation doesn't mean we work
               in the same profession.  What are you
               gonna do now?  You gonna finesse me?
               Lawyer me some more?  I've been in this
               profession fifty fucking years.  You and
               the people you work for are destroying
               the most-respected, the highest-rated,
               the most-profitable show on this network!

     EXT. THE EAST RIVER - NIGHT

     A Range Rover pulls up.  Charlie Phillips gets out.  He
     crosses to Lowell who's been waiting by his own taxi.

                         LOWELL
               Here.

     He hands Charlie a folder with the brown notebook inside that
     is the partially complete Palladino/Sutherland/Lowell work
     product.

                         LOWELL (CONT'D)
               These are their leads, their sources.  I
               want you to have your reporters...

                         CHARLIE PHILLIPS
               Suein Hwang and Milo Geyelin.

                         LOWELL
               Have them make their own calls.  They'll
               find that these sources have a different
               story than the one that's in the
               dossier...
                   (demands)
               Push the deadline, Charlie...

     Charlie starts looking through the Palladino/
     Sutherland/Lowell work product.  Meanwhile...

                         CHARLIE PHILLIPS
               I'll push it for a week.  Let Milo and
               Suein go through it.

     INT. WIGANDS' HOUSE #2, KITCHEN - DAY

                         LIANE
               What do you want to buy him for a gift?

                         BARBARA
               He's into kind of little cars, that...