Network

AUDIO MAN

We're back on in eleven seconds.

ASSOCIATE PRODUCER

Harry, I think we better get him off –

HARRY HUNTER

(roaring at the Audio Man)

Turn his mike off!

AUDIO MAN

(now back in the control room)

What the hell's going on?

HARRY HUNTER

(raging)

Turn the fucking sound off, you stupid son of a bitch! This is going out live!

PRODUCTION ASSISTANT

(stop-watching)

Three – two – one –

DIRECTOR

Take 2 –

At which point, the Technical Director pushes a button; the jangling cat food commercial flips off the show monitor to be instantly replaced by a scene of gathering bedlam around Howard's desk. The Audio Man flees in panic back to the cubicle to turn off the audio but not before Harry Hunter and the Director going out live to 67 affiliates can be heard booming:

HARRY HUNTER

Chrissakes! Black it out! This is going out live to sixty-seven fucking affiliates ! Shit!

DIRECTOR

This is the dumbest thing I ever saw! –

INT. MAX SCHUMACHER'S OFFICE – FIFTH FLOOR – ROOM 509

Max Schumacher, behind his desk staring petrified at his office console on which pandemonium ha broken out.

The Floor Manager and the Associate Producer and now an ELECTRICIAN are trying to pull Howard away from his desk and Howard is trying to hit anybody he can with an ineffective right hand haymaker –

HOWARD (ON MONITOR)

Get the fuck away from me!

OTHER VOICES (ON MONITOR)

(coming from all directions)

– cut the show! – get him out of there! – go to standby! – for Chrissakes, you stupid –

Max's PHONE RINGS –

MAX

(grabs the phone)

How the hell do I know? –
(he hangs up, seizes another phone, barks:)

Give me the network news control room!

On the MONITOR SCREEN, hysteria is clearly dominating. The SCREEN has suddenly leaped into a fragment of the just-done cat food COMMERCIAL, then a jarring shot of the bedlam of the studio floor. This particular camera seems unattended as it begins to PAN dementedly back and forth showing the confusion on the studio floor. Then abruptly the SCREEN is filled with Vice President designate Nelson Rockefeller testifying before the Senate Rules Committee –

MAX

(shouting into phone)

Black it out!

The SCREEN abruptly goes into BLACK as Max slashes his phone back into its cradle. His PHONE promptly RINGS again, but Max is already headed for the door. The SCREEN goes into STANDBY. His SQUAWK BOX suddenly blares –

SQUAWK BOX

What the hell happened, Max? –

MAX

(shouting as he exits)

How the hell do I know? I'm going down now!

He strides into –
 

INT. ROOM 509 – COMMON ROOM OF NEWS – EXECUTIVE OFFICES

A large common room where all the SECRETARIES of the News Division EXECUTIVES have their desks. It is empty now except for one Secretary just now putting the cover on her typewriter. Max strides through and exits into –

INT. FIFTH FLOOR CORRIDOR

A long institutional corridor – part of an endless maze of similar corridors – with offices and technical rooms debouching on both sides. The corridor has begun to fill up with video-tape OPERATORS and other News Division PERSONNEL who happen to be working late – all of whom are either wondering what happened or are telling others what happened. Max yanks an exit door open and disappears down a flight of steps to emerge into –

INT. FOURTH FLOOR CORRIDOR

– which leads directly to the doors for the control room and for the studio. Coming out of the control room is the Technical Director, who, on spotting MAX striding down the corridor to him, says –

TECHNICAL DIRECTOR

Jesus Christ, Mr. Schumacher! –

He follows Max into the –

INT. STUDIO

Everything seems to have quieted a bit, the hysteria down to mumbles and murmurs and occasional sounds of laughter. TELEPHONES are shrilly and incessantly RINGING. In the far corner of the studio sits Howard Beale surrounded by Harry Hunter, the Director, the Associate Producer, the Production Assistant, and the Floor Manager. CAMERAMEN, GRIPS and other FLOOR PERSONNEL are gathered in a FLUX of little clumps around the studio murmuring and muttering and giggling over the whole absurd episode Max heads straight for the GROUP around Howard. They part to let him in –

HARRY HUNTER

(to Max)

Tom Cabell wants you to call as soon as you come in –

Max nods, stares at Howard –

VOICE (O.S.)

Harry! Joe Sweeney on the phone! –

HARRY HUNTER

(bawls back)

I'm not taking any more calls! Tell them Mr. Schumacher's here! They can talk to him!

MAX

(staring at Howard)

Howard, you have got to be out of your ever-loving mind. Are you drunk?

(to the others)

How much boozing has he been doing today?

PHONES OFF SCREEN. RING and RING. VOICES OFF SCREEN SHOUT –

VOICES (O.S.)

– Mr. Schumacher, Mr. Cabell on the phone! – Mr. Schumacher! Mr. Zangwill for you! – Harry! Mr. Thackeray on Three! –

Howard slowly looks up to Max who is still staring at him. He suddenly smiles broadly at Max and winks.

VOICES (O.S.)

– Harry! Thackeray wants to talk to you right now! – Mr. Schumacher! Mr. Gianini wants to talk to you! –

MAX

(to Harry Hunter)

You better get hold of Mr. Chaney and Frank Hackett –

INT. FIFTH FLOOR – UBS BUILDING – ELEVATOR AREA – 10:47 P.M.

FRANK HACKETT, Executive Senior Vice President of the network, 41 years old, one of the new cool young breed of management/merchandising executives, wearing a tuxedo – (he had been pulled out of a dinner party in Westchester by this unfortunate business) – comes out of the elevator and turns briskly into –

INT. FIFTH FLOOR CORRIDOR

– which is clotted with network EXECUTIVES of assorted sizes and ages. Hackett, en route to Room 509, which is clearly the humming hub of activity up here, pauses to comment to one of the Executives –

HACKETT

Lou, can't we clear out that downstairs lobby? There must be a hundred people down there, every TV station and wire service in the city. I could barely get in –

LOU

How'm I going to clear them out, Frank?

Hackett murmurs and peels his way into –

INT. ROOM 509 – EXECUTIVES' OFFICES OF THE NEWS DIVISION

Hackett enters the common room, off which debouch the offices of the President of News (Max Schumacher), the VP News Division (ROBERT McDONOUGH), the VP Public Relations News Division (MILTON STEINMAN), the VP Legal Affairs News Division (WALTER GIANINI), VP Owned Stations News (EMIL DUBROVNIK), General Manager News, Radio (MICHAEL SANDIES) – all of whom are here and a number of other network EXECUTIVES. The VP Sales (JOE DONNELLY) is just taking the phone from the VP News Sales (RICHMOND KETTERING) who is seated at the desk of the secretary for VP Public Relations News Division –

DONNELLY

(on phone)

– how many spots were wiped out? –

HACKETT

(to Gianini, who is seated at another secretary's desk studying a typescript of the aborted news show)

Anything litigable? –

GIANINI

Not so far –

DONNELLY

(on phone)

– We had to abort the show. Ed, what else could we do? We'll make good, don't worry about it –

HACKETT

(to ARTHUR ZANGWILL, VP Standards and Practices, now coming out of Max's office)

Is Nelson in there?

ZANGWILL

He's talking to Wheeler. So far, over nine hundred fucking phone calls complaining about the foul language –

HACKETT

(mutters)

Shit –

P.R. MAN

(in b.g. on phone)

– come on, Mickey, what page are you putting it on?! –

Hackett is already crossing into –

INT. MAX'S OFFICE
 

– which is pretty well jammed with NELSON CHANEY (President of the network), 52, a patrician, sitting behind Max's desk and on the phone, looking up to note Hackett's arrival –

CHANEY

(on phone)

Frank Hackett just walked in –

Milton Steinman (VP Public Relations News Division), early 50's, a rumpled, ordinarily amiable man, is standing by the desk on the phone to someone at CBS –

STEINMAN

(on phone)

I can't release the tape, Marty, we're still studying it ourselves –

A P.R. MAN sticks his head into the office.