Network

HOWL of LAUGHTER –

MAX

– The driver turns around, he says: "Don't do it, kid, you got your whole life ahead of you!"

The room ROCKS with LAUGHTER. When it subsides, Bob McDonough, standing in the doorway, says:

McDONOUGH

Well, if you think that's funny, wait'll you hear this. I've just come down from Frank Hackett's office, and he wants to put Howard back on the air tonight. Apparently, the ratings jumped five points last night, and he wants Howard to go back on and do his angry-man thing.

STEINMAN

What're you talking about?

McDONOUGH

I'm telling you – they want Howard to go on yelling bullshit. They want Howard to go on spontaneously letting out his anger, a latter-day prophet, denouncing the hypocrisies of our times –

HOWARD

Hey, that sounds pretty good –

MAX

Who's this they?

McDONOUGH

Hackett. Chaney was there, the Legal Affairs guy, and that girl from Programming.

MAX

Christenson? What's she got to do with it?

GIANINI

(in b.g.)

You're kidding, aren't you, Bob?

McDONOUGH

I'm not kidding. I told them: "We're running a news department down there, not a circus. And Howard Beale isn't a bearded lady. And if you think I'll go along with this bastardization of the news, you can have my resignation along with Max Schumacher's right now. And I think I'm speaking for Howard Beale and everybody else down there in News.

HOWARD

Hold it, McDonough, that's my job you're turning down. I'll go nuts without some kind of work. What's wrong with being an angry prophet denouncing the hypocrisies of our times? What do you think, Max?

MAX

Do you want to be an angry prophet denouncing the hypocrisies of our times?

HOWARD

Yeah, I think I'd like to be an angry prophet denouncing the hypocrisies of our times.

MAX

Then grab it.

INT. 5TH FLOOR CORRIDOR – 3:00 P.M.

MR. RUDDY, slim, slight, white-haired, imperially elegant in banker's gray, comes down the corridor towards Room 509. A VIDEOTAPE MAN, popping out of one of the rooms that debouch off this corridor, quickly stops, stands still –

VIDEOTAPE MAN
(murmurs)

Afternoon, Mr. Ruddy –

RUDDY

(murmurs)

Good afternoon.

He passes on towards –
 

INT. ROOM 509

As Ruddy enters. The SIX SECRETARIES pecking away at their typewriters all pause to murmur awed –

SECRETARIES

Good afternoon, Mr. Ruddy – Good afternoon, Mr. Ruddy – etc.

– as Ruddy passes through to –

INT. MAX'S OUTER OFFICE

Where MITZI (Max's Secretary), at her desk, murmurs:

MITZI

He's waiting for you, Mr. Ruddy –

RUDDY

(murmurs)

Thank you.

He goes into –
 

INT. MAX'S OFFICE

– and closes the door.

RUDDY

Nelson Chaney tells me Beale may actually go on the air this evening.

MAX

As far as I know, Howard's going to do it. Are you going to sit still for this, Ed?

RUDDY

(takes a folded piece of paper from his inside jacket pocket)

Yes. I think Hackett's overstepped himself. There's some kind of corporate maneuvering going on, Max. Hackett is clearly forcing a confrontation. That would account for his behavior at the stockholders' meeting. However, I think he's making a serious mistake with this Beale business. C. C. and A. would never make such an open act of brigandage, especially against the News Division. They are specifically enjoined against any manipulation of the News Division in the consent decree. I suspect C. C. and A. will be upset by Hackett's presumptuousness, certainly Mr. Jensen will. So I'm going to let Hackett have his head for awhile. He just might lose it over this Beale business.

(places the paper on MAX's desk)

I'd like you to reconsider your resignation.

(moves to the couch, sits, crosses his legs, murmurs)

I have to assume Hackett wouldn't take such steps without some support on the C. C. and A. board. I'll have to go directly to Mr. Jensen. When that happens, I'm going to need every friend I've got. And I certainly don't want Hackett's people in all the divisional positions. So I'd like you to stay on, Max.

MAX

Of course, Ed.

RUDDY

(stands)

Thank you, Max.

He opens the door and leaves.

INT. MAX'S OFFICE – WEDNESDAY, OCTOBER 1 – 7:00 P.M.

Max sitting alone behind his desk in a dark office lit only by his desk lamp, watching the Network News Show starring Howard Beale on his office console –

NARRATOR
The initial response to the new Howard Beale was not auspicatory. The press was without exception hostile and industry reaction negative. The ratings for the Thursday and Friday show were both 14 and with a 37 share, but Monday's rating dropped two points, clearly suggesting the novelty had worn off –

On the office console, Howard Beale doesn't seem too much different than he had always been. He scowls, frowns, seems to be muttering –

NARRATOR

– Indeed, Howard Beale played his new role of latter-day prophet poorly. He was, after all, a newsman, not an actor. He was uncertain, uncomfortable, sometimes inaudible. The general feeling around the network was that this new Howard Beale would be aborted in a matter of days –

INT. MAX'S OFFICE – LATER

On the office console, the Network News Show has come to an end; the CLOSING THEME MUSIC emerges into SOUND, and the show's CREDITS begin to roll. Max clicks off the set, folds his hands on the desk and sits glumly regarding his folded hands. After a moment, he becomes aware of another presence in the room and looks to the doorway where Diana Christenson is standing, wearing a white blouse and dark slacks and carrying her jacket and purse. If we haven't already noticed how attractive she is, we do now – standing as she is, framed in the doorway, backlit by the lights of the deserted common room, suddenly sensuous, even voluptuous.

DIANA

(entering the office)

Did you know there are a number of psychics working as licensed brokers on Wall Street?

(she sits across from Max, fishes a cigarette out of her purse)

Some of them counsel their clients by use of Tarot cards. They're all pretty successful, even in a bear market and selling short. I met one of them a couple of weeks ago and thought of doing a show around her – The Wayward Witch of Wall Street, something like that. But, of course, if her tips were any good, she could wreck the market. So I called her this morning and asked her how she was on predicting the future. She said she was occasionally prescient. "For example", she said, "I just had a fleeting vision of you sitting in an office with a craggy middle-aged man with whom you are or will be emotionally involved." And here I am.