Back to Scenes 1-2.
3. INT. A BAR - 3:00 A.M.
Any bar. Mostly empty. MAX and HOWARD in a booth,
so sodden drunk they are sober --
HOWARD
I'm going to kill myself --
MAX
Oh, shit, Howard --
HOWARD
I'm going to blow my brains out
right on the air, right in the
middle of the seven o'clock news.
MAX
You'll get a hell of a rating,
I'll tell you that, a fifty
share easy --
HOWARD
You think so?
MAX
We could make a series out of it.
Suicide of the Week. Hell, why
limit ourselves? Execution of the
Week -- the Madame Defarge Show!
Every Sunday night, bring your
knitting and watch somebody get
guillotined, hung, electrocuted,
gassed. For a logo, we'll have
some brute with a black hood over
his head. Think of the spin-offs
-- Rape of the Week --
HOWARD
(beginning to get
caught up in the idea)
Terrorist of the Week?
MAX
Beautiful!
HOWARD
How about Coliseum '74? Every
week we throw some Christians
to the lions! --
MAX
Fantastic! The Death Hour! I
love it! Suicides, assassinations,
mad bombers, Mafia hitmen, murder
in the barbershop, human sacrifices
in witches' covens, automobile
smashups. The Death Hour! A
great Sunday night show for the
whole family. We'll wipe fucking
Disney right off the air --
They snigger and snort. HOWARD lays his head down
on the booth's table and verges on sleep --
4. INT. HOWARD'S BEDROOM - 4:30 A.M. - DARK
HOWARD, fully clothed, sprawled asleep on his still-
covered bed in the dark bedroom. Suddenly, he sits bolt
upright, SCREAMING out against unseen terrors --
5. INT. HOWARD'S APARTMENT HOUSE - LANDING
OUTSIDE HIS DOOR - 8:00 A.M. - TUESDAY,
SEPT. 24
-- as HOWARD'S HOUSEKEEPER, a middle-aged lady, lets
herself into
INT. HOWARD'S APARTMENT - ENTRANCE FOYER
The HOUSEKEEPER, unbuttoning her coat, is greeted by
the sound of a raucous clock ALARM, relentlessly
BUZZING O.S. She crosses the --
INT. LIVING ROOM
-- and opens the blinds letting in an eruption of
daylight. The shrill BUZZING getting louder, she
proceeds into the --
INT. BACK FOYER
-- where she pauses to look into the bedroom, the door
being ajar; the BUZZING is coming from here --
HOUSEKEEPER'S P.O.V -- HOWARD BEALE,
still wearing the clothes he wore last night, curled in a
position of fetal helplessness on the floor in the far
corner of the room --
HOUSEKEEPER
(after a moment)
Are you all right, Mr. Beale?
HOWARD
(opens one eye)
I'm fine, thank you, Mrs.
Merryman --
With some effort, he contrives to get to his feet as the
HOUSEKEEPER crosses to the alarm clock and turns it
off --
6. CREDITS AND MUSIC ERUPT ONTO THE SCREEN
TITLE: "N E T W O R K"
UNDER AND INTERSPERSED WITH CREDITS, a montage of
scenes, occasionally audible, on this seemingly
routine day --
7. INT. HOWARD BEALE'S OFFICE - 5TH FLOOR -
9:20 A.M.
A small, unpretentious office, cluttered with books,
magazines, periodicals, photographs and awards on the
walls, various mementos here and there. HOWARD
(necktied and in shirtsleeves), behind his desk, rattling
away his copy for that evening's broadcast on his
typewriter -- pauses to pour himself a quick shot of
Scotch --
8. INT. THE NIGHTLY NEWS ROOM - ROOM 517 -
10:30 A.M.
The common room off which Howard's office debouches.
A large room compactly filled with the desks of
producers, associate producers, head writer and writers,
production assistants, etc. The walls are festooned like
bulletin boards with sheaves of newspaper pages and
cutouts and reams of wire releases (there are two wire
machines in a corner). Large blowups of HOWARD BEALE
are prominently displayed. There are small, shelved
libraries of books, directories and magazines here and
there. And the ever-present bank of four television
monitors; and,
Since it is 10:30 A.M., Tuesday, September 23, 1975,
and, since the AUDIO is OFF, the screens silently
flicker with whatever was on that day at that time.
HOWARD comes out of his office, crosses through the
general HUM of informal industry, an occasional
TYPEWRITER CLACKING, a more than occasional phone
ringing, as the Nightly News Room PERSONNEL, all in
their 20's and 30's, move, MURMUR, confer about their
businesses. HOWARD BEALE makes for a ledge of r
reference books to check out some fact. He spreads the
reference book out on an unoccupied desk. SOMEONE in
b.g. tells him he's wanted on the phone. He nods, takes
the call at the desk he is at. Throughout, he belts away
at his glass of booze --
9. INT. OFFICE OF THE EXEC. PRODUCER OF UBS -
NETWORK NEWS - UBS BUILDING - 5TH FLOOR -
1:00 P.M. - TUESDAY
Another smallish office debouching off the main room
like Howard's, absolutely jammed with nine PEOPLE, a
couple of them standing, the others sitting wherever
they can. The executive producer, HARRY HUNTER
(early 40's), is behind the desk. HOWARD BEALE sits
on the small, Finnish modern couch, flanked by an
ASSOCIATE PRODUCER and a MAN from the Graphics
Department. Aside from BEALE and HUNTER, everybody
else is in their 20's or early 30's, and, with the same
exceptions, they're all casually dressed. This is the daily
run-down meeting at which the schedule for that
evening's broadcast is roughed out, and it sounds
something like this --
HOWARD
(reaching for the bottle of
booze on HUNTER'S desk to
refill his glass)
-- let's do the Lennon deportation
at the end of three --
HARRY HUNTER
That strong enough to bump?
HOWARD
(sipping his booze)
In one then, I'll do a lead on
Sarah Jane Moore to Mayberry in
San Francisco --
ASSOCIATE PRODUCER
The film I saw was the Chief
of Detectives --
GRAPHICS MAN
I think we got maybe ten seconds
on the shooting itself --
PRODUCTION ASSISTANT
The whole thing is one-twenty-five --
HOWARD
What does that come out?
PRODUCTION ASSISTANT
About four-fifty --
ASSOCIATE PRODUCER
Are we using Squeaky Fromme?
HARRY HUNTER
Let's do that in two -- Squeaky --
Ford at the airport - bump. Now.
we using a map going into San
Francisco?
GRAPHICS MAN
I prefer a news-pix --
HOWARD pours himself another shot of booze and sips
it --
HOWARD
What've we got left?
PRODUCTION ASSISTANT
Gun control, Patty Hearst affidavit,
guerillas in Chad, OPEC in Vienna --
10. INT. 4TH FLOOR CORRIDOR - UBS BUILDING -
6:28 PM - TUESDAY
LOOKING INTO the small network-news make-up room
where HOWARD BEALE is standing, Kleenex tucked into
his shirt collar, getting a few last whisks from the MAKE-UP
LADY. Finished, HOWARD pulls the Kleenex from his collar,
takes a last sip from a glass of booze on the make-up shelf,
gathers his papers and exits, turns and enters --
11. INT. NETWORK NEWS STUDIO - 4TH FLOOR.
Typical Newsroom studio -- cameras, cables, wall
maps, flats and propping, etc. HOWARD nods, smiles to
various PERSONNEL -- CAMERAMEN, ASSISTANT
DIRECTORS, ASSOCIATE PRODUCERS -- as he makes his
way to his desk facing Camera One. He sits, prepares his
papers, looks up to the control room, nods --
MUSIC ABRUPTLY OUT:
END OF CREDITS:
Continue to Scenes 12-17.
| 
