Broadcast News Page #2
- R
- Year:
- 1987
- 133 min
- 553 Views
She advances furiously on her Father since even this strung out,
even with two additional pen pal letters to get off, she had
enough sense of duty to kiss him good night before storming from
the room. She exits the room INTO BLACK.
Stay on BLACK as we begin MAIN TITLES:
OVER EXT. SMALL MID-WESTERN CITY - DAY
Emerging from the blackness -- Jane Craig -- now a
twenty-eight-year-old woman -- a long speed walker wearing a
jacket to which reflecting stripes have been glued -- the kind
of gear only possessed by someone who runs at off-hours. The
Jacket itself is a wish-I-had-it souvenir from some important
news assignment, the sort of treasure you love about all else
yet never mention. She stops running as she feeds quarters into
the first of a phalanx of newspaper machines -- getting seven
different papers before moving on.
As she enters from the bathroom, having showered and dressed.
The sun is jus now rising. She sits next to her phone.
INSERT:
JANE'S ROOMThe Filofax book is almost an additional character -- a crucial
hand-fashioned tool of Jane's trade. She flicks at a page --
takes down a typewritten sheet scotch-taped to it showing the
room number of her crew and reporter.
ON JANE:
As she dials one room number.
JANE:
(into phone)
Hi...It's me...
INT. DUPLICATE MOTEL ROOM - DAY
ANGLE ON CAMERAMAN -- his equipment in evidence though
essentially asleep holding his bedmate's hand, as he listens
to Jane.
JANE'S VOICE
(voice over)
It's thirty minutes before you have
to meet me in the lobby -- nudge
your wife.
BACK TO SCENE:
JANE:
There's probably no time to eat...
but there's a cafeteria at the bus
depot once we get down there. I
love working with you two...It
saves me a call.
She dales.
Where Aaron is switching his TV from station to station,
monitoring the early morning news. His PHONE RINGS.
AARON:
Hi. Turn on your TV...
Good Morning America, the
Morning News and Today are all
about to talk to Arnold
Schwarzenegger and I think he's
live on at least two of them.
BACK TO SCENE:
JANE:
At six o'clock on the wake-up
news they used the wrong missile
graphic.
AARON:
(Austrian accent)
Now listen, Arnold just said that
he's been making three million a
movie now. But he's not ever
gonna change. He's still the same
person when he was making two
million dollars a movie. He feels
no different. He also bought a brand-
new condo with Maria, they gonna
furnish tastefully.
JANE:
A half hour in the lobby.
AARON:
(Austrian accent)
Okay, I'll see you in the lobbies [sic].
She hangs up -- takes the phone off the hook and lays it on the
bed for a moment's solitude. She sits stiffly, palms on top of
her legs. It looks like someone with unusually good posture,
waiting for something, and now we BEGIN TO SEE the first signs
redden and she begins to cry. Now she sobs -- then miraculously
shakes it off and exits quickly to the bathroom. This crying
episode is clearly part of her morning routine.
Jane standing behind her husband-wife - camera-sound team
as they train their attention on Aaron; who is getting ready to
do a stand-up. There is a DERELICT off to one side. Aaron holds
his microphone at the ready.
AARON:
Ready.
CAMERAMAN:
Your hair's a little funny.
AARON:
It's an ethnic curl, I can't do
anything about it.
CAMERAMAN:
In front of a little -- it's a bit...
You want a mirror?
AARON:
No -- Don't worry about it. Let's
do this.
Jane nods her assent.
CAMERAMAN:
Okay.
AARON:
In other times, for other purposes,
there might be a band and bunting
here at the bus depot for J.D. Singer's
return from war. He...
JANE:
(interrupting)
I'm sorry. But look at how
wonderful his face is.
She points to the derelict.
AARON:
Oh, you mean use him...That's
nice. Okay.
CAMERAMAN:
I'll put him in the low corner of
the frame -- good.
AARON:
In other times, with other purposes,
there might be a band and bunting
here at the bus depot for J.D. Singer's
return from war. Last week he was
decorated by a president for heroism
in a war. But it was the civil war --
in Angola -- and he was in it for the
money.
He puts the microphone down.
AARON:
Thanks.
He passes a vending machine and checks the stray hair.
Jane in the distant b.g. on the phone. Aaron and crew shooting
as the bus pulls up, hisses to a stop and tired, rumpled
passengers exit the bus. J.D. SINGER, strong, 9'6" figure
emerges and is displeased to find a camera trained on him.
He reacts with all the grace of a short mercenary.
J.D.
Go 'way.
J.D. gets his luggage from the compartment under the bus. The
crew shooting.
AARON:
Just a few questions?
J.D.
No.
He starts walking -- the four person newsteam staying with him.
AARON:
We came from Washington.
J.D.
Move away from me.
AARON:
(holding out
microphone)
How long has it been since you've
been home.
J.D.
(moving)
F***. F***. F***. Fuckes. Snot...
Fuckee. You want to use that?
AARON:
It depends on how big a news day it
is.
They reach Jane. She calls to him.
JANE:
J.D. I'm Jane Craig. I spoke to
you in Angola. I gave you some
sugarless gum and Handi-Wipes.
As he reacts to her:
INT. JANE'S ROOM - NIGHT
Jane sitting next to Aaron making detailed timing notes as she
screens the material shot that day on a portable monitor unit.
AARON:
Where's where I asked him about
being scared?
(then)
You should work on your speech.
JANE:
No. It makes me nervous to think
about it. Let's do this.
She consults her notes and goes back to the exact spot.
AARON:
(on tape)
All this business of war -- do you
get scared?
J.D.
(on tape; he smiles)
Uh-uh.
(then)
I'm a little freaked right now about
seeing my father though.
He laughs self-consciously and turns briefly away.
JANE:
I love that turn away.
INT. AUDITORIUM - DAY
Jane is at the lectern in the darkened auditorium as two large
monitors display some taped news pieces she has assembled. On
the lectern is a sign telling us we are at the Conference of
Local Television News Broadcasters.
JANE:
(in darkness)
There's a point I'm trying to make
A WOMAN'S OUTLINE blacked out from behind -- her VOICE
ELECTRICALLY DISGUISED.
WOMAN:
(o.s.; angrily)
I don't think any client of mine
makes less than fifty thousand dollars
a year which means they can afford the
best and you're damn right I feel good
that that includes me.
CUT TO:
in blackness, her VOICE DISGUISED.
WOMAN TWO:
(o.s.)
No. You'd be surprised at who a
working girl meets. I've been a
working girl for what? -- over a year
anyway and that must be a thousand
men and I don't think there's an age
or type that hasn't been in there.
INTERVIEWER'S VOICE
(voice over)
Policemen? -- Doctor? -- Lawyer...?
WOMAN TWO:
(o.s.)
Oh, sure. Television reporters.
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"Broadcast News" Scripts.com. STANDS4 LLC, 2024. Web. 22 Dec. 2024. <https://www.scripts.com/script/broadcast_news_334>.
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