Broadcast News Page #5

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TOM:

They said I should observe the...

Jane is distracted by the noise... Tom leaning over towards her.

TOM:

They said it would be okay if...

JANE:

(incredulous)

We're working here!! You can stand

over in the uh, uh, uh...

She momentarily can't think of the word 'corner.' Then back

to Bobbie:

JANE:

Play back the last line...

BOBBIE:

He said something about...

JANE:

(sharply)

Let me hear it!

Bobbie, taking the sharp commands with ever increasing,

yet still repressed resentment.

The Assistant Director, BLAIR LITTON, enters the editing room.

She is about 26 and every night since she got her job as

Assistant Director she has been the first to crack under pressure.

BLAIR:

We'll need it in ten minutes. We're

putting it directly into...

Jane holds up a finger of warning to Blair as she picks up a

ringing phone and talks to Bobbie at the same time.

JANE:

(into phone)

Craig, just a second --

(to Bobbie)

Let me hear it!

Through much of this chaos we focus on:

TOM:

Wedged into an uncomfortable position between two tape racks --

He is wide-eyed at this circus of tension and fear. His eyes

dart around constantly -- trying to take in as much as he can,

always returning with wonder to focus on Jane.

MERCENARY:

(voice over)

It's been a long time since I've seen

my folks and all but...I don't expect

any big-deal homecoming.

JANE:

Stop there.

(into phone she's

been holding)

I want to shoot a picture from

a book I have in the office.

BLAIR:

You don't have time. Not a chance.

JANE:

(into phone)

I'll be right down. It's right tight.

She crosses out.

BLAIR:

I've got to tell Ernie...because

there isn't enough time.

JANE:

Yes, there is.

Blair leaves, as Jane gathers up her notes. She charges out

leaving Tom awkwardly along with Bobbie.

TOM:

I'm Tom Grunick. I started on

General Assignment today.

Bobbie stops the machine, turns in his chair and shakes hands.

Then he smiles secretly and speaks his first full sentence.

BOBBIE:

I don't think she's going to make it.

Tom exits.

INT. BUREAU NEWSROOM

Aaron is having a theoretical discussion with Ernie and

JENNIFER MACK, a correspondent in her early 40's, a pioneer

beauties in news. She is well-schooled, bred, trained and

known... GEORGE WEIN, a black correspondent in his 40s, and

MARTIN KLEIN, formerly with the Johnson administration --

State Department correspondent for the network.

KLEIN:

Okay, what about this? Here's a

tough ethical one. Would you tell

a source that you loved them just

to get some information?

AARON:

Yes.

GEORGE:

Yes.

ERNIE:

Me too.

JENNIFER:

Sure.

AARON:

Jennifer didn't know there

was an alternative.

Jennifer laughs that laugh one always hopes beautiful women

will laugh when one says something funny. Aaron smiles at her.

AARON:

Here's one. They allow us to have

cameras at an execution in Florida.

Do you broadcast tape of the guy in

the chair when they turn on the

voltage?

KLEIN:

Sure.

JENNIFER:

Why not?

ERNIE:

Absolutely.

GEORGE:

You bet.

AARON:

Nothing like wrestling with a

moral dilemma is there?

Blair enters the scene, Tom trailing several feet behind,

continuing to monitor the budding deadline crises.

BLAIR:

Excuse me, Ernie, we're several minutes

to air and Jane's shooting an insert

still for tonight's piece.

ERNIE:

She knows how much time she has.

Blair flashes a tortured smile -- panic is growing.

BLAIR:

Okay. I just wanted you to know.

AARON:

What is she shooting?

BLAIR:

Norman Rockwell's 'Homecoming.'

AARON:

(thinks then)

Oh, that's nice...

(walking away)

We'll need some new lines.

INT. EDITING ROOM - NIGHT

Jane up against it now -- but still seemingly calm. Tom

watching, keeps on glancing at the clock fascinated,

impressed.

JANE:

Okay, Bobbie, just a two-second

dissolve to the Rockwell.

BOBBIE:

Should I...

JANE:

(interrupting)

Just a two-second dissolve.

BLAIR:

(hurting)

Oh, Jesus, we have three minutes...

Why do you do this to me. Is it

because I won an award?

INT. RECORDING BOOTH - NIGHT

Where Aaron is writing his last line on a folded over piece of

paper even as he gets ready to record. He times it with a

stop watch.

AARON:

Norman Rockwell's enduring portrait

of a Homecoming The return of a

fighting man has always been one of

the more moving ceremonies of war...

Tearful women, proud men, excited

children. But J.D. Singer was right --

his homecoming was no big deal.

INT. EDITING ROOM - NIGHT

BLAIR:

We have a minute and a half. It's my

responsibility to tell them we won't

be ready.

JANE:

Uh-uh. We're be ready.

Blair glances frantically at her watch.

BLAIR:

In 84 seconds?

ON CLOCK:

Sweeping from 28 minutes to -- 84 seconds from deadline. Aaron

walks in, Jane looks up.

JANE:

(hopefully)

Nine seconds.

AARON:

Eleven and a half.

JANE:

Oh, God. Back it, Bobbie -- Bobbie?

ALMOST SIMULTANEOUS DIALOGUE FOLLOWS. IT BUILDS UNTIL IT

DUPLICATE THE SOUND OF LOUD AND BAWDY SEX.

BLAIR:

You're saying 'Oh, God..." They are

going to go to up and the screen will

be black -- they're going to go to black

because we're not there. How about

careers, huh? How about careers?

ON CLOCK:

42 seconds away.

BLAIR:

We're not going to make it.

Bobbie makes a small bobble -- Jane giving the merest evidence

of the strain, scratching her face repeatedly.

BOBBIE:

Whoops.

BLAIR:

(unravelling)

Whoops?!? Whoops?!? No, please...

no, ooh, ahhh, ohhh.

AARON:

Sh*t, sh*t, sh*t...

TOM:

(caught up)

You're almost there, you can do it --

can do -- can do.

And as the pitch reaches its zenith, 27 seconds left. Bobbie

hands the tape to Blair.

BOBBIE:

Ready.

INT. NEWSROOM - NIGHT

Blair hikes up her skirt and takes off.

VARIOUS SHOTS:

Our "chase scene" as Blair soars through the newsroom, leaping a

chair smoothly, smashing her leg against a table in full flight,

the adrenaline deadening the pain -- she arrives at a waiting

elevator -- uses a key dangling from her neck to unlock it... jumps

nervously during the ride and now, in FULL EXTENDED FLIGHT, barrels

down the long corridor heading to the control room where she

arrives; slamming the tape into a technician's hand even as it is

introduced on the air.

INT. NEWSROOM - NIGHT

Aaron, Jane, the others looking at the end of the piece on the

air -- Tom in the b.g. as Blair enters -- relaxed, almost jaunty.

BLAIR:

I was a little nervous there for

a minute.

AARON:

Oh, come on -- tell us another.

ON MONITOR:

The end of the piece -- the Rockwell painting giving way to the

mercenary's actual homecoming which matches the portrait. The

irony works nicely. The network anchorman comes up for his close.

BILL RORISH, 50 years old and able to flutter much younger pulses.

He is able and experienced -- a reporter who has become a

journalistic king.

BILL:

(on monitor, smiling)

Bill Rorish...Thank you...Good night.

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