Halt and Catch Fire Page #4

(pause)

So. Are we ready to do business?

A long silence. The managers and directors turn to look at

the VP, who has said nothing up until this point. The silence

goes on for some time. A stand-off.

Clark’s adrenaline is going--are we really closing?

18.

CLARK:

There’s also free install of any

updates to the product-

MACMILLAN:

Gordon, please.

As he says it, MacMillan never takes his eyes off the VP.

Waiting. Then:

VP:

Yeah, I definitely think we can put

something together.

CUT TO:

EXT. CARDIFF GIANT PARKING LOT -- LATER

Clark gets out of the car, as does MacMillan. They walk

toward the office.

CLARK:

Wow, I’ve gotta say I’m impressed.

That was like... JFK staring down

the Cuban Missile Crisis. Applied

Data hasn’t bought jack-all from

anyone in years.

MACMILLAN:

We did good. You did a solid job

explaining the software.

CLARK:

Good... I mean, I should’ve, I

wrote the-

MacMillan spins on him. Clark stops, caught off-guard.

MACMILLAN:

But I need you to do me one favor.

CLARK:

Okay.

MACMILLAN:

Next time I move to close. This is

what you do.

CLARK:

(eager for a pro tip)

Okay, what?

19.

MACMILLAN:

You SHUT. THE F***. UP.

It echoes out over the entire parking lot. Clark stands

there, stunned, speechless. MacMillan steps closer, extremely

intimidating.

MACMILLAN (CONT’D)

Do you understand me?

Clark can only nod somewhat. MacMillan walks off, leaving

Clark alone in the lot.

A wave of several different emotions cross over Clark’s face

as he stares after him.

CUT TO:

INT. SENIOR VICE PRESIDENT’S OFFICE -- LATER

Bosworth sits behind his desk, leaning in his chair as he

evaluates MacMillan, who’s back in his seat across from him.

Behind MacMillan’s chair stands Al.

BOSWORTH:

He closed ‘em?

AL:

Apparently.

BOSWORTH:

I’m impressed.

MACMILLAN:

(to Al)

I thought you’d be enthused.

AL:

That you actually did what you said

you could?

(pause)

Applied Data is nothing compared to

the rest of your quota for this

quarter.

MACMILLAN:

Which I’ve noticed is higher than

everybody else’s.

AL:

We had a saying in the Navy.

20.

BOSWORTH:

Oh, God.

MACMILLAN:

About extremely high quotas?

AL:

I’m sorry, did you command a flight

squadron in Vietnam? Was that you?

(pause)

This is about management. Which is

my job. Incentive to perform under

pressure and exceed expectations.

And you know what? I never lost one

man. Not one.

MACMILLAN:

Look, I’ve been here two days and I

already brought a deal onto the

table.

BOSWORTH:

What Al is also saying, is ‘Good

job, Joe.’

(pause)

You brought in an account that Al

hasn’t been able to do anything

with in three years.

CUT TO:

INT. CARDIFF GIANT OFFICES -- MOMENTS LATER

Al and MacMillan step out of Bosworth’s office.

AL:

One tiny deal? Who cares?

(pause)

You still work for me, remember

that, so the next time you close

somebody, I better be in the room.

One word to John Bosworth from me

and you’re gone.

Al stomps off.

CUT TO:

INT. CARDIFF GIANT OFFICES - CLARK’S CUBE -- LATER

Clark sits at his desk suffering from wounded pride.

MacMillan appears over the divider. Tosses a magazine down

onto Clark’s desk. It’s open to a certain article...

21.

IBM’S TROJAN HORSE: HOW OPEN ARCHITECTURE WILL UNDO BIG BLUE

The same article MacMillan was reading at home. The issue of

Byte he brought with him from New York in a moving box.

MACMILLAN:

Ever read that?

Clark stares blankly at the pages.

CLARK:

Yeah... I wrote it. A while ago...

CLOSER ON the article. We see the by-line: “By Gordon Clark.”

MACMILLAN:

What do you think?

CLARK:

What do you mean? It’s, uh... yeah.

IBM’s PC is just off-the-shelf

parts. They rushed it to market,

used generic hardware, put it in a

box labeled IBM. Everybody knows

that.

MACMILLAN:

Not everybody.

CLARK:

(flipping through mag)

Where did you find this?

MACMILLAN:

What does open architecture mean to

you?

CLARK:

It means...well, it means anyone

could build an IBM PC. Tweak it,

make it better. Call it their own.

MACMILLAN:

Like Cardiff Giant.

CLARK:

(chuckles)

Buzzards like John Bosworth and

Nathan Cardiff will never go for

the PC business-

MACMILLAN:

Unless you force them to.

(pause)

(MORE)

22.

MACMILLAN (CONT'D)

Personal computing. That’s where

the future is. Not this mainframe

systems sh*t. And the future is

always inextricably tied to what?

CLARK:

...I don’t know.

MACMILLAN:

The money.

(pointing to magazine)

If you see him around, I want to

meet the guy who wrote that. I have

a project I want to discuss with

him.

MacMillan walks away. Clark stands up from his cube.

CLARK:

Hey, what are you trying to do?

MACMILLAN:

Break Big Blue’s back.

END ACT II:

23.

ACT III:

INT. CLARK’S GARAGE -- NIGHT

ANGLE ON Clark, in a t-shirt and jeans, sitting with his

older daughter Joanie on his lap. On the card table lies a

Speak & Spell toy that has been almost totally dismantled.

JOANIE:

(unhappy)

You broke my Speak & Spell!

CLARK:

No, no, no, no, baby, don’t worry,

I’m gonna put it back together.

Just like new. But I want to show

you how it works-

JOANIE:

Fix it!

CLARK:

Look at this first... See, here are

the batteries, okay, the power

source... see these wires here?

That makes the circuit board work.

On the board you’ve got the 128

kilobit ROM chip...

DONNA ENTERS from the house door but Clark doesn’t notice

her. She continues to watch the interaction...

CLARK (CONT’D)

...and this is your logic here...

and this is your speech synthesizer

chip, which Mommy helped make at

her job. This chip makes it talk,

just like you and me-

JOANIE:

Make it talk.

CLARK:

You make it talk, here.

He hands her the keyboard portion of the Speak & Spell. She

presses the ‘On’ button and the device’s FAMILIAR CHIRPS echo

loudly through Gordon’s stereo speakers. Joanie is amazed.

SPEAK N’ SPELL

Now. Spell. Courage.

Joanie carefully taps the keys, looking to Clark for

assurance on some of the harder letters.

24.

SPEAK N’ SPELL (CONT’D)

C. O. U. R. A. G. E.

(she presses ‘Enter’)

Correct.

Clark notices Donna behind him.

CLARK:

(to Joanie)

Go get ready for E.T.

Clark kisses her on the head, she darts off into the house.

DONNA:

Six years of voice synthesis

technology at Texas Instruments,

all for a plastic red toy.

CLARK:

It’s a brilliant product.

He tiredly turns to an Apple II also on the fold-out card

table. Not dismantling this computer, simply using it. His

checkbook is open next to it.

DONNA:

(looking at screen)

What’s this?

CLARK:

I’m figuring out how we can make it

through August given our two

mortgages and two car payments.

DONNA:

On the computer?

CLARK:

Yeah, I wrote this little program

last night, since the calculator’s

broken. And look...

(tapping a few keys)

I can project expenses here and see

how we do. It runs the whole

scenario of our finances. At this

rate...

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