Halt and Catch Fire Page #5

(reading screen)

We can retire in 2045.

DONNA:

You’re a genius.

25.

CLARK:

I still have some good ideas once

in a while.

DONNA:

Oh, uh... a Joe MacMillan called.

From work.

Clark falls back in his chair, sighing with frustration.

DONNA (CONT’D)

I said we were going to see E.T.

tonight and you were done work for

the day. What does he want?

Clark turns off the computer.

CLARK:

He wants to pick a fight he can’t

win. Not in Texas, at least. And he

thinks I’m some innovator and

revolutionary.

DONNA:

Well, aren’t you?

(pause)

Maybe he has something you can sink

your teeth into for once.

CLARK:

Donna, if I need a hobby, I’ll take

up golf. I’m not about to cross

wires with a guy like John Bosworth

just because I’m bored. Not when we

have-

CLARK (CONT’D)DONNA

Two mortgages and two car Two mortgages and two car

payments. payments.

Clark sighs.

CLARK (CONT’D)

C’mon, let’s just go to the movie.

CUT TO:

EXT. MOVIE THEATER -- LATER

The lights are up at the movie’s end, the signature JOHN

WILLIAMS FANFARE playing over the end credits.

CLARK AND HIS FAMILY slowly walk out with the rest of the

audience. His daughters are overjoyed.

26.

CLARK:

(to daughters)

You guys like that?

HALEY:

Yeah!

CLARK:

(to Donna)

I’ll also point out that Elliot had

a Speak & Spell and not a Cardiff

Giant systems mainframe.

Clark stops unexpectedly.

ANGLE ON Joe MacMillan in his shirt and tie, sleeves rolled

up, sitting in the back row with a bag of popcorn.

MACMILLAN:

Gordon, is that you?

He stands, offers his hand to Donna.

MACMILLAN (CONT’D)

Hi, Joe MacMillan. We spoke on the

phone earlier.

DONNA:

Oh, right...

MACMILLAN:

You guys couldn’t wait to see this,

either? Very affecting movie.

DONNA:

The girls have been crazy to-

CLARK:

Did you follow me here?

MacMillan steps out of the aisle, leads Clark away.

MACMILLAN:

(to kids)

You mind if I borrow your dad for a

second?

CLARK:

(to Donna)

Work stuff.

Donna ushers the children out of the theater, eyeing

MacMillan, unsure.

27.

MACMILLAN:

Reverse engineer an IBM PC with me.

A beat. Clark lightly kicks one of the seat legs.

CLARK:

Why do you want to reverse engineer

an IBM PC?

MACMILLAN:

I told you. It’s where everything

is headed.

CLARK:

I know.

(pause)

But why are you doing this?

MACMILLAN:

Why do you think I picked Cardiff

Giant? With my resume, I could’ve

gone to work for any other company

in the country. Maybe the world.

But I came to Texas. You think I

did it for the BBQ? I came to where

you were. And as luck would have

it, you’re extremely unhappy.

CLARK:

I think you make a lot of

assumptions.

(pause)

Look, thanks for seeing something I

used to be, but...

MACMILLAN:

I don’t take no for an answer.

CLARK:

I’m gonna have to respectfully

decline, Joe. I just... can’t put

my job in jeopardy when I’ve got

two kids and...

(hating himself)

Two mortgages and two car payments.

Clark leaves the theater, his face conflicted. He looks back

toward MacMillan a couple of times on his way out.

CUT TO:

28.

INT. UNIVERSITY LECTURE HALL -- DAY

An older PROFESSOR (58) stands in front of a large class of

about 75 students. Their vibrant 80’s youth clashes with

boredom as the professor clears his throat.

PROFESSOR:

We will be postponing today’s

discussion on vacuum tubes, as we

have a special guest who’s in town

on business for today only. He

contacted the Department of

Electrical & Computer Engineering

this morning and requested to stop

by and speak to some of our best

and brightest about the current

state of the computer industry...

Students have started to take notice. One is CAMERON HOWE

(22), a young woman with ice blonde hair cut very short. Big

black-rimmed glasses and exposed collar bone, fashionable,

post-punk.

She has a pattern of rubber bands currently wrapped around

her fingers.

PROFESSOR (CONT’D)

So without further ado, please

welcome Joseph MacMillan from

Cardiff Giant Computer Systems.

MacMillan, looking his shaved and showered best, trots into

the room amidst half-hearted applause.

ANGLE ON Cameron as she immediately tosses the rubber bands

off her fingers, very interested in what this man might say.

MACMILLAN:

Good afternoon, UT. Let me start

off with a question: How many of

you desire to be professional

computer engineers?

About 50 hands go up in the class.

MACMILLAN (CONT’D)

Now I’m going to list off several

categories. When you hear a

category that you don’t have hands-

on experience in, put your hand

down.

(pause)

Electrical engineering. Software

design.

(MORE)

29.

MACMILLAN (CONT’D)

Hardware-software integration.

Circuit design. Microprocessing.

Already, half the class has their hands down.

MACMILLAN (CONT’D)

Firmware design. Very Large Scale

Integration. Operating systems.

Down to about eight people now.

MACMILLAN (CONT’D)

FPGA configuration. Hardware

description languages. Personal

computer design.

Three people have their hands raised. One is Cameron.

MACMILLAN (CONT’D)

Reverse engineering.

Cameron’s hand goes down, as does another, leaving only one

smiling, cocky male student.

MACMILLAN (CONT’D)

Okay, let’s go back one.

Both hands go up again and the cocky kid loses his grin.

MacMillan points to a FAT BALDING GUY first.

MACMILLAN (CONT’D)

Tell me one thing that will be true

about computers 10 years from now.

FAT BALDING GUY:

(mouth-breathing)

Computers will exist as ocular

headsets that plug into the back of

our cerebral cortexes-

MACMILLAN:

Okay, thanks.

(pointing to Cameron)

You?

CAMERON:

Um... Computers will likely be

connected together over a vast

network and able to communicate

with each other by alternately

modulating and demodulating digital

data over an electric system of

some kind-

30.

MACMILLAN:

Like phone lines.

CAMERON:

Probably phone lines.

MACMILLAN:

Can you see me after class, Miss.

uh...?

CAMERON:

Yes. Cameron Howe, yes.

CUT TO:

INT. ARCADE -- LATER

A hallmark of the early 80’s coin-op craze. Hazy from smoke

and the crowd’s a bit older, college drinkers.

Cameron and MacMillan have stationed themselves before a

Frogger cabinet. MacMillan, tie loose and suit sleeves pushed

up short, deftly carries four tequila shots over to the

controls.

CAMERON:

I’m great at this game, I’ll whoop

your ass.

MACMILLAN:

But there are rules. Every time you

lose a frog...

(holding out a glass)

You take a shot.

CAMERON:

I can handle that.

She goes for the joystick, but he stops her.

MACMILLAN:

And one to kick us off.

They both down a shot. He never takes his eyes off her.

LATER:

She plays intently while he interviews her.

CAMERON:

I don’t know, but if I had to

choose now, I’d say personal

computing, software, video games.

Something like that.

31.

MACMILLAN:

There are a lot of companies that

already do those things.

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