Jerry Maguire Page #6

SUGAR:

(unctuous)

... dick?

JERRY:

Dick.

Maguire reaches for water. The sound of the ice cubes

jangling is suddenly very loud to him. He is drowning.

SUGAR:

Give me a little credit for doing

this face-to-face! What I went

through knowing I was going to do

this to my mentor! Can you get

past yourself for a second?

JERRY:

You'll lose.

SUGAR:

(musically)

You wanted smaller.

JERRY:

I'm over it. Now I want all my

clients and yours too.

SUGAR:

Jerry --

JERRY:

-- and I'll get 'em.

SUGAR:

(patronizing)

You'll always be my hero, Jerry.

Always always always. We're

bringing other elements in, we're

focusing on endorsements -- it's

not about handholding anymore.

We're no longer babysitters --

Jerry fights the desire to use his fists. Hangs onto the

table. He's starting to freak out now. Trying to calm down.

Sugar's mouth keeps moving, but we hear the music in Jerry's

mind. Rising percussive music.

EXT. STREET -- DAY

Jerry tries to move briskly down the street, through the

lunchtime businessmen traffic. Back to the office.

_

29.

INT. CRONIN'S -- DAY

Sugar dines alone now. Casually whips out a portable phone.

INT. SMI ELEVATOR -- DAY

Jerry in the elevator, eyes wide, mind racing. Dorothy Boyd

sees him, raises a hand to say hello. Decides this is not a

good time.

INT. SMI OFFICE -- DAY

Close on Maguire as he moves through the office, heading to

the back office. Music

INT. JERRY'S OFFICE -- DAY

Maguire rolls the fax machine over to his desk. He takes a

breath, and begins to go to work. From within his bottom

drawer, he withdraws a Powerbook. Then from another drawer,

a phone book. And then from his inner jacket pocket, a third

smaller phone book. They are lined in front of him now, as he

dials.

INT. CUSHMAN HOME/ODESSA -- DAY

Frank "Cush" Cushman picks up the phone. Today, the young

football God wears a yellow scarf on his head. He's still

playing NBA Jam on his Gameboy' as he talks.

EXT. CRONIN'S -- DAY

Sugar at the table. Chameleon-like, he adopts the

personality of whomever he talks to.

SUGAR:

Cush. Hey Dudeboy! It's Bob

Sugar. Listen, I'm callin' ya

first 'cause you're the most

important guy in sports...

INT. JERRY'S OFFICE -- DAY

Maguire on the telephone, fighting hard, as he feeds a fax

into the machine at the same time.

JERRY:

Carla, right now you're paying 25%

of your endorsments to SMI, I

would cut my commission by 7%...

As he talks, he takes a stack of his Mission Statements, once

proudly set on his desk, and sentences them to the bottom

drawer.

_

30.

EXT. STREET -- DAY

Sugar strolls back to the office, talking on the portable.

SUGAR:

You read that memo I snuck to you,

the guy's tired of the job. Tired

of making you money.

INT. JERRY'S OFFICE -- DAY

Maguire feeds a fax, types another fax on his Powerbook, all

while he talks quickly on the phone.

JERRY:

And when I got you that big

contract in Chicago, and the fan

poll in the Sun-Times was 93%

against you, who went and found

you that sympathetic journalist

who turned it all around, it was

me...

INT. SUGAR'S OFFICE -- DAY

Several other agents working the cause behind Sugar, who

breezes through the calls.

SUGAR:

He's costing you money, Debra...

he's oldschool.

INT. JERRY'S OFFICE -- DAY

Jerry on the toilet. Not a minute to spare.

JERRY:

SMI represents all three

quarterbacks on your team, where's

their loyalty going to be? You

stay with me, I'd fight for YOU

alone. You'd be my only client on

that team...

INT. SUGAR'S OFFICE -- DAY

SUGAR:

I've got the clients. I've got

the juice.

INT. SMI OFFICE -- DAY

Dorothy walks the center hallway with some contracts. To the

right and left of her are the phones are ringing.

_

31.

Something is amiss. She stops at the desk of fellow Accounts

Exec CLEO, 32.

DOROTHY:

What's going on?

CLEO:

(no big deal)

They fired Jerry Maguire. Did it

at Cronin's.

Dorothy groans softly, as she lowers herself into her seat.

She is strangely affected by the news. She scoots back on her

roller chair, and looks down the hallway to Maguire's office

door.

INT. JERRY'S OFFICE -- DAY

The pace has accelerated.

JERRY:

-- personal attention --

INT. SUGAR'S OFFICE -- DAY

Sugar talks faster.

SUGAR:

-- more money, more endorsements --

INT. JERRY'S OFFICE -- DAY

Jerry talks faster than sugar.

JERRY:

-- a family of athletes --

INT. SUGAR'S OFFICE -- DAY

Sugar talks faster than Jerry.

SUGAR:

-- the millenium, eight-hundred

channels more endorsements. Think

of me, think of dollars.

INT. JERRY'S OFFICE -- DAY

Jerry shows signs of tiring.

JERRY:

Kathy! Hi, it's Jerry Maguire.

INT. REHEARSAL ROOM -- DAY

_

32.

KATHY SANDERS, 22 year-old figure skater, sits on a couch.

Nearby are cardboard stand-ups, souvenirs of past

endorsements. Also, the famous gold-medal shot from the

Olympics. Kathy's adoring Mom and Dad sit next to her,

listening in on the extension. The Mission Statement is

folded open on Dad's lap. Kathy chokes on every other word,

such is her anguish.

KATHY:

I already heard from Bob Sugar.

Jerry I want to cry for what they

did to you at SMI. You helped me

win that gold at the Olympics, we

have history, and... oh Jerry...

if we weren't in the middle of the

Accura deal, you know I'd go with

you!

(starts to break down)

Oh Jerry, oh God...

There is a click on the line. She is pained and outraged.

KATHY:

(continuing)

... Call Waiting... who could be

calling me now?...

She clicks the phone once. Her voice is suddenly cheery.

KATHY:

(continuing)

Hiyee.

INT. JERRY'S OFFICE

JERRY:

Still me, Kathy.

She instantly starts "crying" again.

KATHY:

Ohhhhhhhh...

INT. SUGAR'S OFFICE -- DUSK

Sugar crosses off another name on his list.

SUGAR:

It's not show "friends". It's show

business.

INT. JERRY'S OFFICE -- DUSK

Jerry on the phone. It's getting harder to crank it up.

_

33.

JERRY:

Rod! How ya doing? Jerry Maguire.

INTERCUT:

INT. TIDWELL KITCHEN/HOUSE -- DAY

ROD TIDWELL, 27, begins this conversation in the kitchen. He

is a powerful physical presence, and he holds a hot new

cellular phone. He fixes young son Tyson a bowl of cereal as

he talks. In the background, monitoring the crisis is Marcee

Tidwell.

ROD TIDWELL:

"How am I doing?" I'll tell you.

I'm sweatin, dude! That's how I'm

"doin." I'm sweatin my contract.

I'm sweatin' Bob Sugar calling and

telling me I'm blowing the big

endorsements if I stay with you.

I'm sweatin'. You hear what I'm

saying?

JERRY:

I hear what you're saying...

TIDWELL:

No. I hear that you hear what I'm

saying. But do you hear what I'm

saying?

INT. SUGAR'S OFFICE -- SAME TIME

Sugar works off a wristwatch. He spends no longer than three

minutes on each call.

SUGAR:

I'll bet he hasn't even called you

yet, right Jennifer? Wait, I need

to cough...

He covers the phone, as another agent hands him a cellular

with another call on it.

SUGAR:

(continuing)

Hi, Ben, it's Sugar, hold on a

second, have you heard from

Maguire? You haven't???? Well,

that tells you a lot. Hold on,

gotta cough...

Rate this script:5.0 / 1 vote