Steve Jobs

From a BLACK SCREEN

--we’re in the middle of a confidential conversation.

ANDY (V.O.)

The screen says it’s an

unimplemented trap but the dialogue

box is wrong, it’s a system error.

JOANNA (V.O.)

When did it happen?

ANDY (V.O.)

About 10 minutes ago, we’ve been

working it.

JOANNA (V.O.)

An unimplemented trap?

ANDY (V.O.)

It’s a system error.

FADE IN:

1 INT. AUDITORIUM - MORNING/CONTINUOUS 1

We’ll get our bearings in a moment but right now we’re in the

middle of a conversation taking place on a stage between

STEVE JOBS, JOANNA HOFFMAN and ANDY HERTZFELD--all late20’

s/early 30’s.

JOANNA:

So what’s the upshot?

ANDY:

It’s not gonna say “Hello.”

STEVE:

It absolutely is gonna say “Hello.”

ANDY:

It’s nobody’s fault, (it’s a system

error).

STEVE:

(over)

You built the voice demo.

ANDY:

Look-

STEVE JOBS - Shooting Script 03/19/15 2.

1 CONTINUED:
1

JOANNA:

Keep your voices down.

ANDY:

The voice demo is flaky. I’ve been

telling you that for--this thing is

overbuilt.

TITLE:

1984

Flint Auditorium

DeAnza Community College

STEVE:

It worked last night, it worked the

night before that, it worked three

hours ago.

ANDY:

It’s not working now so just skip

(over the)-

STEVE:

(over)

F*** you.

JOANNA:

Shh.

ANDY:

Skip over--everything else is

working. Skip over the voice demo.

STEVE:

We need it to say “Hello.”

ANDY:

You’re not hearing me, it’s (not

gonna)-

STEVE:

(over)

Fix it.

ANDY:

Fix it?

STEVE:

Yeah.

STEVE JOBS - Shooting Script 03/19/15 3.

1 CONTINUED:
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ANDY:

(are you serious?)

In 40 minutes.

STEVE:

Fix it.

ANDY:

I can’t.

STEVE:

Who’s the person who can?

ANDY:

I’m the person who can and I can’t.

STEVE:

How bad are you saying?

ANDY:

It’s pretty bad.

STEVE:

I don’t know what that means.

ANDY:

It means (the demo is more than

likely gonna crash).

JOANNA:

(over)

You have to keep your voices down,

Joel Pforzheimer is sitting out in

the house.

STEVE:

I don’t care if--who’s Joel

Pforzheimer?

JOANNA:

GQ. He’s been shadowing you for a

week, did you notice?

STEVE:

Alright.

JOANNA:

Just look like everything’s fine,

he’s sitting out in the house.

We reveal the 2,600 seat house which in 40 minutes will be

filled to capacity. We’re at the launch of the Mac.

STEVE JOBS - Shooting Script 03/19/15 4.

1 CONTINUED:
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There are hundreds of seats with “Reserved For” signs on them

for the various Apple teams--”Macintosh”, “Apple II”, “Lisa”-as

well as hundreds of members of the press--”New York

Times”, “Newsweek”, “Wall Street Journal”, “Financial Times

of London”, “Le Monde”, etc. JOEL PFORZHEIMER is out there,

credentials around his neck, and he gives a small wave to

Steve and so are 50 or 60 ENGINEERS, DESIGNERS and MARKETERS

who are observing the rehearsal from various vantage points.

Way in the back is CHRISANN BRENNAN, 31, and her daughter,

LISA BRENNAN, 5, who’s tucked in a big coat.

STEVE, JOANNA and ANDY are standing in front of a giant

screen showing a slide of the Mac. JOANNA is a beautiful,

brilliant, dryly-funny Polish immigrant who speaks with a

slight trace of an accent. ANDY is a sweet, cherubic young

guy--if you put a bow and arrow in his hands he’d look like

Cupid. Nobody has slept for days.

STEVE:

(to ANDY)

Alright, what are your guys saying?

ANDY:

Some kind of race condition but we

haven’t been able to track it down

yet.

STEVE:

Is the synthesizer sampling fast

enough?

ANDY:

No, so the rates are off and it

keeps crashing.

JOANNA:

(to STEVE)

It’s 20 seconds out of a two-hour

launch, why not just cut it?

STEVE:

We can’t cut it.

JOANNA:

Yeah, you just (cut it).

STEVE:

(over)

Two days ago we ran a Super Bowl ad

that could’ve won the Oscar for

Best Short Film.

(MORE)

STEVE JOBS - Shooting Script 03/19/15 5.

1 CONTINUED:
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STEVE (CONT'D)

There are more people who can tell

you about the ad than can tell you

who won the game.

JOANNA:

I understand, but the ad said the

Mac was gonna save the world, it

didn’t say it was gonna say hello.

ANDREA CUNNINGHAM, a 26-year-old publicist for Apple, calls

from the back-

ANDREA:

We’re gonna open the house in five.

STEVE:

(calling back to ANDREA)

Don’t open the house.

(to the house)

We’re taking a quick break.

ANDY:

Part of the problem is-

STEVE:

--what?

ANDY:

We can recompile but if it’s a

hardware problem we can’t get into

the back.

JOANNA:

Why not?

ANDY:

(to STEVE)

You want to tell her or should I?

STEVE:

(to ANDY)

Don’t start with me, man.

JOANNA:

Why can’t he get into the machine?

ANDY:

(to JOANNA)

You need special tools.

JOANNA:

What kind of special tools, just

take a screwdriver.

STEVE JOBS - Shooting Script 03/19/15 6.

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ANDY:

He didn’t want users to be able to

open it, you need special tools.

JOANNA:

(to STEVE)

Is this for real?

STEVE:

There are a hundred engineers

walking around here, none of them

have the tools?

ANDY:

In fairness, not many of them were

issued the tools.

STEVE:

What about you?

ANDY shrugs-

ANDY:

I left them at the office, it was

3 A.M and--

JOANNA:

Oh Jesus Christ--cut “hello.”

STEVE:

No.

JOANNA:

What’s the first rule of a launch?

STEVE:

It’s not gonna crash.

ANDY:

It just did.

STEVE:

(calling out to the house)

Andy!

ANDY:

Which one?

STEVE:

The other Andy, you’re right there,

why would I (be calling out into--)

STEVE JOBS - Shooting Script 03/19/15 7.

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JOANNA:

He needs to talk to you.

ANDREA CUNNINGHAM, the 26-year-old publicist, calls back-

ANDREA:

Yeah.

STEVE:

(to ANDREA)

The exit signs have to be off or

we’re not gonna get a full

blackout.

ANDREA:

We’ve spoken to the building

manager and the fire marshal.

STEVE:

And?

ANDREA:

There’s absolutely no way they’re

letting us turn the exit signs off.

STEVE:

I’ll pay whatever the fine is.

ANDREA:

The fine is they’re gonna come in

and tell everyone to leave.

STEVE:

You explained to the fire marshal

that we’re in here changing the

world?

ANDREA:

I did, but unless we can also

change the properties of fire he

doesn’t care.

JOANNA:

Steve-

STEVE:

If a fire causes a stampede to the

unmarked exits it will have been

well worth it for those who

survive. For those who don’t, less

so but still pretty good.

STEVE JOBS - Shooting Script 03/19/15 8.

1 CONTINUED:
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ANDREA:

Listen-

STEVE:

(still to ANDREA)

I need it to go to black, real

black, get rid of the exit signs

and don’t let me know how you did

it.

(to ANDY)

Fix the voice demo.

STEVE leaves the stage, followed by JOANNA and heads-

2 INT. BACKSTAGE - CONTINUOUS 2

JOANNA:

You need special tools to open the

Mac?

STEVE:

You knew it was a closed system.

JOANNA:

I didn’t know literally, Jesus.

JOANNA opens a door marked “STEVE JOBS” and gives STEVE a

push into-

3 INT. STEVE’S DRESSING ROOM - CONTINUOUS 3

The room’s been set aside as a place for Steve to chill, be

alone and prepare during rehearsals and before the big

presentation.

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