The Insider Page #24

INT. LOWELL'S OFFICE, BERKELEY - LATE AFTERNOON

LOWELL:

Jeffrey...

INT. A HOTEL ROOM, LOUISVILLE - NIGHT

And we see Wigand looking rough, unshaven, sitting on a couch

in a hotel room. And we see his belongings, clothing, some

boxes, a bottle of vodka, his computer, what's left of his

world, are around the room.

LOWELL'S VOICE (OVER)

Jeffrey, how are you? How's the family,

okay?

WIGAND:

There is - there is no family.

LOWELL'S VOICE (OVER)

What do you mean there is no family?

WIGAND:

Liane has filed for divorce...

INT. LOWELL'S OFFICE, BERKELEY - LATE AFTERNOON

And Lowell's dead quiet.

INT. THE HOTEL ROOM, LOUISVILLE - NIGHT

WIGAND:

And, so, I moved out... I see the girls

a couple of days a week...

LOWELL'S VOICE (OVER)

(concerned)

Where you staying now?

WIGAND:

(sarcastic)

Our favorite hotel, honey... I checked

into Room 930. Odd choice? Huh?

And we don't know what he means by that...

INT. LOWELL'S OFFICE, BERKELEY - LATE AFTERNOON

The last of the daylight shadows his office.

LOWELL:

(after a beat)

I don't know how to say this, Jeff,

except to just say it right out, so I'll

say it. They do not want to air it.

WIGAND:

(stops)

What?!

LOWELL:

B & W may have threatened litigation...

CBS is on the block...

(a beat)

But you, I mean, I know how...

WIGAND:

No.

LOWELL:

No? No, what?

WIGAND:

I do not think that you "know" for

me...what it is to walk in my shoes...

(beat)

...for my kids to have seen it...for them

to know why I've put them through what I

did...the public airing of that...the

testament to why I did what I

did...you're telling me is not going to

see the light of day.

Lowell's quiet. And Jeffrey starts to hang up...

LOWELL:

Jeff...

And Jeffrey hangs up.

INT. JEFFREY'S HOTEL ROOM, LOUISIANA - (PROCESS) - NIGHT

Jeffrey silently sitting in the chair. We COME AROUND and

see why he's been purposely sitting there. Why he's chosen

this room. Directly across the street is the Brown &

Williamson Building. The lights are on. The building lit

up. And in an upstairs office Brown & Williamson lawyers,

moving around a conference room, talking. And as Jeffrey

looks out the window...

EXT. A SMALL TOWN, UPSTATE NEW YORK - DAY

A peaceful, suburban street. Small houses. A PRIVATE

INVESTIGATOR (P.I.) from IGI, in a raincoat, getting out of a

car, going up the walk. He knocks on the door. Some

moments. A Woman in her late forties, handicapped, in an

electric cart answers the door...

P.I.

Mrs. Wigand?

THE WOMAN:

It hasn't been Mrs. Wigand for some time.

P.I.

Well, I'm an investigator and I was - I

was wondering if I could ask you a couple

of questions about that?

THE WOMAN:

Alright...

INT. JOHN SCANLON'S PUBLIC RELATIONS FIRM, A MEDIA ROOM,

NEW YORK - DAY

And on a TELEVISION SCREEN, SUSAN WIGAND, the woman in the

electric cart, giving a taped interview to the P.I....

SUSAN WIGAND:

...seven months after we were married we

found out that I had multiple

sclerosis...

We PULL BACK to see John Scanlon and his Staff watching the

tape... His firm's logo, public relations campaigns for some

of his high-profile clients are on the walls. Scanlon's on

the phone talking with somebody as the tape runs...

P.I.'S VOICE (OVER)

(on television)

And, you had a daughter, Diane, with him,

is that correct?

SUSAN WIGAND:

(on television)

Yes, in 1973.

JOHN SCANLON:

(on the phone, whispering)

...come on, Tommy Sandefur told me

himself, he's not gonna allow Brown &

Williamson to be demonized to the

American public, so I told Peter Jennings

and I...hold on...

He stops, listening to the videotape...

P.I.'S VOICE (OVER)

(on television)

Would it be fair to say when he divorced

you he left you in a precarious

situation? You had multiple sclerosis;

you had a small child to raise.

JOHN SCANLON:

(ignoring that part; to staff)

Mention that part in the executive

summary and in the chapters "First Wife"

and "Estrangement of Daughter."

(beat; into phone)

So, I was telling Pete, I said, "You've

been taken in by this guy...

SUSAN WIGAND:

(on television)

Yes...

(beat)

But you have to understand, the divorce

was something that we both wanted...

JOHN SCANLON:

He's a total bullshit artist. He's a

shoplifter. He's a convicted shoplifter.

And as we end in a sea of documents, affidavits, court

records, all from Louisville, all about Jeffrey. We

understand the war has only been begun...

INT. CBS, "60 MINUTES," CORRIDOR, LOWELL'S OFFICE - MORNING

Lowell, in his office, his door open for anyone to see him,

an immovable force, sitting behind his desk. Hewitt appears

in his doorway...

DON HEWITT:

(after a beat, cold)

So, what are you going to do?

LOWELL:

Well, what do you think I'm going to do?

Quit in protest? I'm not going to do

that.

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