Truth

---

INT. DICK HIBEY'S OFFICE -- DAY

Richly appointed. A scotch and cigar feel. Attorney DICK

HIBEY (50's, bearded) rises as Mary enters.

HIBEY:

Ms. Mapes. I'm Dick Hibey. What

can I do for you?

MARY:

Oh, I think you know.

Hibey smiles, gestures for her to sit. Noticing:

HIBEY:

You knit?

MARY:

You don't expect a woman like me to

knit.

HIBEY:

No. But it's good. Helpful.

2.

MARY:

You mean it blunts my radical feminist

agenda?

HIBEY:

Do you have a radical feminist agenda?

MARY:

You meet a lot of radical knitters?

Hibey smiles politely at the joke. Then:

HIBEY:

Do you have a substance abuse problem?

MARY:

I'm working on developing one.

HIBEY:

I'm serious.

MARY:

So am I.

Hibey's not smiling anymore.

HIBEY:

You came to me, Ms. Mapes. If you're

not up for this-

MARY:

I've been in news for twenty years.

I've won two Emmys, I broke Abu

Ghraib, I've done jail time for not

revealing sources. I have neither a

radical feminist agenda nor a

substance abuse problem, although

right now I'm gonna take a xanax

because this is really freaking me

out - do you have any water?

A beat. Hibey rises and pours Mary a glass of water from a

pitcher on the side table. Handing it to her.

HIBEY:

You're going to have to be ready for

questions like that.

MARY:

I'm up for this.

3.

Hibey retakes his seat. Sizing her up.

HIBEY:

There's an interesting reoccurring

theme in the stories you cover.

People abusing their power.

MARY:

I don't like bullies.

HIBEY:

Tell me about your work.

She looks at him.

MARY:

You want to know if I'm responsible

for what happened.

HIBEY:

Aren't you?

MARY:

I did my job, believe me.

HIBEY:

I don't have to believe you. What

matters is that they believe you.

Now tell me about your work.

Mary takes a deep breath.

MARY:

I'm the producer. I find the story,

I put the team together, I write and

cut the piece. I work at 60 Minutes.

HIBEY:

And what's that like?

And as Mary smiles at the thought, we CUT TO -

INT. CBS NEWS -- EDITING -- EVENING

Cramped and dark. A large screen shows a photograph of NAKED

PRISONERS from ABU GHRAIB.

An EDITOR manipulates a computer program, and one man's crotch

is blurred out with a field of squares...

4.

New York City - April 2004 - Six Months Earlier

COLONEL CHARLES (O.S.)

They're really gonna run it this

time?

Mary sits behind the tech along with COLONEL ROGER CHARLES

(former military 50's crewcut) and a pregnant DANA ROBERSON.

MARY:

They're going to run it.

COLONEL CHARLES:

Because you said that last week-

MARY:

They're going to run it, Roger.

TECHNICIAN:

You want me to paint them out like

this?

Mary looks up to the screen to see what the tech is doing digitally

painting out men's penises image by image. One

man's crotch blurred out with a field of squares.

MARY:

Jesus, no, it looks like his genitals

were attacked by mad cubists. Maybe

you could just darken the area?

The Technician hits a few keys. A beat.

MARY (CONT'D)

Okay, now it just looks like there's

a black hole there.

DANA ROBERSON:

From which no light can escape.

COLONEL CHARLES:

They're really going to run it?

Because Sy Hersh has this and he's

going to write a story about how

we've sat on it for three weeks-

MARY:

Dana, tell Roger they're going to

run it, then hit him with a large

blunt object for me, will you?

(MORE)

5.

MARY (CONT'D)

(checking her watch)

I gotta go grab him, can you finish

this?

The Colonel nods. Mary rises as we CUT TO -

INT. LINCOLN CENTER -- NIGHT

THE MAN IN PROFILE. Seated in a chair on the wings of a

stage. Silhouetted by a spotlight. From ONSTAGE:

ANDREW HEYWARD (O.S.)

He is, among other things, a piss

poor speller. That's why the Houston

Chronicle put him on the radio instead

of a desk. Three years later, he

was their news director.

Chuckles from the crowd. Our man withdraws a NOTEPAD from

his pocket. Jotting something down. His speech maybe?

On stage Andrew Heyward - President of CBS News (50's,

mustached) addresses the crowd; a sea of tuxedos and gowns.

ANDREW HEYWARD (CONT'D)

To call his beginnings humble would

be generous. A graduate of that

most notable of journalism schools,

The Sam Houston State Teacher's

College, in 1959 he took his first

job in the burgeoning medium of

television. A year later, when a

hurricane hit Galveston, he convinced

his cameraman to shoot the radar

screen, showing Americans for the

first time how a storm worked. He

was the first journalist to report

that John F. Kennedy had been shot.

He described the Zapruder film in

detail to a nation that was not

allowed to see it. He became the

White House Correspondent at 33 years

of age and the Chief London

Correspondent a year later. He helped

bring the horrors of the Vietnam War

into American living rooms for the

first time.

(MORE)

6.

ANDREW HEYWARD (CONT'D)

At a Broadcaster Convention in 1974

where President Nixon was scheduled

to appear but not take questions,

he, of course, asked a question.

Nixon, upset, asked "Are you running

for something?" My friend politely

replied "No, sir, Mr. President.

Are you?"

Laughter. Mary slips into the back of the room.

ANDREW HEYWARD (CONT'D)

He covered the Russians in Afghanistan

and the hostages in Iran. And in

1981 he became anchor of the CBS

Evening News. He has now anchored a

nightly newscast for longer than

anyone else in U.S. history. He has

dined with kings, angered Presidents,

questioned dictators. Not bad for

the son of a ditch-digger from

Wharton, Texas.

In the wings, the Man flips his notepad shut and gets ready...

ANDREW HEYWARD (CONT'D)

Ladies and gentlemen, I give you my

friend, and the reason I have this

job, Dan Rather.

The Crowd rises in applause as DAN RATHER steps from the

wings. Mary smiles. Dan takes the lectern and pulls a pre-

written speech from his jacket. What was the notepad?

DAN:

Thank you, Andrew, for that wonderful

introduction. And yes, I will honor

your speaking fee.

Off the crowd's laugh we CUT TO -

INT. LINCOLN CENTER LOBBY -- NIGHT

After the ceremony. Dan and Andrew stand with a DRUNK RICH

COUPLE during cocktail hour. Dan is in hell. Mary

approaches, looking completely out of place in street clothes.

MARY:

Hey, Andrew. I need him.

7.

ANDREW HEYWARD:

You're not taking him-

MARY:

You say that, and yet here I am.

DAN:

(to Mary)

You've got him?

MARY:

Stashed in a hotel two blocks up.

They move for the door. Heyward panics, following them:

ANDREW HEYWARD:

Dan, you're not leaving your own

party! I got fifty affiliates and

their wives waiting to meet you--

Goddammit, Mary!

EXT. LINCOLN CENTER -- NIGHT

Mary and Dan exit the gala. Among the fountains, Dan pulls

off his bow-tie like a kid after Sunday School, barely

containing his glee. Pretending to be upset.

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