30 Days of Screenplays, Day 19: “Broadcast News”

Why 30 screenplays in 30 days?

Because whether you are a novice just starting to learn the craft of screenwriting or someone who has been writing for many years, you should be reading scripts.

There is a certain type of knowledge and understanding about screenwriting you can only get from reading scripts, giving you an innate sense of pace, feel, tone, style, how to approach writing scenes, how create flow, and so forth.

So each day this month, I will provide background on and access to a notable movie script.

Today is Day 19 and the featured screenplay is for the 1987 movie Broadcast News. You may access an HTML version the script here.

Background: Original screenplay written by James L. Brooks.

Plot summary: Take two rival TV reporters: one handsome, one talented, both male. Add one producer, female. Mix well and watch the sparks fly.

Tagline: It’s the story of their lives.

Awards: Nominated for the WGA Award for Best Screenplay Written Directly for the Screen, nominated for 7 Academy Awards including Best Writing, Screenplay Written Directly for the Screen

Trivia: Albert Brooks revealed that when he first read the script, the scene where Aaron does a weekend broadcast simply noted “Something bad happens to Aaron on the air.” Albert was watching CNN when a reporter he’d never seen before (and hasn’t seen since) began sweating badly. Albert phoned writer/director James L. Brooks at three in the morning and stated that Aaron HAD to start sweating profusely.

Broadcast News is a smart romantic comedy with three strong lead characters, and filled with fantastic dialogue. In particular, pay attention to how Brooks handles scenes. Most of them are pretty straight ahead with a clear, single point to them, but there are others which in the hands of a less experienced and talented writer would come off as unwieldy and confusing. It seems that Brooks embraces life (and movies) as full of little moments, and so many of his scenes dart from this aside to that remark, yet somehow manage to stay on target, and just… work.

Also as with any romantic triangle, Broadcast News has a strong dramatic center, but here the issue is never if she will end up with Aaron. It’s something else. And yet it still — again — just works.

In looking at the script, I’m struck by a number of things. First, Brooks’ approach to introducing the story’s three main characters — Tom (William Hurt), Aaron (Albert Brooks), and Jane (Holly Hunter — as youths is utterly inspired. In a mere 7 pages, Brooks manages to give the reader a clear sense of each character, their respective personalities, voices, and most importantly the core issues that will dog them throughout their lives. Take young Jane’s response to her father interrupting her as she’s typing a letter to one of her many pen pals and her father’s use of the word “obsessive”:

JANE
Dad, you want me to choose my words
so carefully and then you just throw
a word like 'obsessive' at me. Now,
unless I'm wrong and...
(enunciating)
...please correct me if I am, 'obsession'
is practically a psychiatric term...
concerning people who don't have anything
else but the object of their obsession --
who can't stop and do anything else. Well,
Here I am stopping to tell you this. Okay?
So would you please try and be a little
more precise instead of calling a person
something like 'obsessive.'

Another aspect of the script that is instructive are the many ‘bits of business’ Brooks uses about the TV news business. They not only give the script a sense of authority — the writer knows this world (indeed Brooks started out his writing career in TV news) — but also provide insight into the characters as well as entertain us. One little sequence I’ve always remembered is this moment, where an international incident over Lybia has created an opportunity for Tom to anchor a special news update. Problem is he doesn’t know anything about military planes. Enter Aaron who relays information to Jane via his telephone:

ON TOM TOM
George Weln is at the Pentagon where
the attack launched by the lone
Libyan pilot has resulted in a massive
movement of military might. INT. AARON'S APARTMENT - DAY Where he still balances STEREO and TV SOUND. AARON
A lot of alliteration from anxious
anchors placed in powerful posts. He picks up the phone. INT. CONTROL ROOM - DAY As Blair hands it to Jane. BLAIR
It's Aaron. JANE
Yes? AARON
I think the pilot that shot down the
Libyan in 1981 is stationed right
here. Maybe you could get him --
and maybe Tom should say that our F-14
is one of the hardest planes to fly.
They're nicknamed 'Tomcats'. JANE
Thanks.
(to Tom)
The F-14 is one of the most difficult
planes to master.
(remembering)
Oh, you call them 'Tomcats' and in
the 70's the first crop had a number
of crashes. TOM
George, isn't the F-14 Tomcat one of
the most difficult machines for a
pilot to master? GEORGE
I think you're right -- it's certainly
one of our hottest planes. INT. AARON'S ROOM - DAY AARON
I say it here -- it comes out there.

But perhaps the most notable narrative element in Broadcast News is it’s a romantic triangle where the Protagonist (Jane) does not end up with either possible partner. Here is the scene where Jane decides not to go on a trip with Tom and in essence ending their romance:

INT. BOARDING RAMP - DAY Tom waiting while in the b.g. "People Eater" busses ferry
passengers to the plane. As one full "People Eater" pulls away and another empty one
arrives. TICKET AGENT
(to Tom)
This is the last one. Others start to board. He sees Jane moving towards him.
He walks to her, she gestures back towards the street. JANE
That's not going to be the way
we say good-bye. Even though I
think what you did was rotten --
it's not all impersonal. You mean
something to me. TOM
(interrupting)
You keep coming after me and
looking down on me. It's starting
to make me batty. She looks at him. TOM (cont'd)
I can't help it that they like me.
And I like that they like me. And
I think there's a lot of this job that
I do well. What do you think it takes
to do this job -- the way they have
it now? JANE
I don't want to discuss work. TOM
Well, let's do a special report on
that...I mean that's news. JANE
I knew what you meant. TOM
What I don't know, I can learn and
what I know, nobody can teach.
Excuse me for saying it about myself,
but I think it's true.
(old habit)
What do you think?
(catching himself)
Never mind what you think. They look at each other. JANE
You're lucky I came after you so
you got that off your... TOM
Yes, I am. Thanks. I mean it. JANE
It's okay. TICKET AGENT
Sir? The pressure begins to bend Jane's resolve. JANE
So you have an extra bathing suit, huh? TOM
(wary but hopeful)
You want to come? JANE
(totally open)
It's just that one of the few things
I'm not confused about is what I
was saying downstairs, that... TOM
(giving up -- sadly,
finally)
Then you should stay here. JANE
(softly)
It's better when you let me say it. He hugs her. Now that it's over, they can each openly care
for each other. While in the embrace: TOM
Take it easy. JANE
Why did I have to do this to
myself? Watch you take off.
(then)
Call me if you need anything. He kisses her lightly -- looking at her... Then heartfelt: TOM
Oh, honey. He walks to the People Eater and gets on, still holding his
paper bags of bathing suits. The bus pulls away. ON JANE Watching him go. JANE'S P.O.V. Tom standing at the front window of the bus -- framed very
much as he is when on television.

I guess you could say it’s a “mature” moment, two reasonable and feeling adults who recognize their attraction for each other, and yet know that finally their personality differences prevent them from being together as romantic partners. Not your typical rom-com ending, but one that respects Jane, Tom, and Aaron for the characters they are.

What’s your take on Broadcast News? Stop by comments and post your thoughts.

To see all of the posts in the 30 Days of Screenplays series, go here.

This series and use of screenplays is for educational purposes only!