Script to Screen: “Jerry Maguire”

A fired sports agent… a goldfish… and a personal assistant make a defiant, if awkward exit.

Here is a memorable scene from the screenplay “Jerry Maguire,” written by Cameron Crowe.

Setup: Jerry [Tom Cruise] has been fired from his job at a big sports agency. Dorothy [Renée Zellweger] has been impressed by an earlier “manifesto” Jerry had written.

EXT. CORNER OFFICE -- NIGHTBam. Jerry's door opens. He exits his office with box. He
is now in a state of advancing melancholy, slightly unhinged.
Many of the other agents now try not to watch him leaving.JERRY
Well, don't worry! I'm not going
to do what you think I'm going to
do, which is FLIP OUT!Jerry goes to a water dispenser, calming himself, and fills
a small Dixie cup. Downs it and fills it again, rubbing his
face..JERRY
But let me just say, as I ease out
of the office I helped build --
sorry, but it's a fact --ON DOROTHY -- WATCHINGfrom her cubicle.JERRY
-- that there is such a thing as
manners. A way of treating
people...He notices the fish tank nearby. He attemps to be profound.JERRY
These fish have manners! They
have manners.And now Jerry feels bravado, mixed with a wave of anger.
Another cup of water as he finds power.JERRY
In fact. They're coming with me!
I'm starting a new company, and
the fish will come with me and...
you can call me sentimental.He begins dipping into the tank, grabbing the one exotic fish
that failed to escape his cup. It's a fire-tailed Peruvian
beauty. He grabs a baggie from an assistant's desk, shakes
out some crumbs, and dumps the fish inside.JERRY
(continuing; to fish)
it's okay... it's okay...Nearby, a Xerox Repair Guy watches the human train wreck.JERRY
But if anybody else wants to come
with me, this moment will be the
ground floor of something real and
fun and inspiring and true in this
godforsaken business and we will
do it together! Who's coming with
me besides... "Flipper" here?But clearly even Flipper is not happy with the new
arrangement. Panicked, he whips around the small baggie.JERRY
Anybody going with me?Silence, someone coughs, as agents and office personnel look
on with equal parts pity and embarrassment. Jerry downs
another small cup of water. His lid is blowing off with each
second.JERRY
Wendy? Shall we?Assistant Wendy looks at Maguire. Painfully polite:WENDY
I'm three months away from the pay
increase, Jerry. I have to, uh...
you know, stay.Jerry absorbs the blow, and takes the keys from the top of
her desk. She can't look at him. Jerry stands alone, the
blue Mission Statement on Wendy's desk sits accusingly in
frame. There is only silence now, the loudest kind.JERRY
Okay, anybody else?ON DOROTHYShe looks around. Doesn't anybody believe in the very thing
they were applauding three days ago? She has an odd
reaction, a muscle twitch of the soul. Before she knows it,
she stands boldly, unfortunately knocking a cup of coffee
onto herself in the process.DOROTHY
I'll go with you.
(quietly, on her
coffee mess)
Wonderful...She dabs at her pants. Next to her, Cleo looks on sadly.ON JERRYhalfway across the office.JERRY
Dorothy Boyd! Thank you!She gathers her things, increasingly aware of what she's done.JERRY
(continuing)
We will see you all again. Sleep
tight!He walks to Dorothy, and together they exit down the hallway
corridor, past the framed posters and awards.WIDE-SHOTrising over the huge office. For the first time, we see the
full expanse of the huge SMI headquarters. And down in the
corner of the frame, two small figures leave carrying boxes.JERRY
(to Dorothy)
Let's see how they do without us.A beat of silence, then noise returns to its normal
commercial roar. A couple of fleas have been swatted off the
carcass of an immense beast.

And now for the scene in the movie:

Such a great scene. I’ll see you in comments for a discussion about Jerry Maguire.

One of the single best things you can do to learn the craft of screenwriting is to read the script while watching the movie. After all a screenplay is a blueprint to make a movie and it’s that magic of what happens between printed page and final print that can inform how you approach writing scenes. That is the purpose of Script to Screen, a weekly series on GITS where we analyze a memorable movie scene and the script pages that inspired it.

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