Script To Screen: “Network”

One of the greatest satires in cinema history: The 1976 movie Network, written by Paddy Chayfesky.

Logline: A TV network cynically exploits a deranged ex-TV anchor’s ravings and revelations about the media for their own profit.

Here is the ending sequence in the script:

A sad silence settles over the top management of UBS-TV
as they lounge about the enormous room. HACKETT
(sighs)
I suppose we'll have to kill him.Another long contemplative silence. HACKETT
I don't suppose you have any ideas
on that, Diana. DIANA
Well, what would you fellows say
to an assassination? --INT. THE LOBBY - UBS BUILDING - A FEW DAYS LATER - 6:00 P.M.Bustling and crowded. Long lines of PEOPLE, four
abreast, roped off and waiting to get into the HOWARD
BEALE show. Uniformed USHERS here and there,
occasionally chatting with the waiting CROWD. OVER
THIS, the VOICES of the network meeting just interrupted
CONTINUE: DIANA'S VOICE
-- I think I can get the Mao Tse
Tung people to kill Beale for us.
As one of their programs. In
fact, it'll make a hell of a kick-
off show for the season. We're
facing heavy opposition from the
other networks on Wednesday nights,
and the Mao Tse Tung Hour could
use a sensational show for an opener.
The whole thing would be done right
on camera in the studio. We ought
to get a fantastic look-in audience
with the assassination of Howard
Beale as our opening show --INT. THE LOBBY - UBS BUILDING - ELEVATOR AREA-- as the waiting AUDIENCE is herded into the elevators.
OVER THIS, the VOICES of the meeting CONTINUE: AMUNDSEN'S VOICE
Well, if Beale dies, what would
be our continuing obligation to
the Beale corporation? I know our
contract with Beale contains a buy-
out clause triggered by his death
or incapacity --INT. UBS BUILDING - FOURTH FLOOR-- as the elevator load of AUDIENCE is led out of the
elevator and down the long, carpeted corridors, past
the large wall photographs of TV stars, glass-enclosed
control rooms, and other showpieces of the network's
electronic glory. OVER THIS, the VOICES CONTINUE: HACKETT'S VOICE
There must be a formula for the
computation of the purchase price. AMUNDSEN'S VOICE
Offhand, I think it was based on
a multiple of 1975 earnings with
the base period in 1975. I think
it was fifty percent of salary plus
twenty-five percent of the first
year's profits --INT. HACKETT'S OFFICEThe meeting is still going on -- AMUNDSEN
(continuing above speech)
-- multiplied by the unexpired
portion of the contract. I don't
think the show has any substantial
syndication value, would you say,
Diana? DIANA
Syndication profits are minimal.INT. THE BEALE SHOW STUDIO AND AUDIENCE AREAThe new load of AUDIENCE finds seats in the rapidly-
filling auditorium. On the floor of the studio, the
CREW is setting the cameras, checking the booms. The
stage curtain is down. OVER THIS, the VOICES of the
meeting CONTINUE: CHANEY'S VOICE
We're talking about a capital crime
here, so the network can't be
implicated. AMUNDSEN'S VOICE
(chuckling)
I hope you don't have any hidden
tape machines in this office,
Frank --INT. THE BEALE SHOW STUDIO - SHOWTIMEThe warm-up is over; the stage footlights are on; the
AUDIENCE sits expectantly. The big wall CLOCK shows:
6:29, clicks to 6:30. On the studio stage, the
ANNOUNCER strides out from the wings, bellows happily
at the audience ANNOUNCER
Ladies and gentlemen, let's hear
it -- how do you feel?REVERSE SHOT of the AUDIENCE. Suddenly SPOT the GREAT
AHMED KHAN and some of his FOLLOWERS, right in the
middle, happily joining all the others in their communal
response: AUDIENCE AND THE KHAN
We're mad as hell, and we're not
going to take this any more! ANNOUNCER
Ladies and gentlemen! The Network
News Hour! With Sybil the Sooth-
sayer, Jim Webbing and his It's-
the-Emmes-Truth Department, Miss
Mata Hari, tonight another segment
of Vox Populi, and starring --MUSIC: A FLOURISH OF DRUMS ANNOUNCER
-- the mad prophet of the airways,
Howard Beale!MUSIC: A FULL SYMPHONY ORCHESTRA SOARS INTO AN IMPERIAL
CRESCENDO ---- as the HOUSE LIGHTS go to BLACK. The curtain slowly
rises. The bare stage, the stained glass window, the
celestial SHAFT of light. HOWARD BEALE, in his black
suit and tie, strides on from the wings, stands basking
in the SPOTLIGHT. APPLAUSE UP.INT. HACKETT'S OFFICEThe meeting is still going on. HACKETT
Well, the issue is: shall we
kill Howard Beale or not. I'd
like to hear some more opinions
on that -- DIANA
I don't see we have any option,
Frank. Let's kill the son of a
bitch.INT. THE BEALE STUDIOThe APPLAUSE for HOWARD BEALE has died. HUSH --
suddenly, the HUSH is shattered by a HORRENDOUS
ENFILADE of GUNFIRE. An embroidery of red bullet
holes perforate HOWARD'S shirt and jacket, and we
might even see the impact of a head wound as he
pitches backwards dead.A BANK OF FOUR COLOR TELEVISION MONITORSIt is 7:14 P.M., WEDNESDAY, July 9, 1975, and we
are watching the network news programs on CBS, NBC,
ABC and UBS-TV. The AUDIO is ON: head shots of
WALTER CRONKITE, JOHN CHANCELLOR, HOWARD K. SMITH,
HARRY REASONER, and JACK SNOWDEN, substituting for
HOWARD BEALE, interspersed with tapes of the horrible
happening at UBS the day before, flit and flicker
across the four television screens. Television
continues relentlessly on. NARRATOR (OVER)
This was the story of Howard Beale
who was the network news anchorman
on UBS-TV, the first known instance
of a man being killed because he
had lousy ratings.
FADE OUT.
THE END

Here is the ending sequence as it was produced in the movie version of Network:

If you watch the movie, Chayefsky’s credit isn’t “screenplay by” or “written by”. It’s simply “by”. By Paddy Chayefsky. That is how powerful he was based on his reputation. Winning three Oscars will do that for you. So note how the dialogue is almost precisely the same on-screen as compared to the script.

Yes, there are a few edits that differ from the scripts. One can assume that director Sidney Lumet vetted those with Chayefsky. But clearly Network is Chayefsky’s vision, as the ending demonstrates so clearly.

What are your thoughts about Network? Let’s carry on the conversation in comments.

One of the 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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