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:

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 Go Into The Story series where we analyze a memorable movie scene and the script pages that inspired it.

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