Network
Page 7
Hackett And you would describe Mr Jensen’s position on Beale as inflexible?
Diana Intractable and adamantine.
Chaney This ridiculous whim is gonna take out the whole department.
Hackett This ridiculous whim is gonna take out the entire network. What the hell are we gonna do about it? Kill the son of a bitch?
Diana and Hackett look at one another.
SCENE EIGHTEEN
‘THE HOWARD BEALE SHOW’ COMES TO AN END
The studio.
Production Assistant One minute to go.
Floor Manager One minute to go.
Director Can we have Howard, please?
Floor Manager Can we have Howard?
Production Assistant Continuity on air in fifty-five seconds.
Floor Manager Fifty-five seconds and counting.
Howard. Where the hell is Howard?
Howard is brought on, followed by his make-up and costume people.
Director Give me Camera-A. Do we have sound?
Floor Manager Check.
Production Assistant Thirty seconds.
Director Camera-B.
Floor Manager Check.
Director Sound.
Floor Manager Check.
Director Howard.
Floor Manager Check.
Director Studio ready?
Floor Manager Studio ready.
Production Assistant Ten … nine … eight … seven … six … five …
Director Continuity.
Continuity Announcer It’s time for Tonight, with Howard Beale.
Director Cue music.
Production Assistant Three … two … one.
Director Titles, credits, camera, and Howard!
Howard comes out to receive his applause.
Howard All right, all right. Enough of this charade. I have something serious to say to you. I’ve had enough.
Diana Oh God. The son of a bitch is gonna resign.
Hackett Jesus Christ.
Howard And so Howard Beale became the only TV personality who died because of bad ratings. But here is the truth – the ‘absolute truth’, paradoxical as it might appear. The thing we must be most afraid of is the destructive power of absolute beliefs – that we can know anything conclusively, absolutely – whether we are compelled to it by anger, fear, righteousness, injustice, indignation; as soon as we have ossified that truth, as soon as we start believing in that absolute – we stop believing in human beings, as mad and tragic as they are. The only total commitment any of us can have is to other people – in all their complexity, in their otherness, their intractable reality … This is truly what I believe: it is not ideas that matter, it is human beings. This is Howard Beale signing off for the very last time.
A man in a suit climbs onstage from the audience and shoots Howard calmly in the head. He fires around the studio as he shouts:
Terrorist We reject all media. All representation. All spectacle and distortion.
He shoots himself.
About the Authors
Paddy Chayefsky, born Sidney Aaron Chayefsky on 29 January 1923, was one of the seminal dramatists of the twentieth century. Emerging as a powerful voice from the ‘golden age’ of American television, Chayefsky went on to achieve success as a playwright, screenwriter and novelist – winning three Academy Awards, a record for a solo screenwriter. He grew up in The Bronx and graduated from City College of New York in 1943 with a Bachelor of Special Studies and later studied languages at Fordham University. Originally intending to become a comedian, he turned to writing while recovering from injuries sustained from a land mine as a soldier in the Second World War. After the war, he wrote short stories, radio scripts and gags for personalities like Robert Q. Lewis, and episodes for early TV shows like Danger and Manhunt. In the 1950s, he started to achieve national prominence for his teleplays which were broadcast live on the ‘Goodyear-Philco Television Playhouse’, among others Holiday Song (1952), Printer’s Measure (1953), Marty (1953), The Bachelor Party (1953), The Mother (1954), Middle of the Night (1954), The Catered Affair (1955), and The Great American Hoax (1956). His films include an adaptation of his teleplay Marty (1955, Oscar for Best Screenplay and Best Picture); The Goddess (1958, nominated Oscar for Best Screenplay); Middle of the Night (1959); The Americanization of Emily (1964); The Hospital (1971, Oscar for Best Screenplay) Network (1976, Oscar for Best Screenplay), and Altered States (1980, adapted from his novel). His plays include Middle of the Night (1956), The Tenth Man (1959, Tony Award nominee Best Play), Gideon (1961, Tony Award nominee Best Play), The Passion of Josef D. (1964, also director) and The Latent Heterosexual (1967). He passed away on 1 August 1981.
Lee Hall was born in Newcastle in 1966. He started writing for radio in 1995, winning awards for I Luv You Jimmy Spud, Spoonface Steinberg and Blood Sugar, all of which made the journey to other media. His screenplay for Billy Elliot was nominated for an Oscar and adapted into a multi-award-winning stage musical. The Pitmen Painters received the Evening Standard Best Play Award and TMA Best New Play Award. Our Ladies of Perpetual Succour won the Olivier Award for Best New Comedy in 2017. He has worked as writer-in-residence for Live Theatre, Newcastle, and the Royal Shakespeare Company. His many adaptations for the stage include Goldoni’s A Servant to Two Masters, Brecht’s Mr Puntila and His Man Matti and Heijermans’ The Good Hope. His adaptation for film of Victoria & Abdul, based on the book by Shrabani Basu, was released in 2017.
Also by Lee Hall
BILLY ELLIOT: THE SCREENPLAY
THE PITMEN PAINTERS
OUR LADIES OF PERPETUAL SUCCOUR
SHAKESPEARE IN LOVE
(based on the screenplay by Marc Norman and Tom Stoppard)
VICTORIA & ABDUL
(based on the book by Shrabani Basu)
published by BBC Books
SPOONFACE STEINBERG AND OTHER PLAYS
published by Methuen
PLAYS: ONE
PLAYS: TWO
THE ADVENTURES OF PINOCCHIO
COOKING WITH ELVIS & BOLLOCKS
THE GOOD HOPE
A SERVANT TO TWO MASTERS
Copyright
First published in 2017
by Faber and Faber Ltd
Bloomsbury House
74–77 Great Russell Street
London WC1B 3DA
This ebook edition first published in 2017
All rights reserved
Stage adaptation © 2017, Cross Street Films (Trading) Ltd
Screenplay © 1976, Simcha Productions Inc
Lee Hall is hereby identified as author of this work in accordance with Section 77 of the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988
All rights whatsoever in this work are strictly reserved. Applications for permission for any use whatsoever including performance rights in this translation in the UK must be made in advance, prior to any such proposed use, to Judy Daish Associates Ltd, 2 St Charles Place, London w10 6eg, and WME Entertainment LLC, 11 Madison Avenue, New York NY10010. No performance may be given unless a licence has first been obtained
This ebook is copyright material and must not be copied, reproduced, transferred, distributed, leased, licensed or publicly performed or used in any way except as specifically permitted in writing by the publishers, as allowed under the terms and conditions under which it was purchased or as strictly permitted by applicable copyright law. Any unauthorised distribution or use of this text may be a direct infringement of the author’s and publisher’s rights, and those responsible may be liable in law accordingly
ISBN 978–0–571–34547–2
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