HOWARD (ON MONITOR)
I don't have to tell you things
are bad. Everybody knows things
are bad. It's a depression.
Everybody's out of work or scared
of losing their job, the dollar
buys a nickel's worth, banks are
going bust, shopkeepers keep a
gun under the counter, punks
are running wild in the streets,
and there's nobody anywhere who
seems to know what to do, and
there's no end to it. We know
the air's unfit to breathe and
our food is unfit to eat, and
we sit and watch our tee-vees
while some local newscaster
tells us today we had fifteen
homicides and sixty-three
violent crimes, as if that's
the way it's supposed to be.
We all know things are bad.
Worse than bad. They're crazy.
It's like everything's going
crazy. So we don't go out any
more. We sit in the house, and
slowly the world we live in
gets smaller, and all we ask is
please, at least leave us alone
in our own living rooms. Let me
have my toaster and my tee-vee
and my hair-dryer and my steel-
belted radials, and I won't say
anything, just leave us alone.
Well, I'm not going to leave you
alone. I want you to get mad --
ANOTHER ANGLE showing the rapt attention of the PEOPLE
in the control room, especially of DIANA --
HOWARD
I don't want you to riot. I
don't want you to protest. I
don't want you to write your
congressmen. Because I wouldn't
know what to tell you to write.
I don't know what to do about the
depression and the inflation and
the defense budget and the Russians
and crime in the street. All
I know is first you got to get
mad. You've got to say: "I'm
mad as hell and I'm not going
to take this any more. I'm a
human being, goddammit. My life
has value." So I want you to
get up now. I want you to get
out of your chairs and go to
the window. Right now. I want
you to go to the window, open
it, and stick your head out
and yell. I want you to yell:
"I'm mad as hell and I'm not
going to take this any more!"
DIANA
(grabs HUNTER's
shoulder)
How many stations does this
go out live to?
HUNTER
Sixty-seven. I know it goes out
to Atlanta and Louisville,
I think --
HOWARD (ON MONITOR)
-- Get up from your chairs.
Go to the window. Open it.
Stick your head out and yell
and keep yelling --
But DIANA has already left the control room and is
scurrying down --
100. INT. CORRIDOR
-- yanking doors open, looking for a phone, which
she finds in --
101. INT. AN OFFICE
DIANA
(seizing the phone)
Give me Stations Relations --
(the call goes through)
Herb, this is Diana Christenson,
are you watching because I want
you to call every affiliate
carrying this live --
I'll be right up --
102. INT. ELEVATOR AREA - FIFTEENTH FLOOR
DIANA bursts out of the just-arrived elevator and
strides down to where a clot of EXECUTIVES and OFFICE
PERSONNEL are blocking an open doorway. DIANA pushes
through to --
103. INT. THACKERAY'S OFFICE - STATIONS RELATIONS
HERB THACKERAY on the phone, staring up at HOWARD
BEALE on his wall monitor --
HOWARD (ON MONITOR)
-- First, you have to get mad.
When you're mad enough --
Both THACKERAY'S SECRETARY's office and his own office
are filled with his STAFF. The Assistant VP Station
Relations, a 32-year-old fellow named RAY PITOFSKY,
is at the SECRETARY's desk, also on the phone. Another
ASSISTANT VP is standing behind him on the SECRETARY's
other phone --
DIANA
(shouting to THACKERAY)
Whom are you talking to?
THACKERAY
WCGG, Atlanta --
DIANA
Are they yelling in Atlanta,
Herb?
HOWARD (ON CONSOLE)
-- we'll figure out what to do
about the depression --
THACKERAY
(on phone)
Are they yelling in Atlanta,
Ted?
104. INT. GENERAL MANAGER'S OFFICE - UBS AFFILIATE - ATLANTA
The GENERAL MANAGER of WCGG, Atlanta, a portly
58-year-old man, is standing by the open windows of his
office, staring out into the gathering dusk, holding
his phone. The station is located in an Atlanta
suburb, but from far off across the foliage
surrounding the station, there can be heard a faint
RUMBLE. On his office console, HOWARD BEALE is
saying --
HOWARD (ON CONSOLE)
-- and the inflation and the oil
crisis --
GENERAL MANAGER
(into phone)
Herb, s0 help me, I think they're
yelling --