Steve Jobs

From a BLACK SCREEN

--we’re in the middle of a confidential conversation.

ANDY (V.O.)

The screen says it’s an

unimplemented trap but the dialogue

box is wrong, it’s a system error.

JOANNA (V.O.)

When did it happen?

ANDY (V.O.)

About 10 minutes ago, we’ve been

working it.

JOANNA (V.O.)

An unimplemented trap?

ANDY (V.O.)

It’s a system error.

FADE IN:

1 INT. AUDITORIUM - MORNING/CONTINUOUS 1

We’ll get our bearings in a moment but right now we’re in the

middle of a conversation taking place on a stage between

STEVE JOBS, JOANNA HOFFMAN and ANDY HERTZFELD--all late20’

s/early 30’s.

JOANNA:

So what’s the upshot?

ANDY:

It’s not gonna say “Hello.”

STEVE:

It absolutely is gonna say “Hello.”

ANDY:

It’s nobody’s fault, (it’s a system

error).

STEVE:

(over)

You built the voice demo.

ANDY:

Look-

STEVE JOBS - Shooting Script 03/19/15 2.

1 CONTINUED:
1

JOANNA:

Keep your voices down.

ANDY:

The voice demo is flaky. I’ve been

telling you that for--this thing is

overbuilt.

TITLE:

1984

Flint Auditorium

DeAnza Community College

STEVE:

It worked last night, it worked the

night before that, it worked three

hours ago.

ANDY:

It’s not working now so just skip

(over the)-

STEVE:

(over)

F*ck you.

JOANNA:

Shh.

ANDY:

Skip over--everything else is

working. Skip over the voice demo.

STEVE:

We need it to say “Hello.”

ANDY:

You’re not hearing me, it’s (not

gonna)-

STEVE:

(over)

Fix it.

ANDY:

Fix it?

STEVE:

Yeah.

STEVE JOBS - Shooting Script 03/19/15 3.

1 CONTINUED:
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ANDY:

(are you serious?)

In 40 minutes.

STEVE:

Fix it.

ANDY:

I can’t.

STEVE:

Who’s the person who can?

ANDY:

I’m the person who can and I can’t.

STEVE:

How bad are you saying?

ANDY:

It’s pretty bad.

STEVE:

I don’t know what that means.

ANDY:

It means (the demo is more than

likely gonna crash).

JOANNA:

(over)

You have to keep your voices down,

Joel Pforzheimer is sitting out in

the house.

STEVE:

I don’t care if--who’s Joel

Pforzheimer?

JOANNA:

GQ. He’s been shadowing you for a

week, did you notice?

STEVE:

Alright.

JOANNA:

Just look like everything’s fine,

he’s sitting out in the house.

We reveal the 2,600 seat house which in 40 minutes will be

filled to capacity. We’re at the launch of the Mac.

STEVE JOBS - Shooting Script 03/19/15 4.

1 CONTINUED:
1

There are hundreds of seats with “Reserved For” signs on them

for the various Apple teams--”Macintosh”, “Apple II”, “Lisa”-as

well as hundreds of members of the press--”New York

Times”, “Newsweek”, “Wall Street Journal”, “Financial Times

of London”, “Le Monde”, etc. JOEL PFORZHEIMER is out there,

credentials around his neck, and he gives a small wave to

Steve and so are 50 or 60 ENGINEERS, DESIGNERS and MARKETERS

who are observing the rehearsal from various vantage points.

Way in the back is CHRISANN BRENNAN, 31, and her daughter,

LISA BRENNAN, 5, who’s tucked in a big coat.

STEVE, JOANNA and ANDY are standing in front of a giant

screen showing a slide of the Mac. JOANNA is a beautiful,

brilliant, dryly-funny Polish immigrant who speaks with a

slight trace of an accent. ANDY is a sweet, cherubic young

guy--if you put a bow and arrow in his hands he’d look like

Cupid. Nobody has slept for days.

STEVE:

(to ANDY)

Alright, what are your guys saying?

ANDY:

Some kind of race condition but we

haven’t been able to track it down

yet.

STEVE:

Is the synthesizer sampling fast

enough?

ANDY:

No, so the rates are off and it

keeps crashing.

JOANNA:

(to STEVE)

It’s 20 seconds out of a two-hour

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