The Social Network (Scene 2)

CUT TO: TITLE:                                          Harvard University                                                  Fall 2003 INT. KIRKLAND HOUSE/LOBBY - NIGHT As the MUSIC CONTINUES and MARK busts into the lobby of his dorm. He doesn’t look at anyone as he heads up the stairs and we. CUT TO: INT. MARK’S DORM ROOM - NIGHT A bedroom that’s part of a three-bedroom suite. The MUSIC CONTINUES as MARK walks in, flicks his lap-top on without looking at it and walks out of frame as we follow MARK to his mini-frigde where he pulls out a Beck’s beer. MARK’s fingers dance easily on the keyboard--like a Juilliard pianist warming up. The website he’s just called up gets loaded onto the screen. Zuckonit.com This is the only place he’s comfortable. TITLE:                                                  8:13 PM He begins blogging.        MARK (V.O.): Erica Albright’s a bitch. Do you think that’s because her family changed their name from Albrecht or do you think it’s because all B.U. girls are bitches? He takes a good gulp of his drink. We see the words we’re hearing filling up his computer screen--        MARK (V.O.) (CONT’D): For the record, she may look like a 34C but she’s getting all kinds of help from our friends at Victoria’s Secret. She’s a 34B, as in barely anything there. False advertising. CUT TO: INT. MARK’S DORM ROOM - NIGHT TITLE:                                                  9:48 PM        MARK (V.O.): The truth is she has a nice face. I need to do something to help me take my mind off her. Easy enough, except I need an idea. MARK takes out a keyboard for his desktop computer takes a drink from his beer. BILLY OLSON walks into the room carrying a six pack. He sits on the bed behind MARK and opens one for himself. MARK has moved his mouse to an icon on his desktop labeled “Kirkland Facebook”. He clicks and opens it. A menu of photos appear. He blogs again.        MARK (V.O.) (CONT’D): I’m a little intoxicated, I’m not gonna lie. So what if it’s not even 10PM and it’s a Tuesday night? The Kirkland facebook is open on my desktop and some of these people have pretty horrendous facebook pics.        (MORE): Billy Olson’s sitting here and had the idea of putting some of these next to pictures of farm animals and have people vote on who’s hotter. CUT TO: INT. A BUS - NIGHT It resembles the kind of bus that would take you to the rental car place but on board are two-dozen COLLEGE GIRLS who are dressed for a party. Last minute make-up touch-ups are being done and a joint is being passed.        MARK (V.O.): I think he’s on to something. CUT BACK TO: INT. MARK’S DORM ROOM - NIGHT TITLE:                                                10:17 PM        MARK: Yea, it’s on. I’m not gonna do the farm animals but I like the idea of comparing two people together. It gives the whole thing a very “Turing” feel since people’s ratings of the pictures-- CUT TO: EXT. FINAL CLUB - NIGHT A bouncer--a townie in a tuxedo and a headset--is manning the velvet rope that guards the thick, wooden, red double-doors that lead to, believe it or not, one of the most exclusive clubs in the world. Four college girls are already waiting in line but that number’s about to grow as the bus pulls up and opens its doors.        MARK (VO): --will be more implicit than, say, choosing a number to represent each person’s hotness like they do on hotornot.com. The first thing we’re going to need is a lot of pictures.        MARK (V.O.) (CONT’D): Unfortunately, Harvard doesn’t keep a public centralized facebook so I’m going to have to get all the images from the individual houses that people are in. Let the hacking begin. CUT BACK TO: INT. MARK’S DORM ROOM - NIGHT There are two more kids in the room with MARK--DUSTIN MOSKOVITZ and CHRIS HUGHES.        MARK (V.O.): First up is Kirkland. They keep everything open and allow indexes in their Apache configuration, so a little WGET magic is all that’s necessary to download the entire Kirkland facebook. Kids’ stuff. On the computer screen, we’ve been seeing him download picture after picture of Harvard girls. CUT TO: EXT. FINAL CLUB - NIGHT THREE COEDS are talking to the BOUNCER. The BOUNCER looks up at TWO HANDSOME CLUB MEMBERS. The MEMBERS give him the nod and the FIVE COEDS are let past the velvet rope. They’re led up a half flight of red-carpeted stairs to a party that’s about a half-hour away from being in full swing. The CLUB PRESIDENT is addressing the GUESTS from the top of the stairs--        CLUB PRESIDENT: Excuse me everybody, you are at one of the oldest, one of the most exclusive clubs--not just at Harvard but in the world--and I want to welcome you all to Phoenix Club’s first party of the fall semester. CUT BACK TO: INT. MARK’S DORM ROOM - NIGHT MARK finishes another drink and gets back to his work. TITLE:                                                  1:03 AM        MARK (V.O.): Next is Elliot. They’re also open but with no indexes on Apache. I can run an empty search and it returns all of the images in the database in a single page. Then I can save the page and Mozilla will save all the images for me. Excellent. Moving right along. Flying by at super-speed on MARK’s computer screen have been commands and images that the rest of us can’t possibly understand. CUT TO: INT. FINAL CLUB - NIGHT The best and the brightest are checking out the hottest and the easiest. We see a shot of uniformed FEMALE BARTENDERS making a couple of drinks with top-shelf bottles, a DJ working the highest end equipment and 20 year old guys, some of whom look 15, in blazers, khakis and club ties. CUT BACK TO: INT. MARK’S DORM ROOM - NIGHT        MARK (V.O): Lowell has some security. They require a username/password combo and I’m going to go ahead and say they don’t have access to main FAS user database, so they have no way of detecting an intrusion. 11B INT. FINAL CLUB - NIGHT It’s on. Body shots. A couple making out in the corner. A matchbox gets slid open by perfectly manicured fingers that take out a few white pills. Two girls are dancing with each other and move into a kiss. MARK’s voiceovers are starting to overlap and cascade into each other--        MARK (V.O.) (CONT’D): Adams has no security but limits the number of results to twenty a page. All I need to do is break out the same script I used on Lowell and we’re set.        MARK (V.O.) (CONT’D): Quincy has no online facebook, what a sham. Nothing I can do about that. CUT TO: MARK’S DORM ROOM - NIGHT Instructions and images fly across MARK’s screen--        MARK (V.O.): Dunster is intense. Not only is there no public directory but there’s no--        MARK (V.O.) (CONT’D): Leverett is a little better. It’s slightly obnoxious that they only let you view one picture at a time and I’m not about to--        MARK (V.O.) (CONT’D): --definitely necessary to break out the emacs and modify that perl script with-- INT. KIRKLAND HOUSE/STAIRWAY - NIGHT EDUARDO SAVERIN, a sweet-looking Brazilian sophomore wearing a three-piece suit is rushing up the stairs two at a time. TITLE:                                                  2:08 AM        MARK (V.O.): Done. EDUARDO gets to the top of the stairs and hurries into-- INT. MARK’S DORM ROOM - CONTINUOUS        EDUARDO: What’s going on?        MARK (V.O.): Perfect timing. Eduardo’s here and he’s going to have the key ingredient.        EDUARDO: Mark.        MARK: Wardo.        EDUARDO: You and Erica split up?        MARK: How did you know that?        EDUARDO: It’s on your blog.        MARK: Yeah.        EDUARDO: Are you alright?        MARK: I need you.        EDUARDO: I’m here for you.        MARK: No, I need the algorithm you use to rank chess players.        EDUARDO: Are you okay?        MARK: We’re ranking girls.        EDUARDO: You mean other students?        MARK: Yeah.        EDUARDO: You think this is such a good idea?        MARK: I need the algorithm.        EDUARDO: Mark--        MARK: I need the algorithm. CUT TO: INT. MARK’S DORM ROOM - NIGHT EDUARDO is writing an equation with a grease marker on the window. When the equation’s done it looks like this: Girl A: Ea =      1 _____________________ 1 + 10(Rb - Ra) / 400 Girl B: Eb =      1 _____________________ 1 + 10(Ra - Rb) / 400        EDUARDO: Give each girl a base rating of 1400. At any given time “Girl A” has a rating R-a and “Girl B” has a rating R-b.        MARK: When any two girls are matched up there’s an expectation of which will win based on their current rating, right?        EDUARDO(tapping the window): Yes. And those expectations are expressed this way.        MARK: Let’s write it. CUT TO: INT. FINAL CLUB - NIGHT The two girls who we just saw get let in are now dancing on a table in their underwear. CUT BACK TO: INT. MARK’S ROOM - NIGHT MARK makes a few last key strokes and a new website comes up on the screen.        FACEMASH MARK makes a few more keystrokes and two pictures of two Harvard girls come up on the screen. After a moment...        ALL: The one on the left. MARK clicks the girl on the left and another picture takes the place of the girl on the right.        ALL (CONT’D): On the right. MARK clicks the girl on the right while another picture takes the place of the girl on the left.        ALL (CONT’D): Still the right.        EDUARDO: It works.        DUSTIN: Who should we send it to first?        EDUARDO: Dwyer.        CHRIS: Neal.        EDUARDO: Who are you gonna send it to? MARK’s made the link to e-mail and hits send.        MARK: Just a couple of people. The question is, who are they gonna send it to? CUT TO: INT. FINAL CLUB - NIGHT We move to a room where there’s a co-ed poker game underway with the girls smoking cigars. A bra and a couple of pairs of stockings are out on the table. As we move through the poker room, we see a computer behind one of the players. The computer is indicating that there’s e-mail. A PLAYER turns around and opens the e-mail as the poker game and the party go on behind him. He hits a link and FACEMASH opens. He looks at it, then--        PLAYER (to another player): Check this out. CUT TO: INT. ANOTHER DORM ROOM - NIGHT TWO MALE STUDENTS at a laptop.        STUDENT: The one on the left. CUT TO: 17.INT. ANOTHER DORM ROOM - NIGHT THREE MALE STUDENTS AT A COMPUTER        ALL: On the right. CUT TO: INT. ALL NIGHT DINER - NIGHT A bunch of STUDENTS around a computer.        ALL: The right. CUT TO: INT. FINAL CLUB - NIGHT Dozens of partiers are around the computer.        FEMALE STUDENT: That’s my roommate. CUT TO: INT. CYBER CAFE - NIGHT A bunch of students around the computer--        FEMALE STUDENT: This is pathetic. CUT TO: INT. ANOTHER DORM ROOM - NIGHT A FEW STUDENTS gathered at a computer--        ALL: On the left. CUT TO: INT. ANOTHER DORM ROOM - NIGHT Another computer--        ALL: On the right. CUT TO: INT. ANOTHER DORM ROOM - NIGHT This time just a single student in his pajamas as he looks at two pictures of girls side by side. CUT TO: INT. ANOTHER DORM ROOM - NIGHT And another single student voting and CUT TO: INT. DORM ROOM - NIGHT We should instantly know that this dorm room is different. It’s more modern and with less character and history than the others. In the background a GIRL is at her computer and in the foreground ERICA is sitting in bed taking notes from a textbook.        GIRL (ERICA’S ROOMMATE): Oh shit.    (to the other GIRL): Albright?        ERICA’S ROOMMATE: He blogged about you. ERICA looks at her for a moment, then gets up to look at her roommates computer--        ERICA’S ROOMMATE (CONT’D): You don’t want to read it. ERICA ignores her roommate. We see her mortification as she reads, and at that moment THREE GUYS appear in her open doorway. They’re baked and smiling and one of them is holding a bra.        COLLEGE GUY: Erica. ERICA looks over at the guys--        COLLEGE GUY (CONT’D): Is this yours? I stole it from a tranny.        ERICA’S ROOMMATE: Get the hell out of here! The three guys go on their drunken way as we SLOWLY PUSH IN on ERICA who’s frozen in her humiliation and then CUT TO: 19.INT. HARVARD DORM ROOM - NIGHT        STUDENTS: The left! INT. COFFEE HOUSE - NIGHT        STUDENTS: The right! INT. DINING HALL - NIGHT        STUDENTS: The left! INT. GIRLS’ DORM ROOM - NIGHT        STUDENTS: The right! INT. MARK’S DORM ROOM - NIGHT As sets of photos go flying by on his computer screen. MARK is staring at the chaos of activity he’s created in the middle of the night.        EDUARDO: This is an awful lot of traffic. (beat) Think maybe we should shut it down before we get into trouble. MARK ignores him as we pre-lap a PHONE RINGING and CUT TO: INT. BEDROOM - NIGHT A man named COX is asleep next to his wife. It’s his phone that’s RINGING. COX wakes up and answers it--        COX (into phone): Hello? (listens) Wait, what? (listens) At 4 in the morning? INTERCUT WITH: INT. HARVARD COMMUNICATIONS OFFICE - SAME TIME A tired GRAD STUDENT who spends the night monitoring the campus computer system is looking at his computer.        GRAD STUDENT (into phone): Well there’s a very unusual amount of traffic to the switch at Kirkland.        COX: You’re saying it’s unusual for 4 in the morning?        GRAD STUDENT: No, this’d be unusual for halftime at the Super Bowl.        COX: Alright. COX hangs up the phone.        COX (CONT’D): I have to go in.        COX’S WIFE: What’s going on?        COX: Harvard’s network’s about to crash. CUT TO: INT. MARK’S DORM ROOM - NIGHT Pictures are flying by on Mark’s computer when suddenly they freeze. Then an icon comes up telling him he’s no longer connected to the internet. Everyone is frozen silent for a moment...        EDUARDO: You don’t think--        MARK: I do.        EDUARDO: Go see if it’s everybody. DUSTIN, CHRIS and EDUARDO head out of the room. MARK waits as the guys start coming back in the room.        CHRIS: Can’t connect.        DUSTIN: The network’s down.        EDUARDO: Unless it’s a coincidence I think this is us.        MARK: It’s not a coincidence.        EDUARDO (bad): Holy shit. And we stay on MARK a moment before we CUT TO: