Disclaimer

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Natalie is sitting inside the editing room and working on an assignment. She hears an object tapping on the door. She turns and spots Isaac, who is standing in the doorway and using his cane as a knocker.

Natalie: What can I do for you, Isaac?

Isaac enters, makes his way to the couch, and sits down.

Isaac: Nothing. What are you working on?

Natalie: I'm just finishing piecing together an NBA preview.

Isaac: Do you think the Lakers are going to take the Western Conference this season?

Natalie: I'm certain the Spurs, Mavericks, Kings, and Timberwolves may have something to say about it before the season is through.

Isaac: You've been doing some great work over the past few weeks. You're definitely standing out among the producers.

Natalie: Thank you.

Isaac: You're welcome.

Natalie pops out a tape.

Natalie: I'm done.

Isaac: Good.

Natalie: I just want to go on record and ask you to please remain with the network. It's a selfish position to ask you to stay on my behalf, but I believe you are the heart and soul of "Sports Night."

Isaac laughs.

Isaac: You've been listening to Dana.

Natalie: She only told me out of concern for you.

Isaac: Thank you for your opinion, Natalie, but I'm not leaving the network.

Natalie: Great. I'm sure you let them down gently, but were flattered to be offered a position with the new network.

Isaac: They didn't offer me a position.

Natalie: Really? Well, they certainly don't know a talent when they see it.

Isaac: They haven't even spoken to me.

Natalie: Yeah, but the tennis racket-

Isaac: It's just a symbolic gift.

Natalie: Symbolic of what?

Isaac: My past.

Natalie: Okay.

Isaac: Have you ever thought about taking over Dana's position?

Natalie: You can't fire Dana because I don't want Dana's job if you're firing Dana. You're not firing Dana.

Isaac: Who said I'm firing Dana?

Natalie: I mean, just because we're talking about your tennis racket... I just know it wasn't part of the off-limits verbal agreement you made with Dana.

Isaac: My off-limits verbal agreement.

Natalie: Dana only said you were going to make some proposals. It doesn't mean you are going to follow through on them. Am I correct?

Isaac: Don't worry about any proposals. I'm asking you about being executive producer of "Sports Night."

Natalie: You're keeping Dana?

Isaac: Yes.

Natalie: You're staying with the network?

Isaac: Yes.

Natalie: If you were to leave, there would be a bunch of us wanting to follow you.

Isaac: That's good to know.

Natalie: Executive producer of "Sports Night"?

Isaac: Yes.

Natalie gazes into the wall.

Isaac: You're thinking about what changes you would implement.

Natalie: Not... that many changes.

Isaac: Change the graphics color scheme?

Natalie: And the set.

Kim enters the room.

Kim: Hey Natalie. Hey Isaac.

Isaac: Good afternoon, Kim.

Kim: Natalie, I spoke with Roger Vaughan from the Penguins' front office, and he did confirm they were in talks with several teams about dealing Hullinger- possibly for some top prospects and draft picks.

Natalie: Did you get a list of possible teams involved?

Kim: He wouldn't name the teams involved, but Ottawa would have to be one of the teams interested.

Natalie: Yeah. They've been looking for a right winger to join the second line.

Kim: If there are no updates, I'll give Vaughan a call later on this afternoon and try to work him over a little more. I'll also try and see what I can work up from Ottawa's front office.

Natalie: Great.

Kim: Also, Kelly Kirkpatrick called regarding the baseball winter league meetings.

Natalie: Yeah, I need to get back with her about them. Thanks, Kim.

Kim: You're welcome.

Kim exits the room.

Natalie: I've got to take care of this, Isaac.

Isaac: No problem. Go.

Natalie: Nobody's going anywhere, Isaac.

Isaac: Yeah. The heart and soul of "Sports Night"?

Natalie: Absolutely.

Natalie leaves the editing room.

-----

Casey is walking down the corridor inside his office building. He's wearing a dress shirt and tie and carrying a partially-filled file folder. He knocks on the closed door of an office, and he waits patiently.

"Come in."

Casey enters the office of his producer, Alexis, and closes the door behind him.

Alexis: Oh, it's you Casey.

Alexis stops typing on her laptop and removes her reading glasses.

Casey: As opposed to whom?

Alexis: It's nothing. Good to see you.

Casey: We're about ready to shoot the studio shots.

Alexis: Great.

Casey: You're not... in the middle of something, are you?

Alexis: Just waiting for the word that everyone is set.

Casey: We're set.

Alexis: Great.

Alexis gets up from her desk, and she and Casey head from her office toward their studio. They walk briskly down the corridor.

Alexis: The basic introduction, filler pieces, and closing is on the agenda.

Casey: Yeah. I've already done the voice-overs for several segments.

Alexis: It will be a short work day.

Casey: A short work day? We've been here for fourteen hours.

Alexis: We'll finish this, and we'll be done for the night.

Casey: Yeah.

Alexis: And we all have tomorrow off so we can be back the following day for the live show.

Casey: Yup.

Alexis: Which gives you plenty of time to go grab a drink with me.

Casey: Alexis.

Alexis: You're right. We should also grab a bite to eat.

Casey stops walking and puts on an uncomfortable smile.

Casey: Listen. I can't go out with you after the shoot.

Alexis: Why not? It's the end of the working day, and we should celebrate.

Casey: It's just... I have to leave town tomorrow.

Alexis: I see.

Casey: And it's a very early flight and I can't afford to over sleep.

Alexis: So stay out all night. You could sleep on your flight.

Casey: You may notice I'm not a college kid anymore. I just can't stay out all night like I used to.

Alexis: I'll keep you awake.

Casey: Listen... it's not that...

Alexis: Where are you flying to?

Casey: Where?

Alexis: Yes. You're obviously leaving here and landing at a destination, unless you are just flying around in a giant circle.

Casey: There are some things I need work on. I'll be back tomorrow night.

Alexis: We can go out tomorrow night. In fact, I could have you come over to my place and cook you up something.

Casey: I'll be pretty tired coming back-

Alexis: Don't tell me airline food is better than any home-cooked meal.

Casey: I hear they serve some of the finest honey-roasted peanuts in the land.

Alexis: Come on over, Casey. It will be my treat.

Casey: Ahhh... Alexis... Maybe we shouldn't...

Alexis: What are you trying to hide, Casey? You're such a discreet man. You need to open up and clear the mystery which surrounds you.

Casey: Speaking of clearing things up-

Alexis: Do you like steak? Maybe you would prefer pork chops.

Casey: All that sounds great-

Alexis: Maybe I could prepare some Italian pepper sandwiches. They're fabulous with fresh focaccia. And I can make a killer tossed salad.

Casey: I can't.

Alexis: It's really not a problem to make.

Casey: It's just... it's just that I try to keep my professional life professional and my personal life personal.

Alexis: There's nothing wrong with enjoying some company with the people you work for. Blend in some of the professional and personal lives.

Casey: Since you bring up personal lives... I have this... let's say this really, really close friend... and you may find this extremely funny...

Alexis: I definitely have to meet this friend.

Casey: It's that... I have a girlfriend... Dana.

Alexis: I assume her name is Dana, and you just didn't call me Dana.

Casey: Yeah. And I don't want to give the impression that my loyalty and love for Dana is unwavering-

Alexis: How long?

Casey: Uh, how long what?

Alexis: How long have you and Dana been together?

Casey: Quite a while.

Alexis: Is it serious?

Casey: Serious? Yes.

Alexis: I see.

Casey: And relationships can be compared to a color wheel. My relationship with Dana is of this one hue- a very serious, loving hue. On the other hand, our relationship is not of the same hue, albeit just as important.

Alexis: Okay.

Casey: And I wanted you to understand that I see our relationship - our professional relationship - as this one hue on the color wheel. I don't want to give you the impression that our relationship is of another certain hue, when it is actually a neutral, strictly professional hue.

Alexis looks surprised and as if she has lost her breath.

Alexis: Uh-huh.

Casey: And don't get me wrong, it's a pretty good hue. We could paint a room with our color, you and me.

Alexis: Yeah. Um-

Casey: So we're straight about this?

Alexis: We've got to go shoot - yeah, we're straight about this.

Casey: Great. Good. Great.

Casey heads toward the studio as Alexis stays behind to contemplate the conversation which just took place.

-----

Bobbi Bernstein is sitting at her desk and typing on her laptop. Isaac knocks on her door.

Isaac: Good afternoon, Bobbi.

Bobbi: Isaac. It's good to see you.

Isaac walks in and stands next to Bobbi's desk.

Isaac: You're working on tonight's games in the Big East.

Bobbi: Yes.

Isaac: I could tell when I knocked on your door. I can always tell when you are creating something concerning college basketball. I have a sense for these things.

Bobbi: It's a very good sense of intuition.

Bobbi stops typing when she hears Isaac closing her door.

Bobbi: What do you wish to talk about, Isaac?

Isaac: I see you have a New York Times there on your desk.

Bobbi looks at the two newspapers lying on the corner of her desk.

Bobbi: I also have yesterday's edition of USA Today. Do you wish to read either?

Bobbi grabs the newspapers, but Isaac waves her off.

Isaac: Growing up, I used to have a newspaper route. I would get up early in the morning, get the newspapers, and peddle my bike door to door through my neighborhood.

Bobbi: By your smile, I sense you enjoyed being a newspaper boy.

Isaac: Yeah. I loved that route. The neighbors were great. During the holidays, most of them would show their generosity by giving me a small gift or monetary bonus for delivering their newspapers to their door through all the rain and mud and snow and clear skies.

Sometimes we would strike up a conversation about gardening, the weather, or other current events. Other times they showed small signs of kindness, like having their sidewalk shoveled in the winter or keeping their dogs away from me so I wouldn't be attacked and slobbered all over with the dogs' love and affection.

Bobbi: It sounds like you want to go back to being a newspaper boy.

Isaac: A few years into my job, I needed some more money because I wanted to save up for college or have a little something later if I decided to join the military. What I thought was the best opportunity was taking up another route. I figured I could get up an hour earlier, get more exercise from riding through an adjacent neighborhood, earn more money, and meet more people.

Bobbi: It's a good opportunity to take advantage.

Isaac: Yeah, I thought so. A few months into it, I discovered it was harder carrying all those extra newspapers, the sidewalks were crumbled in several areas, and the people on the new route were not as nice as the people in my old neighborhood. I also didn't have the time to talk to the people in my old neighborhood because I had a new neighborhood waiting for their morning paper. I finally had to decide if the sacrifice was worth the extra money I was making.

Bobbi: So you dropped the new route.

Isaac: I quit altogether.

Bobbi: You quit altogether?

Isaac: Yeah. I was young and I didn't think things through. The new route was burning me out. I looked at the job as a whole and found it to be frustrating. When I look back, I realize there were parts of the job I truly enjoyed, but back then I never thought about leaving behind the frustrating aspects and trying to keep the good parts of the job.

Bobbi: You have some regrets over quitting your newspaper routes?

Isaac: Yeah. Just a few, but one learns from one's mistakes.

Bobbi: Yeah.

Bobbi leans back in her chair and drifts off into deep thought.

Isaac: I inadvertently received a phone call from Celeste Fairbanks from Sports Illustrated.

Bobbi: Oh.

Bobbi feels sick to her stomach.

Isaac: She called to do a reference check on you. It was inadvertent because she mistakenly thought you gave her permission to call your current employer, me.

Bobbi: I... I don't know what to say. I'm sorry.

Isaac: It's all right.

Bobbi: It isn't that I don't love working on "Sports Night," it's just that... I don't know. It can become frustrating at times.

Isaac: Danny drives you crazy.

Bobbi: No. Yes. Sometimes. Sometimes Dan drives me crazy, but there are other things.

Isaac: Yeah, I'm sure there are plenty of things which drive you crazy. There were days when I felt like walking into the conference and firing the whole bunch of you because of the ways you drove me crazy. There are also days when I realize I would be missing something if you didn't drive me crazy.

As for you, there's not a whole lot I can do for you with the exception firing you, which I'm not about to do. You're under contract with this network, and I would hope you would be willing to fulfill your commitment to this network. If you want out of your contract, you have to talk directly with me. But you have to do much soul-searching and deep thought before you come and ask to be released from your contract.

Bobbi: I understand. Okay.

Isaac: I don't want you to burn out and then suddenly leave only to learn later there are aspects to this job which you truly enjoy.

Bobbi: Yes.

Isaac: Take your time, give it some thought, and please get back to me- no matter what decision you decide upon.

Bobbi: Okay.

Isaac opens the door.

Isaac: The Big East is a pretty strong conference this season.

Bobbi: Yes. Five teams in the top 25, and they could potentially land eight teams in the NCAA tournament.

Isaac: It's a good conference to play in with all the competition night after night.

Bobbi: Yes, it is.

Isaac: We'll talk later.

Bobbi: Okay.

Isaac leaves the room, and Bobbi privately attempts to keep her composure.