8Network

Some facts about the writing of the film:

• Paddy Chayefsky was born Sydney Chayefsky and grew up in the Bronx.
   
• While recovering from a war wound in World War II, he became a writer.
   
• As one of the most important television writers during TV's infancy, Chayefsky brought special insight to Network, providing a scathing look at television.
   
• After leaving television in 1956, he wrote stage plays for Broadway as well as screenplays.
   
• Paddy Chayefsky on writing Network: "I still write realistic stuff. It's the world that's gone nuts, not me. It's the world that's turned into a satire." Time, 12/13/79
   
• Chayefsky on the "Mad as Hell" speech: "I wanted everyone, every man, woman or child to realize that they had a choice. I wanted them to know that they have the right to get angry, to get mad. They have the right to say to themselves, to each other, to the world at large, that they had worth, they had value. The speech wrote itself, because that was Beale's battle cry for the people." - Shaun Considine, Mad As Hell: The Life and Work of Paddy Chayefsky
   
• The only music heard in the film comes from commercials and television show themes.
   
• Chayefsky was on the set every day of shooting. IMDB
   
• Upon viewing the first cut of the film, MGM/UA execs sent Chayefsky a memo noting how many times expletives such as "ass," "son of a bitch," and a dozen or so other choice words were uttered by the actors. Chayefsky dismissed the memo and kept the language, saying that's how network types talk. All the expletives made it into the movie. In later years, Chayefsky said he wished he'd curbed the language some, that, upon further reflection, it was too much. - Shaun Considine, Mad As Hell: The Life and Work of Paddy Chayefsky
   
• "It's not that Paddy objected to people discussing his script-he just felt it shouldn't come from the guy in charge of business affairs." -Howard Gottfried, Chayefsky's producing partner (quoted in Mad As Hell: The Life and Work of Paddy Chayefsky)
   
• "This is not a satire; it's a documentary." -Norman Lear about Network (quoted in Mad As Hell: The Life and Work of Paddy Chayefsky)
   
• "I've heard every line from that film in real life." -Gore Vidal about Network (quoted in Mad As Hell: The Life and Work of Paddy Chayefsky )

Read a page from the screenplay of Network.