Script is provided for educational purposes only. Copyright respective of owner.
ACT ONE
#1 - Stairwell - (2)
SETUP: Kids in the stairwell of church
REVERSAL: Room EXPLODES
PAYOFF: Children are killed
#2 Grand Hotel - (2)
SETUP: King corrects his dress - frustrated that he’s away from the cause
REVERSAL: Coretta eases his concern - “not a crime to be away.
PAYOFF: they dream about perfect ‘phone-less’ house together
#3 Oslo University - (1)
SETUP: Intro to King’s award
REVERSAL: (not sure if this is a reversal) King acknowledges the murder of the children in Church.
PAYOFF: We shall overcome
#4 Small Courthouse Lobby - (2)
SETUP: Annie Lee Cooper fills out voting enrolment form
REVERSAL: Registrar tests her - looks like it’s going her way. “Name 67 judges”. She can’t.
PAYOFF: Registrar DENIES enrolment.
#5 Washington DC - (1)
SETUP: King and advisors trying to identify negotiation points - poverty program.
REVERSAL: Attack the surveillance issue.
PAYOFF: King wants to stay focused on vote. “Maybe won’t need to go full-scale”
#6 White House - (4.5)
SETUP: Johnson wants the Civil rights issues solved - for King to do what he wants!
REVERSAL: King arrives. Johnson flatters him - he’s very delicate in his language. Wants King not Malcolm X to run the show.
REVERSAL: King brings up Voting Rights.
REVERSAL: Johnson tries to make it a focus of poverty eradication
REVERSAL: Cannot wait! Murder of thousands, inc. church. Whites are protected by whites.
REVERSAL: Literacy question for blacks in Alabama - not in cursive writing.
REVERSAL: Johnson understands, but it’s not a priority just yet...
PAYOFF: Having left, King declares “Selma it is”
#7 U.S. Highway - (1)
SETUP: King travelling with entourage - “Big Speech doc?”
REVERSAL: Need to see what’s what.
PAYOFF: They enter Selma.
#8 Edmund Pettus Bridge - (0.25)
SETUP: The Edmund Pettus Bridge
REVERSAL: Why’d they give Pettus a bridge?
PAYOFF: “Decent looking place to die”
#9 Hotel Albert - (1.5)
SETUP: Whites Only signs in the hotel
REVERSAL: Things seem to be rather civilised
PAYOFF: King is PUNCHED by the EARNEST MAN.
#10 Hotel Room - (2)
SETUP: King in pain from punch. “That white boy can hit”
REVERSAL: King argues w locals about response to attack. We have to play a bigger game here.
REVERSAL: Barker and Boyton debate about responsibility to protect King.
PAYOFF: Staying at hotel is a calculated act of desegregation.
#11 King Residence - (1)
SETUP: King playing dodgeball w his children
REVERSAL: Bunny hit w ball by Dex
PAYOFF: King makes Dex apologise
#12 King Residence - (1)
SETUP: Coretta receives threats on phone.
REVERSAL: Talking about Selma campaign. King jokes “It’s as good a place to die...”.
REVERSAL: Coretta upset by remark. She goes to bed.
PAYOFF: King calls Halie to sing to him.
#13 Selma Residence - (1)
SETUP: Arrive at house
REVERSAL: Crowd eager to support you tomorrow
PAYOFF: I don’t want to put them in harms way.
#14 Jackson Residence - (1.75)
SETUP: Breakfast is cooking and more supporters are introduced.
REVERSAL: We might be in town a little longer than expected.
PAYOFF: The men all eat breakfast
#15 Jackson Residence - Night - (1)
SETUP: Everyone is asleep, save King who writes.
REVERSAL: King uneasy with news of Student Non-Violent Coordinating Committee
PAYOFF: They’re full of spirit - It’ll sort out.
#16 Brown Chapel - (2)
SETUP: King at the pulpit - protesting injustices.
REVERSAL: We see various supporters, inc. Annie Lee Cooper in congregation
PAYOFF: “Give us the Vote!”
#17 Brown Chapel - Later - (0.5)
SETUP: After mass, King challenged by white Photographer.
REVERSAL: “Are you truly non-violent if you’re provoking violence?”
PAYOFF: “The onus for their behaviour rests with them, not us”
#18 Brown Chapel Meeting Room - (2)
SETUP: Strategy meeting in progress - Is SNCC with or against?
REVERSAL: You want us but you’re giving nothing in return
REVERSAL: You haven’t succeeded yet...
REVERSAL: Simple tactics - set up confrontation and wait for adversary to make a mistake. There was no drama in Albany.
REVERSAL: You mean there were no cameras.
REVERSAL: Exactly - we have to raise white consciousness
PAYOFF: Good that Sheriff Jim Clarke is aggressive.
#19 Selma Streets - 0.75 page
SETUP: Protestors marching through streets
REVERSAL: Clarke controls the courthouse.
PAYOFF: We have a focused place to attack!
ACT TWO
#20 Courthouse - (3)
SETUP: Police expecting the protestors. Standoff exists.
REVERSAL: Disperse!
REVERSAL: Segregation is illegal now.
REVERSAL: Volunteer Arrestees sit w hands over their heads
REVERSAL: Old Cager having trouble sitting - family tries to assist.
REVERSAL: Clarke shoves Cager - who falls onto Annie. REVERSAL: Police start to use force against the crowd. Attempting to provoke
REVERSAL: Jimmie balls fist/ As Annie Lee strikes Clarke!
REVERSAL: Police wrestle Annie to the ground. Police strike Annie on head.
PAYOFF: On King who witnesses - This is drama. And he asked for it.
#21 White House - (1)
SETUP: President Johnson sees newspapers w photos of Selma
REVERSAL: Sees himself on TV supporting civil rights
REVERSAL: Governor George Wallace - protesting King
PAYOFF: Johnson slams table in frustration
#22 Oval Office - (1.5)
SETUP: J. Edgar Hoover speaks w President Johnson
REVERSAL: Johnson supports King’s non-violent agitations
PAYOFF: Hoover offers to weaken King’s family relationships - Johnson unsure.
#23 Selma Jail - (2)
SETUP: Several Marchers are in jail - cold inside thanks to open door.
REVERSAL: King asks “What’s the prize? What is equality?” - his faith in the cause is challenged.
REVERSAL: Abernathy assures King in the value of holding the course.
REVERSAL: King “They are going to ruin me”
PAYOFF: Abernathy “Who of you by being worried can add a single hour to his life?”
#24 Brown Chapel - (2)
SETUP: Something is wrong! National Guard might be coming
REVERSAL: Malcolm X arrives
PAYOFF: Bring Coretta here.
#25 Amelia Boynton Residence - (0.25)
SETUP: Coretta traveling
REVERSAL: What’s going on?
PAYOFF: We need your help
#26 Car - (2)
SETUP: Nash is driving - Coretta knows it must be serious!
REVERSAL: You do more (for the cause) than you know.
REVERSAL: Nash details her anger about their situation and cause
PAYOFF: Coretta is glad things are happening now.
#27 Brown Chapel Meeting Room (1.75)
SETUP: Malcolm X is apologetic - supporting King
REVERSAL: Coretta finds it hard to believe him
REVERSAL: X is not the enemy - he’s changed.
PAYOFF: But X’s presence is a veiled threat to the cause - will show Sheriff the alternative to King.
#28 Selma Jail Cell - (2)
SETUP: Coretta w King - Do we believe X?
REVERSAL: Coretta is sensitive to X’s remarks - she believes he’s changed
REVERSAL: King does not.
REVERSAL: “You don’t sound like yourself”, “You sound enamoured”
PAYOFF: King is tired.
#29 Capitol Building - (2)
SETUP: George Wallace furious that X is in his state. How did it happen?
REVERSAL: Johnson’s gonna get jumpy.
REVERSAL: “He's got to start giving them nigras access to the courthouse.”
REVERSAL: LINGO - “You need dominance in Selma”
PAYOFF: There’s a night march we can attack - fewer cameras.
#30 Street - (0.5)
SETUP: STATE TROOPERS have penned a group of JOURNALISTS and PHOTOGRAPHERS against the wall.
REVERSAL: Streetlights switch off PAYOFF: Troopers beat Journalists and break cameras
#31 Mack’s Cafe - (0.5)
SETUP: Police are attacking black marchers
REVERSAL: Jimmy drags Cager into cafe to hide
REVERSAL: Police enter and find them hiding
PAYOFF: After a fight, they shoot and kill Jimmy
#32 Morgue - (1.5)
SETUP: King walks through the Morgue
REVERSAL: Sees the dead Jimmy and Grandfather
PAYOFF: Any reserve, any distance King has held to prevent himself from becoming fully entrenched in Selma and its people vanishes. He’s in it now.
#33 Brown’s Chapel - (1.5)
SETUP: King gives eulogy at Jimmy’s funeral
REVERSAL: Sermon challenges the apathy of whites - they’re as responsible now too
PAYOFF: King tells congregation “We are going back to Washington to demand change”
#34 Jackson Home - (2.5)
SETUP: King supporters debate list of demands to take to LBJ
REVERSAL: King tells them to get specific on their demands
PAYOFF: But they cannot agree on them.
#35 White House - (0.25)
SETUP: King has arrived at White House
REVERSAL: Johnson is furious. “No one invites themselves to the
White House!”
PAYOFF: I ain’t seeing him! I’m done talking to King!
#36 Oval Office - (2.5)
SETUP: Johnson with King - What’s your next plan
REVERSAL: March from Selma to Montgomery
REVERSAL: It was always your plan to provoke. The march is too far! Too unsafe.
REVERSAL: King tells Johnson to legislate an stop the march.
REVERSAL: Johnson will not. He’s playing politics.
REVERSAL: Do you want Wallace to be President?
REVERSAL: If blacks can vote, he never will be. But if you won’t help, King will have to attack him publicly.
REVERSAL: Johnson “Meet me half way?”
PAYOFF: King cannot. We didn’t come here for compromise.
#37 White House Sitting Room (1.5)
SETUP: Lee White asks Andrew about their plans.
REVERSAL: Asks Andrew to postpone protest - threats on King’s life.
PAYOFF: There are always threats.
#38 Oval Office (0.5)
SETUP: How’d it go Mr. President?
REVERSAL: Johnson is troubled.
PAYOFF: Get me Hoover.
#39 King Residence (2.8)
SETUP: Coretta hears sex sounds on phone. Voice threatens King’s character.
REVERSAL: “That’s not me, Coretta.” “I know”
REVERSAL: Coretta talks about her fears of death. Asks King if he loves her.
REVERSAL: Yes.
REVERSAL: Anyone else?
PAYOFF: No.
#40 King Home (1.5)
SETUP: Need to put march back a day.
REVERSAL: Good. But the march will go ahead without you. SNCC boys ready to go.
REVERSAL: King understands.
PAYOFF: Hangs up call, listens again to threat recording.
#41 Wallace Press Conference (0.25)
SETUP: Wallace reads statement to press
REVERSAL: There will be no march.
PAYOFF: March will not be tolerated.
#42 Brown Chapel Meeting Room (2)
SETUP: Wallace speech continues on TV as black leaders watch.
REVERSAL: You won’t be Governor long.
REVERSAL: Forman doubts the march. Will do more for King and the SCLC than Selma. Debate continues amongst supporters as to King’s benefit in the situation.
REVERSAL: Forman kicks Lewis out of SNCC.
PAYOFF: Men draw straws for leader of march.
ACT THREE
#43 Montage of Preparations (0.75)
SETUP: Everyone gets ready for the march.
#44 Pettus Bridge - Selma Side (0.5)
SETUP: Black marchers walk towards Bridge
REVERSAL: White Onlookers taunt them
PAYOFF: The bridge comes into focus - as a voice over narrates…
#45 Pettus Bridge - Montgomery Side (0.25)
SETUP: State troopers don’t move - they’re ready.
REVERSAL: Marchers crest over bridge.
#46 Pettus Bridge - Selma Side (0.25)
REVERSAL: Lewis and Williams see…
#47 Pettus Bridge - Montgomery Side (0.75)
SETUP: Mounted police come into view, along w white protestors
REVERSAL: The police have barbed wire clubs
#48 Pettus Bridge (2.25)
SETUP: Marchers are nervous. “Can you swim?” “No”
REVERSAL: Police begin to attack marchers
PAYOFF: Marchers flee…
#49 Telephone Booth (0.25)
SETUP: Journalist who narrates is seen
REVERSAL: Reading report into phone
PAYOFF: Which is going to the media.
#50 Brown Chapel (0.25)
SETUP: Marchers have set up base at the church.
#51 Car (0.25)
SETUP: Car speeding, driving footage to lab.
REVERSAL: Don’t get us killed
PAYOFF: This is gold!
#52 King Residence (0.25)
SETUP: Coretta hands King his hat
REVERSAL: They understand where he needs to be
PAYOFF: He leaves.
#53 Brown Chapel (1.25)
SETUP: Church is a triage for injured
REVERSAL: Angry Marchers are eager to get guns… to retaliate
PAYOFF: That will only trigger increased retaliation
#54 Amelia Boynton Residence (2)
SETUP: King and collaborators are told to turn on TV
REVERSAL: We see the news report
PAYOFF: Seventy Million people are watching
#55 Various Locations (0.25)
SETUP: We see some of the 70 million who watch
REVERSAL: They are stressed by these images
PAYOFF: Some whites are moved to action.
#56 Jackson Residence (0.25)
SETUP: News report cuts away
REVERSAL: We have 70 million people witnessing
PAYOFF: We’re going back to the bridge
#57 Press Conference (0.5)
SETUP: King addresses media
REVERSAL: He invites any one, black OR white, who disagrees with their treatment to come and join their march
PAYOFF: We need you to stand with us!
#58 Reeb Home (0.25)
SETUP: White Preacher is packing
REVERSAL: Wife; “What are you doing?” “Packing”
PAYOFF: I’ll pack, you book a flight.
#59 Luizzo Home (0.5)
SETUP: Viola Luizzo is booking flight
REVERSAL: All flights are full
PAYOFF: I’ll take the car
#60 Jackson Residence (0.25)
SETUP: Greek Orthodox Archbishop arrives
REVERSAL: You came!
PAYOFF: You’re not alone.
#61 Jackson Residence (1.3)
SETUP: King Investigating what Archbishop brought
REVERSAL: You might need a heavier coat… Feels like home… Greece? Connecticut!
REVERSAL: Seriousness overcomes jovial attitude - don’t take anything from whites here for granted
PAYOFF: Archbishop reminds King “Don’t allow darkness to envelope your soul”
#62 White House (1.5)
SETUP: Johnson disdain at White House Picketers
REVERSAL: WHITE: “King has won. Give him federal protections and then you’re back in control”
REVERSAL: “Of what, another civil war?”
REVERSAL: Johnson demands that King better not march…
REVERSAL: Wallace’s already being supported closer to Presidency
PAYOFF: Johnson knows what he has to do.
#63 Capitol Building (0.2)
SETUP: Wallace in conference room
REVERSAL: If they try this case, they win
PAYOFF: We’ve lost before we’ve begun
#64 Judge’s Chambers (0.25)
SETUP: Black Attorney before white Jurist
REVERSAL: You’re asking me to overturn Governor’s mandate?
PAYOFF: You’ll need a proper proceeding
#65 Montgomery Airstrip (0.25)
SETUP: Catholic Nuns arrive
REVERSAL: News narrates they’re some of many
PAYOFF: White’s ridicule Nuns
#66 Judge’s Chambers (0.25)
SETUP: You’ll have day in court…
REVERSAL: On Thursday. No march Tuesday.
PAYOFF: Judge orders them to cancel tomorrow’s march.
#67 Jackson Residence (2.25)
SETUP: King and Co. challenge Asst. Attorney General
REVERSAL: Please work with me…
REVERSAL: For what? Your answer is not what we want.
REVERSAL: Martin, there are threats…
REVERSAL: President Johnson could stop this at any moment.
REVERSAL: This situation is more complex…
REVERSAL: You could urge police *against* violence
REVERSAL: Please, Martin, reconsider
PAYOFF: We won’t stop until the vote.
#68 Brown Chapel (0.25)
SETUP: White supporters talk to media
REVERSAL: I’m from Boston…
PAYOFF: This is wrong
#69 Brown Chapel Steps (0.25)
SETUP: Anything?
REVERSAL: No word.
PAYOFF: King tells media that Johnson is delaying. We must stand up.
ACT FOUR
#70 Pettus Bridge (1.75)
SETUP: Blacks AND Whites march together along bridge
REVERSAL: Attorney General tells King there’s a partial deal
REVERSAL: King refuses to stop.
REVERSAL: Police are confronting them…
REVERSAL: “Troopers, withdraw”
REVERSAL: King is worried - is this a trap?
REVERSAL: King takes a knee.
PAYOFF: King about-faces and walks away.
#71 Selma Woods (0.1)
SETUP: Whites are gathered
REVERSAL: Angry they didn’t see any action
#72 Selma Housing Project (0.1)
SETUP: Blacks are gathered
REVERSAL: Angry they didn’t make progress.
#73 Selma Diner (0.2)
SETUP: White Clergy are in diner
REVERSAL: Perplexed that they travelled
PAYOFF: And didn’t make progress
#74 Brown Chapel (0.25)
SETUP: King and Co. approach Church
REVERSAL: Protestors mock King
PAYOFF: Supporters shield King from crowd
#75 Brown Chapel Sanctuary (1.25)
SETUP: King under attack by collaborators
REVERSAL: They could have sealed us off. Ambushed us.
REVERSAL: They only did it because there were white supporters with us!
REVERSAL: It’s done.
REVERSAL: It was the wrong fucking call!
PAYOFF: King “I’d rather people angry at me, than dead”
#76 King/ Jackson Homes (0.75)
SETUP: King is on porch, writing Coretta a letter
REVERSAL: Tells Coretta how much he wants to be with her
PAYOFF: “I will try more than ever to make my life one you can be proud of”
#77 Selma Diner (1)
SETUP: Klansmen approach James Reeb and companions
REVERSAL: “We don’t want any trouble.”
REVERSAL: “You came here stirring trouble”
PAYOFF: Klansmen beat them and leave them for dead. “Now you know what being a nigger round these parts is like”
#78 Jackson Residence (1)
SETUP: Rush into house, to tell King that white Priest has been hurt.
REVERSAL: How hurt? Dead.
REVERSAL: Local whites got him.
PAYOFF: Phone, now!
ACT FIVE
#78 Jackson Residence/ White House (3)
SETUP: King on phone to Johnson. Can’t stop them.
REVERSAL: And if I could, I wouldn’t.
REVERSAL: You had protestors inside the White House! We’re getting close, but King is pushing too hard!
REVERSAL: You control your inaction, sir.
REVERSAL: Glad to hear you called Rev. Reeb - only wish you could have done the same for Jimmy.
REVERSAL: Don’t attack me with your guilt! You agitated this!
REVERSAL: Why has it taken so long for the bill to front Congress?
REVERSAL: Johnson claims it needs care - to pass first time through.
REVERSAL: King open to conceding, but needs guarantee safety.
REVERSAL: Which Johnson cannot.
REVERSAL: King takes a softer tact. I am but a preacher… You’re the President.
REVERSAL: You must act, sir.
PAYOFF: “I am an anguished man.” “I know how that feels Mr President”
#79 Selma Street (3.5)
SETUP: King drives privately with Lewis.
REVERSAL: King apologises for the rift in Lewis’ group.
REVERSAL: King tells Lewis he’s more ambitious than he was.
REVERSAL: King cancels the walk tomorrow. I can’t risk it.
REVERSAL: But… the people are ready.
REVERSAL: What are we walking towards? We want the vote, not a march. This cannot go on forever.
REVERSAL: Lewis recounts an earlier march, where they were physically attacked.
REVERSAL: But even beaten, Lewis was desperate to hear King speak. Needed it.
REVERSAL: What did I say?
PAYOFF: You said; “Fear not. We’ve come too far to turn back”
#80 Wallace’s Office (0.25)
SETUP: Wallace reads paper - exploding.
REVERSAL: Reads: BLOCK OF KING MARCH MAY BE OVERTURNED IN COURT.
PAYOFF: He’s desperate and furious
#81 White House/ Federal Courtroom (3.25)
SETUP: Wallace in Oval Office/ Federal Court Case underway.
REVERSAL: Johnson tells Wallace to talk
REVERSAL: Witnesses testify in court
REVERSAL: Johnson “You have to get to the cause of the fever”. This is your responsibility.
REVERSAL: I disagree… people want it to stay that way.
REVERSAL: “You spent your life working for the poor. Why this?”
REVERSAL: “You can never satisfy them”
REVERSAL: Johnson invites Wallace to tell White House protestors his beliefs, to their face
REVERSAL: Do you agree blacks have the right to vote?
REVERSAL: I do.
REVERSAL: Then why not?
REVERSAL: I don’t have the power… They debate finer points of policy.
REVERSAL: Johnson wants to talk about legacy
REVERSAL: Wallace argues that you shouldn’t care what they think.
PAYOFF: “I’ll be damned if history puts me in the same place with the likes of you.”
#82 Federal Court (0.5)
SETUP: Coretta arrives
REVERSAL: King greets her
PAYOFF: They are united - it’s a first step.
#83 Federal Courtroom (2)
SETUP: King on the stand. Questioned about direct violation of order
REVERSAL: We new this court would agree.
REVERSAL: King felt that his absence from march would have exacerbated racial tensions in Selma.
REVERSAL: Judge acknowledges threats and intimidations present.
REVERSAL: Grants the right to demonstrate in march.
PAYOFF: All good to be allowed, but action must still occur.
#84 White House (0.5)
SETUP: Johnson reads news
REVERSAL: Even more are going to Selma to protest
PAYOFF: Johnson needs a good speech.
#85 Johnson Speech [intercut] (4.5)
SETUP: Johnson gives his big speech, on TV
REVERSAL: We see all the affected parties listening on, in various states of support or frustration.
PAYOFF: We… shall… overcome.
PAYOFF: Coretta and King feel proud
#86 Edmund Pettus Bridge (1.5)
SETUP: Protestors getting ready for the march
REVERSAL: Police operations clear the bridge and route of bombs and threats
PAYOFF: Performers are bound for Selma.
#87 Brown Chapel (0.5)
SETUP: Doar warns King of verified threat. Please reconsider
REVERSAL: If Wallace accepts us, there’s no need for a speech
PAYOFF: I cannot hide from the fear.
#88 Edmud Pettus Bridge (1.5)
SETUP: Bridge is still. Tension remains.
REVERSAL: King, Coretta and followers all walk together across bridge.
PAYOFF: “Who is Edmud Pettus?” “Old Confederate General”
PAYOFF: They cross the bridge.
#89 Open Field (0.5)
SETUP: Marchers are celebrating in an open field
REVERSAL: Performers entertain the marchers
PAYOFF: Coretta sings.
#90 Wallace’s Office (0.25)
SETUP: Wallace at window, upset.
REVERSAL: Looks like an army
PAYOFF: An army of voters
#91 Capitol Building (4)
SETUP: King prepares to speak
REVERSAL: Threats from white resistance abounds
REVERSAL: King nervous.
REVERSAL: Assured by Coretta.
PAYOFF: King gives speech - which is intercut with reactions and subtitles about individuals’ futures.