annenberg media ♪ and: with additional funding from these foundations and individuals: and by: and the annual financial support of: ♪ ("american cinema" theme playing) ♪

♪ (music plays) howard, what are you doing up here? (man) i'm thinking. well, don't think! talk. talk to me! jesus christ! you can't walk out of a meeting like that. you say, "excuse me." you say, "pardon me." otherwise they think it's something that they said. did they say anything? (man) no. howard, talk to me. listen to me. let me remind you of the upside here; okay? you put in a million dollars --

a year, maybe two -- three at the most -- you're walking out with four million bucks. i understand the math, lenny. i just want to rethink things; okay? ♪ (music plays) talk to me, howard. listen to me. let me remind you of the upside here. you put in a million. a year and a half, maybe two -- three at the outside -- you take out four million, maybe more. i understand the math, lenny. i just want to rethink things. ♪ (music plays) don't do it, howard. i said, "don't do it." i said, "don't do it." (man) do you know her? hi. i'm howard. i know. i'm susan. (man) okay. great. good. thank you. thanks. (man) you're welcome. we'll be in touch. ♪ (music plays)

so what we gotta remember is that the scene that we're gonna shoot first is not the first scene of the film. it's probably -- it's more -- uh ... it's actually around page 15 that we're starting. so we've established lenny's character. we've established harold. and we have not yet met susan. and the question i have was, basically: whose point of view should we be looking at as the audience when we come into this scene? whose scene is it? mine. it's got to be mine. it's got to be my scene. it has to be my scene. i pop open the door. i'm screaming like a maniac. hey, i'm there talking to my plants. it's my scene. then i convince him -- i stand there till the last moment -- no, i convince him. (overlapping voices) okay, okay. now, wait a minute. whose scene? i mean, whose scene is it? (man) maybe we'll discover that. i think part of discovery is whose it going to be?

but it's as much susan's because she's the one who's up on the stage. it's susan that we're coming to. it's her universe that's being invaded, first by you, but quietly. you, aggressively -- you know, lenny, aggressively. but she's also the one who's controlling the scene. oh, my god. sorry i haven't been here. time for watering. all right. howard! what the hell are you doing up here? i'm thinking? "thinking"? as far as this particular scene goes, are we going to be shooting this scene in sequence? are we going to be able to actually go through -- no. we're going to have to shoot out of sequence. some of the setups are a little too complicated.

we got dollies. the lighting's going to be tough. we're going to break it up and go by camera setup. let's go over our camera setups on the rooftop. just to orient ourselves, we've got our entrance, doorway, got all that nice green garden stuff down in here, susan's space, street. and, over here, water tower where howard's going to be hanging out. we are going to shoot out of sequence. okay? okay. how many camera setups are we gonna have? i think we have four basic setups. camera position one is going to be over in here, for susan's entrance, as well as howard's and lenny's, all three, together. so camera position one, looking down here. all right? door opens.

hey. hey, guys. i haven't seen you in a while. camera position two, susan's space, down by this garden area. now, look what i brought for you guys. that's to establish susan. that's susan's area. reverse angle on two will be three, more of her point of view. but susan's "pov" is fixed; right? yeah, pretty much. until later in the scene. later in the scene, when she starts getting drawn into the activity, we'll position her somewhere by the skylight so that we'll have a tighter "pov" of howard when he's over by the water tower. excellent camera position one for susan and howard. so this is gonna work. we'll track over all the way to

the corner garden area for susan's entrance with her busywork. probably not use either of these shots or this one. i don't want to see them together for a while. excellent for lenny's entrance. tighter on the door. excellent. the first setup is from over in here, where we look, we see susan coming up. her space is down in that corner. howard's gonna go this way. lenny's going to hang at the door. the big problem, too, is that the director's line -- the sightline -- is gonna be between susan down there, howard and lenny over here. so everybody's working that side; cameras all over here. right. all right. so when howard and lenny are in here, looking over at susan, they're going to be looking offscreen left.

susan, whenever she turns to camera is looking offscreen right. and we just have to make sure that when they finally come together the exits are right, the entrances are right. it's important at a time like this to wear an athletic supporter. i know. ♪ (music plays) okay. thank you. you guys are the best. you've seen the roof. nice plants and stuff, but let's augment it. let's add something. that's one.

uh, chairs -- i don't know. let's get a couple of wooden chairs, but give me something else. i don't know what it is; don't care. when susan comes up, i want her to have something to do. it's her place. yes. plants. plants in a canvas bag, a walkman, a journal, binoculars, bottled water, watering can, a bunch of stuff that she can work with, 'cause i'm very worried about what she's going to be doing on the roof while the argument goes on. okay. so i need whatever you can give me in props to give her something to do that we can believe in. okay. all right. that's really important. let's go with the paisley. it kinda works into the jacket better. i think it will be better for howard. he's quieter. uh, the red ... too much i think. but that's good. that's gonna be fine.

♪ our house, ♪ in the middle of the street ... ♪ forget the walkman. binoculars? the water. binoculars and water. (background conversation) same setup for both. turn that back. right. different directions, same track. (background conversation) yeah. dolly charge. so if you could hook that up -- (woman) yeah. i got it. awesome. (background conversation) great. okay. let's -- let's do a -- just a walk-through for dolly.

okay. so let's call this our start. okay. and just go for it. okay. let's cut. i picked up somebody walking into the frame. but here's the deal. two things. one: that start is just -- no matter what we do it's going to be tough. it's just jumping out on t door and hard to coordinate. so why don't we start wider? i needed to establish the skyline, anyway. so just start on the skyline and -- start on the skyline. find the door. keep it as wide as we pleasantly can. and also i'm a little concerned that we just see so much of this skyline and not susan's face. why don't we move along?

let's do that. let's try to shoot it. susan, this is the deal. because you're mostly back to camera -- uh-huh. -- i don't want it to just be walking. when you're in here, you haven't seen your friends up here in a while. and i don't want it to be looking like this. i want you to really come back towards camera, so you're in almost a profile to where these guys are. can i pull one of these? yeah. sure you can do that if you need to. but, see, you'd have to do it this way. and i don't want you blocking your face. i'd almost rather just have you take a quick look. you can squint, come back in here. really attractive. here i would like you again to play back towards camera. say, "oh, man. the flowers are working. good deal." hello, my little friends. so that you're not just walking on a straight line. let's try it. scene 7, take 2.

(director) camera. action. hey, up there. wow! don't you guys look great today? red hot. and cut. okay. that felt good for me. how about you? it's fine. okay. that's good. let's go on to the next shot. camera is rolling. okay. slate it. scene 7, shot 4a, take 2. okay. and dolly. action.

and cut. that felt pretty good. you got what you wanted? i got what i wanted. i got what i wanted. you got what you wanted. moving on. lenny's entrance next. ♪ (singing in background) (background conversation)

yes. stand by. howard. what the hell are you doing up here? thinking? and cut. uh, okay. hold on one sec. that was just a little over the edge. that was over the edge, so let's tone it down. i think that you're more you want him -- you're happy you found him. i know he's -- you knew he was up here. but you want to back away. keep it in a little bit. it's a pretty tight shot. it's the tightest shot of the scene so far. so it just seems to me that if you're -- so i know he's up here. yeah. this is where you discovered him. it's like: what am i going to do with you? yeah. he's a kid. what am i going to do with you? (man) scene 7, shot 6, take 3. okay.

and action. howard. what the hell are you doing up here? thinking? you don't walk out of a meeting like that! you don't just stand up and walk out! you leave a meeting, you say, "excuse me." you say, "pardon me." otherwise, they're thinking that it's something they said. they didn't say anything did they? no. okay. cut. next setup. jason, next setup, i think, is lenny. it's lenny and howard fighting. (man) scene 7. right. it's this mid-ground -- it's the dance. yeah. okay. so, um, it's on tracks, but i think it's curved. we're going to go back, forth; back, forth.

(man) reality of the lines being perfect. mm-hmm. i'm not worried about the lines. i really am not worried about the lines. i'm worried about what's going on between you two. i think this last couple of -- all right. we just did something a second ago that -- it's gonna work? yeah. he started talking to me -- and then i walk away from him again. i like that. but don't make it comedy. ready to rehearse this? rehearse it once. let's do it. we're just shooting. we'll just shoot it. we shoot it. we shoot it. i say: why rehearse? let's do it, gang. the camera's rolling. good energy, guys! the camera's rolling. what are you doing now? stand by. scene 7, shot 7, take 1.

did they say anything? no. howard. howard. howard, howard, howard. talk to me. talk to me. howard, listen to me. listen to me; listen to me. i want to tell you something. i have no idea what it is. and what i want to tell you is, um ... okay. cut. he forgot his line. i know. but that's okay. i don't give a damn about that. let him, let him go. you catch up. and then come back around for blocking. larry, i don't have lenny. this is just howard. then let's get -- then come this way. is that what you need? action. howard. howard, talk to me. talk to me! talk to me! would you like to listen to me? okay, good. now -- let's cut.

i need you to be -- talk to me. talk to me; listen to me. much more aggressive at the top. even higher. talk to me; talk to me. then "okay, listen to me" would be the same -- probably inflection, the same energy. and then, in fact, yeah, yeah, yeah. "yes, let me remind you of the upside here." you know it's funny. i won't even look at you until then; okay? let's do it one more time. scene 7, shot 7, take 5. action. they didn't say anything to you? no. howard. howard, talk to me. talk to me! you talk to me! okay. you listen to me. now let me remind you of the upside here. you put in a million dollars, a year and a half, two years, three years at the outside -- you're looking at taking out four million dollars! lenny, i know the math. good!

i just want to rethink things. howard, howard, howard. howard, listen to me. we have been working on this deal for a year. you knew every single inch of this property. you knew every page in the design. you know all the numbers. what could possibly go wrong? you're worried about putting your mother in a nursing home. you got to find a school for the kids -- i'm not as worried about the risk. you're not worried about the risk? no. are you lying to me? no! come on. let's go do some business. don't do it, howard! okay. that's good. okay; cut. pete, that was a wide shot? yeah. all right. um, i think what you said -- i think i agree with you. we got to do the closeup. yeah. 'cause this is her moment, getting towards the end of the scene. you're gonna need it. it's also a really strong reaction shot. i'm only worried about her sightline. i'm not sure if she should be

looking the way we shot her -- offscreen right -- or whether she should be looking back this side. so maybe we should -- well her sightline is to the right. and it looks pretty strong to the right. but i think you, just as a precaution, get her looking left. and also it would help you with the dance-around sequence. you might need her look to screen left. don't do it, howard! (woman) what did you say? don't do it, howard! take 1. take 2, 3. don't do it, howard! can you have her on camera? sure. let's go do some business. don't do it, howard! what did you say? i said, "don't do it." when she says, "don't do it" for the first time, she's looking offscreen left? yeah.

i know that was a take that i wanted to use, 'cause i thought the performance was the best, but the sightline's all screwy. she should be looking offscreen right. we come back to that. let's pick a different take, where she's looking in the right screen direction. don't do it, howard! all right. that's not bad. let's try that. do you want to look at the other ones first? no. let's just do this one, get it done. come on. let's go do some business. don't do it, howard! what did you say? i said, "don't do it." yeah. it's better. but, listen. we see her. we see her again. maybe what we should do is to -- i don't like seeing her twice in a row like that. i think it might be more dramatic and more effective if we have her say,

"don't do it" offscreen. and they are moving. and the next shot you see them going towards the door. let's try it and see if you like it. i thought you'd want to see her onscreen saying "don't do it!" but i don't think it's gonna work. well, why don't we take a look at it? all right. come on. let's go do some business. don't do it, howard! what did you say? i said, "don't do it." mm-hmm. good. look. let's move her line up a little bit more because you hear it, and they respond right away. it just feels awkward to me. right. let's hear the line, beat, then a response. i think it's going to feel better. yeah. come on. let's go do some business. don't do it, howard!

what did you say? i said, "don't do it." yeah. it's getting better. that's good. okay. ♪ (music plays) hey. hi, guys. i haven't seen you in a while. wow. you guys have really grown. look what i brought for you guys. your little friend.

oh, my god. sorry i haven't been here. time for watering. all right. howard! what the hell are you doing up here? i'm thinking? "thinking"? you don't walk out of a meeting like that. you don't just stand up and walk out. otherwise they're thinking they said something. howard! howard, talk to me. howard, talk to me! wait. listen to me. listen to me. let me remind you of the upside here; okay?

you take a million dollars; okay? a year and a half, maybe two -- three at the outside -- you're walking away with four million dollars, maybe more. lenny, i know the math. good. i just want to rethink things. howard, listen to me. we have been working on this deal for a year. you knew every single inch of this property. you know all the numbers. what could go wrong? lenny -- you're worried about putting your mother in a nursing home. you got to find a school for your kids -- i'm not worried about the risk. you're not worried about the risk? no. are you lying to me? no! come on. let's go do some business. don't do it, howard! what did you say? i said "don't do it." excuse me. we're having a personal conversation here.

look. i don't know anything about your deal. i just think that you really don't want to do it. thank you. ♪ (music plays) annenberg media ♪

and: with additional funding from these foundations and individuals: and by and the annual support of to order videocassettes for information about this and other annenberg media programs call 1-800-learner and visit us at www.learner.org.

annenberg media ♪ and: with additional funding from these foundations and individuals: and by: and the annual financial support of: ♪ ("american cinema" theme playing) ♪

♪ (music plays) howard, what are you doing up here? (man) i'm thinking. well, don't think! talk. talk to me! jesus christ! you can't walk out of a meeting like that. you say, "excuse me." you say, "pardon me." otherwise they think it's something that they said. did they say anything? (man) no. howard, talk to me. listen to me. let me remind you of the upside here; okay? you put in a million dollars --

a year, maybe two -- three at the most -- you're walking out with four million bucks. i understand the math, lenny. i just want to rethink things; okay? ♪ (music plays) talk to me, howard. listen to me. let me remind you of the upside here. you put in a million. a year and a half, maybe two -- three at the outside -- you take out four million, maybe more. i understand the math, lenny. i just want to rethink things. ♪ (music plays) don't do it, howard. i said, "don't do it." i said, "don't do it." (man) do you know her? hi. i'm howard. i know. i'm susan. (man) okay. great. good. thank you. thanks. (man) you're welcome. we'll be in touch. ♪ (music plays)

so what we gotta remember is that the scene that we're gonna shoot first is not the first scene of the film. it's probably -- it's more -- uh ... it's actually around page 15 that we're starting. so we've established lenny's character. we've established harold. and we have not yet met susan. and the question i have was, basically: whose point of view should we be looking at as the audience when we come into this scene? whose scene is it? mine. it's got to be mine. it's got to be my scene. it has to be my scene. i pop open the door. i'm screaming like a maniac. hey, i'm there talking to my plants. it's my scene. then i convince him -- i stand there till the last moment -- no, i convince him. (overlapping voices) okay, okay. now, wait a minute. whose scene? i mean, whose scene is it? (man) maybe we'll discover that. i think part of discovery is whose it going to be?

but it's as much susan's because she's the one who's up on the stage. it's susan that we're coming to. it's her universe that's being invaded, first by you, but quietly. you, aggressively -- you know, lenny, aggressively. but she's also the one who's controlling the scene. oh, my god. sorry i haven't been here. time for watering. all right. howard! what the hell are you doing up here? i'm thinking? "thinking"? as far as this particular scene goes, are we going to be shooting this scene in sequence? are we going to be able to actually go through -- no. we're going to have to shoot out of sequence. some of the setups are a little too complicated.

we got dollies. the lighting's going to be tough. we're going to break it up and go by camera setup. let's go over our camera setups on the rooftop. just to orient ourselves, we've got our entrance, doorway, got all that nice green garden stuff down in here, susan's space, street. and, over here, water tower where howard's going to be hanging out. we are going to shoot out of sequence. okay? okay. how many camera setups are we gonna have? i think we have four basic setups. camera position one is going to be over in here, for susan's entrance, as well as howard's and lenny's, all three, together. so camera position one, looking down here. all right? door opens.

hey. hey, guys. i haven't seen you in a while. camera position two, susan's space, down by this garden area. now, look what i brought for you guys. that's to establish susan. that's susan's area. reverse angle on two will be three, more of her point of view. but susan's "pov" is fixed; right? yeah, pretty much. until later in the scene. later in the scene, when she starts getting drawn into the activity, we'll position her somewhere by the skylight so that we'll have a tighter "pov" of howard when he's over by the water tower. excellent camera position one for susan and howard. so this is gonna work. we'll track over all the way to

the corner garden area for susan's entrance with her busywork. probably not use either of these shots or this one. i don't want to see them together for a while. excellent for lenny's entrance. tighter on the door. excellent. the first setup is from over in here, where we look, we see susan coming up. her space is down in that corner. howard's gonna go this way. lenny's going to hang at the door. the big problem, too, is that the director's line -- the sightline -- is gonna be between susan down there, howard and lenny over here. so everybody's working that side; cameras all over here. right. all right. so when howard and lenny are in here, looking over at susan, they're going to be looking offscreen left.

susan, whenever she turns to camera is looking offscreen right. and we just have to make sure that when they finally come together the exits are right, the entrances are right. it's important at a time like this to wear an athletic supporter. i know. ♪ (music plays) okay. thank you. you guys are the best. you've seen the roof. nice plants and stuff, but let's augment it. let's add something. that's one.

uh, chairs -- i don't know. let's get a couple of wooden chairs, but give me something else. i don't know what it is; don't care. when susan comes up, i want her to have something to do. it's her place. yes. plants. plants in a canvas bag, a walkman, a journal, binoculars, bottled water, watering can, a bunch of stuff that she can work with, 'cause i'm very worried about what she's going to be doing on the roof while the argument goes on. okay. so i need whatever you can give me in props to give her something to do that we can believe in. okay. all right. that's really important. let's go with the paisley. it kinda works into the jacket better. i think it will be better for howard. he's quieter. uh, the red ... too much i think. but that's good. that's gonna be fine.

♪ our house, ♪ in the middle of the street ... ♪ forget the walkman. binoculars? the water. binoculars and water. (background conversation) same setup for both. turn that back. right. different directions, same track. (background conversation) yeah. dolly charge. so if you could hook that up -- (woman) yeah. i got it. awesome. (background conversation) great. okay. let's -- let's do a -- just a walk-through for dolly.

okay. so let's call this our start. okay. and just go for it. okay. let's cut. i picked up somebody walking into the frame. but here's the deal. two things. one: that start is just -- no matter what we do it's going to be tough. it's just jumping out on t door and hard to coordinate. so why don't we start wider? i needed to establish the skyline, anyway. so just start on the skyline and -- start on the skyline. find the door. keep it as wide as we pleasantly can. and also i'm a little concerned that we just see so much of this skyline and not susan's face. why don't we move along?

let's do that. let's try to shoot it. susan, this is the deal. because you're mostly back to camera -- uh-huh. -- i don't want it to just be walking. when you're in here, you haven't seen your friends up here in a while. and i don't want it to be looking like this. i want you to really come back towards camera, so you're in almost a profile to where these guys are. can i pull one of these? yeah. sure you can do that if you need to. but, see, you'd have to do it this way. and i don't want you blocking your face. i'd almost rather just have you take a quick look. you can squint, come back in here. really attractive. here i would like you again to play back towards camera. say, "oh, man. the flowers are working. good deal." hello, my little friends. so that you're not just walking on a straight line. let's try it. scene 7, take 2.

(director) camera. action. hey, up there. wow! don't you guys look great today? red hot. and cut. okay. that felt good for me. how about you? it's fine. okay. that's good. let's go on to the next shot. camera is rolling. okay. slate it. scene 7, shot 4a, take 2. okay. and dolly. action.

and cut. that felt pretty good. you got what you wanted? i got what i wanted. i got what i wanted. you got what you wanted. moving on. lenny's entrance next. ♪ (singing in background) (background conversation)

yes. stand by. howard. what the hell are you doing up here? thinking? and cut. uh, okay. hold on one sec. that was just a little over the edge. that was over the edge, so let's tone it down. i think that you're more you want him -- you're happy you found him. i know he's -- you knew he was up here. but you want to back away. keep it in a little bit. it's a pretty tight shot. it's the tightest shot of the scene so far. so it just seems to me that if you're -- so i know he's up here. yeah. this is where you discovered him. it's like: what am i going to do with you? yeah. he's a kid. what am i going to do with you? (man) scene 7, shot 6, take 3. okay.

and action. howard. what the hell are you doing up here? thinking? you don't walk out of a meeting like that! you don't just stand up and walk out! you leave a meeting, you say, "excuse me." you say, "pardon me." otherwise, they're thinking that it's something they said. they didn't say anything did they? no. okay. cut. next setup. jason, next setup, i think, is lenny. it's lenny and howard fighting. (man) scene 7. right. it's this mid-ground -- it's the dance. yeah. okay. so, um, it's on tracks, but i think it's curved. we're going to go back, forth; back, forth.

(man) reality of the lines being perfect. mm-hmm. i'm not worried about the lines. i really am not worried about the lines. i'm worried about what's going on between you two. i think this last couple of -- all right. we just did something a second ago that -- it's gonna work? yeah. he started talking to me -- and then i walk away from him again. i like that. but don't make it comedy. ready to rehearse this? rehearse it once. let's do it. we're just shooting. we'll just shoot it. we shoot it. we shoot it. i say: why rehearse? let's do it, gang. the camera's rolling. good energy, guys! the camera's rolling. what are you doing now? stand by. scene 7, shot 7, take 1.

did they say anything? no. howard. howard. howard, howard, howard. talk to me. talk to me. howard, listen to me. listen to me; listen to me. i want to tell you something. i have no idea what it is. and what i want to tell you is, um ... okay. cut. he forgot his line. i know. but that's okay. i don't give a damn about that. let him, let him go. you catch up. and then come back around for blocking. larry, i don't have lenny. this is just howard. then let's get -- then come this way. is that what you need? action. howard. howard, talk to me. talk to me! talk to me! would you like to listen to me? okay, good. now -- let's cut.

i need you to be -- talk to me. talk to me; listen to me. much more aggressive at the top. even higher. talk to me; talk to me. then "okay, listen to me" would be the same -- probably inflection, the same energy. and then, in fact, yeah, yeah, yeah. "yes, let me remind you of the upside here." you know it's funny. i won't even look at you until then; okay? let's do it one more time. scene 7, shot 7, take 5. action. they didn't say anything to you? no. howard. howard, talk to me. talk to me! you talk to me! okay. you listen to me. now let me remind you of the upside here. you put in a million dollars, a year and a half, two years, three years at the outside -- you're looking at taking out four million dollars! lenny, i know the math. good!

i just want to rethink things. howard, howard, howard. howard, listen to me. we have been working on this deal for a year. you knew every single inch of this property. you knew every page in the design. you know all the numbers. what could possibly go wrong? you're worried about putting your mother in a nursing home. you got to find a school for the kids -- i'm not as worried about the risk. you're not worried about the risk? no. are you lying to me? no! come on. let's go do some business. don't do it, howard! okay. that's good. okay; cut. pete, that was a wide shot? yeah. all right. um, i think what you said -- i think i agree with you. we got to do the closeup. yeah. 'cause this is her moment, getting towards the end of the scene. you're gonna need it. it's also a really strong reaction shot. i'm only worried about her sightline. i'm not sure if she should be

looking the way we shot her -- offscreen right -- or whether she should be looking back this side. so maybe we should -- well her sightline is to the right. and it looks pretty strong to the right. but i think you, just as a precaution, get her looking left. and also it would help you with the dance-around sequence. you might need her look to screen left. don't do it, howard! (woman) what did you say? don't do it, howard! take 1. take 2, 3. don't do it, howard! can you have her on camera? sure. let's go do some business. don't do it, howard! what did you say? i said, "don't do it." when she says, "don't do it" for the first time, she's looking offscreen left? yeah.

i know that was a take that i wanted to use, 'cause i thought the performance was the best, but the sightline's all screwy. she should be looking offscreen right. we come back to that. let's pick a different take, where she's looking in the right screen direction. don't do it, howard! all right. that's not bad. let's try that. do you want to look at the other ones first? no. let's just do this one, get it done. come on. let's go do some business. don't do it, howard! what did you say? i said, "don't do it." yeah. it's better. but, listen. we see her. we see her again. maybe what we should do is to -- i don't like seeing her twice in a row like that. i think it might be more dramatic and more effective if we have her say,

"don't do it" offscreen. and they are moving. and the next shot you see them going towards the door. let's try it and see if you like it. i thought you'd want to see her onscreen saying "don't do it!" but i don't think it's gonna work. well, why don't we take a look at it? all right. come on. let's go do some business. don't do it, howard! what did you say? i said, "don't do it." mm-hmm. good. look. let's move her line up a little bit more because you hear it, and they respond right away. it just feels awkward to me. right. let's hear the line, beat, then a response. i think it's going to feel better. yeah. come on. let's go do some business. don't do it, howard!

what did you say? i said, "don't do it." yeah. it's getting better. that's good. okay. ♪ (music plays) hey. hi, guys. i haven't seen you in a while. wow. you guys have really grown. look what i brought for you guys. your little friend.

oh, my god. sorry i haven't been here. time for watering. all right. howard! what the hell are you doing up here? i'm thinking? "thinking"? you don't walk out of a meeting like that. you don't just stand up and walk out. otherwise they're thinking they said something. howard! howard, talk to me. howard, talk to me! wait. listen to me. listen to me. let me remind you of the upside here; okay?

you take a million dollars; okay? a year and a half, maybe two -- three at the outside -- you're walking away with four million dollars, maybe more. lenny, i know the math. good. i just want to rethink things. howard, listen to me. we have been working on this deal for a year. you knew every single inch of this property. you know all the numbers. what could go wrong? lenny -- you're worried about putting your mother in a nursing home. you got to find a school for your kids -- i'm not worried about the risk. you're not worried about the risk? no. are you lying to me? no! come on. let's go do some business. don't do it, howard! what did you say? i said "don't do it." excuse me. we're having a personal conversation here.

look. i don't know anything about your deal. i just think that you really don't want to do it. thank you. ♪ (music plays) annenberg media ♪

and: with additional funding from these foundations and individuals: and by and the annual support of to order videocassettes for information about this and other annenberg media programs call 1-800-learner and visit us at www.learner.org.

funding for this program [with captioning] was provided by: additional funding is provided by: and: narrator: each video episode has three parts.