Daily Dialogue — December 20, 2014

OGDEN PHIPPS: My accountants, they may be slow of foot but they are quick to calculate, and they tell me that you’re in a rough spot. So I’ll buy that horse of yours right now– seven million dollars. All cash.
PENNY: If he does what I think he’ll do, his value will double, if not triple.
OGDEN PHIPPS: You do know what you’re saying. You’re guaranteeing that this horse is going to win the triple crown. The Derby, the Preakness and the Belmont. Three races, three states, in just in five weeks. Hasn’t been done in twenty-five years.
PENNY: That is exactly what I’m saying.
OGDEN PHIPPS: Eight million.
PENNY: No.
OGDEN PHIPPS: You’re that stubborn?
PENNY: I’m that right.

— Secretariat (2010), screenplay by Mike Rich, book by William Nack

The Daily Dialogue theme for the week: Negotiation. Today’s suggestion by tracinell.

Trivia: The words that Diane Lane speaks at the end of the film are from the book of Job, Chapter 39, when God is describing horses. Verse 22: “It laughs at fear, afraid of nothing; it does not shy away from the sword.”

Dialogue On Dialogue: Commentary by tracinell: This negotiation is a great example of Beginning, Middle, End scene writing. Beginning: Phipps seems to have the upper hand in this negotiation–Penny’s in a tight spot, his offer will make her troubles go away. Middle: She politely rejects offer, she knows the value and potential of her horse and firmly asserts the horse’s outcome. End: Phipps sweetens the offer, she rejects. But her calm self-assurance/confidence/sincerity earns Penny the deal she wants. As God described in the above scripture, Penny “does not shy away from the sword.”