Act One
Scene One
MARK-TO-MARKET PARTY ā 1992
A party in a small office at Enron. Present are:
Employees drinking champagne.
Claudia Roe, a very attractive blonde woman of forty in a short skirt, enters. As she does, she brings the party with her. She sticks close to the most powerful man in the room:
Ken Lay, an easy, short, convivial man in his sixties, greeting and acknowledging every employee with practised southern hospitality.
Andy Fastow, a nervy, lupine guy in his thirties, is circling, with an unsettling grin.
Fastow is on the outskirts of the group of employees, ingratiating himself.
Roe and Lay sweep around the room.
Employee (to Roe) I loved your speech, by the way.
Employee 2 Really great speech.
Roe Oh, thank you so much.
Fastow Quite a party.
Employee I beg your pardon?
Lay (How you doing. Good to see you.)
Fastow (one eye on Lay) Just. Itās great news. About mark-to-market.
Employee 2 Oh the accounting system.
Employee We just came down for the champagne.
Elsewhere:
Roe Should we expect a speech from you, sir?
Lay No, Claudia, I donāt think we need ourselves another speech right now. Informality. Colleagues enjoying themselves.
Back at the group Fastow is trying to break into:
Fastow Look, even Ken Layās here.
Employee Yeah.
Fastow You think he plays golf ?
Employee I donāt know(!)
Lay magnanimously greets another couple of starstruck employees.
Fastow Whereās the guy who put this thing together?
Employee 2 What do you mean?
Fastow Jeff Skilling.
Employee Never heard of him.
Fastow The mark-to-market guy.
Employee 2 No idea.
Fastow Maybe heās not a big party guy.
Employee Maybe youād get along(!)
Fastow Actually I always thought we would.
Lay Have I met the mark-to-market guy?
Roe Jeff Skilling. I donāt know where he is.
Lay Iāve only got a half hour here. Make sure I shake his hand.
Outside the party, Skilling straightens his suit, his hair. Heās a bespectacled, overweight, balding accountant. He takes a deep breath.
Skilling enters the party and finds himself a drink for confidence.
Fastow You canāt get Lay away from Claws there. Itās like sheās his carer.
Employee Why donāt you go talk to him?
Fastow Yeah. You think I should?
Employee I think you should.
Fastow Heās just a guy, Iām a guy.
Beat.
Fastow Yeah. This is how things happen.
Employee You go, girl(!)
Roe (noticing Skilling) There he is.
She goes over to collect Skilling.
Fastow strides over to introduce himself to Lay.
Roe Jeff, come over. Ken Lay.
Skilling āHi, how are you?ā
Roe (sarcastic) āHi, how are you.ā Ken Lay.
Fastow Hi there, Mr Lay.
Lay Youāre not Jeff Skilling, / by any chance ā
Fastow No sir, I wish I was, Iām Andy ā
Lay Andy, Andy Fastow.
Fastow Yes sir!
Lay I make a point of knowing people, son.
Roe drags Skilling over to Lay.
Roe Ken ā
Lay slaps Skilling on the back.
Lay Hereās the guy! Jeffrey āmark-to-marketā Skilling. You know Claudia. Our star abroad.
Skilling I believe I may have seen her in Vogue.
Roe That was cropped from a profile in Forbes.
Skilling Iām surprised you find the time.
Roe Iām surprised you read Vogue.
Lay One of the fifty most powerful women, wasnāt it?
Roe I donāt recall.
Skilling Most powerful women?
Roe Number fourteen.
Skilling I remember. There was a great bit on Oprah and her dogs.
Roe We were talking mark-to-market. .
Skilling I think one of her dogs was at number twelve.
Fastow I just wanted to say congratulations ā mark-to-market, much more appropriate, much more transparent. Exactly the right thing.
Skilling Thanks. Are you ā
Fastow Sorry. Andy, Andy Fastow, you hired me ā
Roe This new accounting system, Jeff, you think itās worth celebrating?
Skilling Well, donāt you?
Roe Iām not an accountant.
Lay You settled for fourteenth most powerful woman in the world.
Fastow Mark-to-market is the accounting system for all the big investment banks / on Wall Street.
Roe / Yes. But we are a gas and oil company.
Fastow No, you see ā
Skilling Weāre an energy company. You say āgas and oilā people think ā¦ farts and Arabs.
Lay (gesturing to staff ) Iāve been explaining mark-to-market, people get all tied up in knots.
Skilling Seriously?
Lay In what sense?
Skilling There are people at this party who donāt understand the idea?
Fastow Mark-to-market lets us show the future / profits / ā
Lay / We know.
Skilling / I know.
Skilling My people have worked their asses off to get the SEC to understand and approve this ā
Roe And itās very much appreciated.
Skilling Everyone gets mark-to-market here, right?
Fastow exhales and glances at the group of employees who had teased him.
Fastow Iāve talked to some people, I donāt know ā¦
Skilling Iāve got slides I can bring down.
Roe No.
Skilling It doesnāt kill you? Everyone standing around celebrating their ignorance ā
Roe Itās not a celebration of ignorance, Jeff, itās a party.
Skilling These people are getting paid.
He takes Fastowās glass and clinks it to get everyoneās attention. Itās a surprise ā any speech would be deemed to be Layās job.
Skilling Hi. Hi. Everybody. For those who donāt know, Iām the reason youāre here. I said I would only join this company if we started to use mark-to-market. What does that mean? Anybody? Well, itās a way for us to realise the profits weāre gonna make now. If you have an idea, if you sign a deal, say that weāre gonna provide someone with a supply of champagne for the next few years at a set price, every month, whatever ā Then that definite future income can be valued, at market prices today, and written down as earnings the moment the deal is signed. We donāt have to wait for the grapes to be grown and squashed and ā¦ however the hell you make champagne. The market will recognise your idea and your profit in that moment. An...