I’m here with tibby, co-writer of 2 Social 2 Network, known officially as The Social Network: This Time They’re Lesbians. The full revised script is available to read here, but let’s get into some specifics that didn’t make it into the script, our motivations behind this project, tangents about how we hate real life Dustin Moskovitz, and more, in An Exclusive Interview With Ourselves. Read this interview before the script for background, or read this after the script for clarity without spoilers. My personal favorite: read this before the script, then read this after the script before you re-read the script again, and so on. Start us off, Tibby!
TIBBY: Okay! How do you picture Mark and Eduardo? Do you have a more in depth description of them? A casting choice?
AVERY: To put it simply, Mark is a mess, and rejects every possible beauty standard, while Eduardo is her complete opposite — very put together and feminine. Mark has giant, messy, untamed curls, Eduardo has long, sleek, flat-ironed hair. They dress practically the same as in the movie, Mark in giant hoodies and flip flops. Eduardo wears some fun pantsuits.
Some face claims for Wardo: Mila Kunis, a less crazy Aubrey Plaza, Anne Hathaway. And as for Mark, it would be impossible to find an actress who’s as unkempt as her in their everyday life. But people with the range to play her would be someone like: Jenny Slate, Alia Shawkat, and a couple specific pictures of St. Vincent.
T: St. Vincent… Nice.
A: This look, specifically:
T: God, lesbian Mark really is insanely hot.
A: If you’re picturing lesbian Mark, and she’s not insanely hot, you’re picturing her wrong.
T: That should be your only reply to that question.
A: Here’s MY question for YOU: What would be your reaction if you were in a biking accident that led everyone in the world to forget about the Facebook movie except for you?
T: I would track down Andrew Garfield, who, after never getting his big break, retired from acting and married a man.
A: I think there’s also a very real possibility Taylor Swift would have never made it either, and they’d be in a lavender marriage.
T: I spend the rest of my days trying to befriend them and break them up.
A: The Lesbian Social Network is actually not a rewrite of The Social Network, it’s a rewrite of the greatest movie of all time, Yesterday (2019). Starring Tibby.
T: Facebook and Taylor Swift are the only things erased from existence.
A: And cigarettes, but we don’t talk about it.
T: People just vape a lot.
A: In attempt to get slightly back on track, which character in TSN: This Time They’re Lesbians is most likely to be constantly vaping? Sean? It’s Sean, right?
T: Yeah, it’s definitely Sean. He blows it in your face, too.
A: I want you to know I just frantically googled “can asthmatics vape”.
T: Maybe we should just @ him. “@sparker, can you vape?”
A: [to the tune of Hermione Can’t Draw] @sparker can’t vape, @sparker can’t vape, @sparker CANNOT VAPE!
T: @moskov ABSOLUTELY vapes.
A: @moskov vapes in your face and tells you he’s making humanity thrive.
T: @moskov vapes and thinks it makes him different from other billionaires.
A: I AM including all this in the interview, and tagging him. Fuck Dustin Moskovitz.
T: Oh, please do. Our main point of this is to get enough people to bully @moskov until he deletes his account.
A: That’s the dream! Our other point is to show how much dynamics in The Social Network change with just one aspect changed — the main character’s genders. Care to elaborate, queen?
T: It’s incredible how much changes simply by making Mark and Eduardo women. You know, I think The Social Network as it is makes some attempts to look at misogyny, but it’s still a movie about men by men. Sure, it acknowledges that nerd guys are just as sexist as dudebros, but our protagonists are still those nerdy guys, and they’re not impacted by that sexism. They’re barely punished for their own sexist actions —
A: Farm animals…
T: — But when the movie is about two women, [the misogyny] suddenly becomes such a vital part. And it’s important, because it impacts who they are and their relationship. Mark cares about Eduardo, but her own internalized misogyny and jealousy means she feels as if she CAN cut Eduardo off. Her jealousy towards Eduardo is no longer related to the Phoenix Club, now it’s about how beloved and beautiful Eduardo is. Mark doesn’t want to conform to society’s standards of what a woman should be, but over time, she’s grown to resent the women that do. And it impacts her relationship with Eduardo, and it means Sean can use that to his advantage.
A: Another thing I find very interesting is that Eduardo and Mark both want to prove themselves as successful women, yet go about it completely different. Eduardo is tried and true; she follows the rules, performs femininity to her advantage, tends to stay under the radar, and works as hard as she can to compete with the men in her field. Mark, on the other hand, is a wildcard. She thinks it’s bullshit she has to present herself in a certain way to be taken seriously. She thinks only her accomplishments, not her attitude, will impact her success. And in this particular story, she’s right. She pisses people off, makes a name for herself, and the fact that she’s a woman just makes it even more infuriating for people like the Winklevoss twins. It’s interesting how the characters in Lesbian TSN who remain men, or in Erica and Christy’s case, become men, significantly change just from interacting with female versions of Mark and Eduardo. Sean’s a great example of that.
T: The way Sean interacts with them in this universe is a lot more insidious. He’s patronizing towards Eduardo, making it clear he doesn’t think she’s much more than just a pretty face, and twists Mark’s hero worship to his advantage. He knows how hard it is for them to make it as women, and he needs Mark to think that she needs a man to be successful, that she needs him. He’s very “you’re not like other girls, and that’s GOOD,” towards her — which isn’t what Mark, with all her internalized misogyny, needs to hear, but it’s what SEAN needs her to hear. He’s a villain in the original movie, but him having power over them as a man makes him a lot skeezier, and his actions are more harmful.
A: Right. And Sean isn’t the only man with questionable motives. We start the story by meeting Eric, who is a genderbent Erica Albright. But unlike Rooney Mara’s character, we do not root for Eric. He’s much more impatient, he’s dismissive of Mark, and he’s sexist, if not as overtly as Sean.
T: I remember when we were talking about it early on, and we realized that there’s no way a man would tolerate a woman the way Erica tolerates Mark. So Eric had to be more rude and condescending, and even if Mark’s insults and actions aren’t always justified, neither is his behavior.
A: This universe showcases MANY types of men in the world, all horrible in their own ways: Sean, the pseudo-feminist; Eric, a literal self described “nice guy”; and Christian, the inverse of Christy, portrayed by Brenda Song in The Social Network, an abusive boyfriend.
T: When Christy becomes Christian, that whole relationship becomes a lot more scarier and horrific. It was always an unhealthy relationship, but I think this shift in the dynamic makes it a lot more frightening. Christian has a power imbalance over Eduardo, and a lot of jealousy and anger towards her because she’s HIS girlfriend and SHE’S more successful than he is. The scene where he attempts to burn down her apartment was upsetting to rewrite, because Eduardo is more scared and apologetic this time around — there’s no subtle insults or fighting back, she’s just terrified. It’s incredibly heartbreaking.
A: It’s crazy to see just how much every character changes, and I agree, Christian is an especially unsettling change. I really enjoyed seeing your rewrite of that scene. Instead of a witty Sorkin-ism like “I can promise you that the Silicon Valley sluts don’t care what anyone’s relationship status is on Facebook”, Eduardo is begging, pleading with Christian to understand. She really is terrified.
With Christian, we see the abuse cycle in action, almost every stage — all in one scene. Stage 1: Tension builds. Christian asking Eduardo why she hasn’t replied to him, why she hasn’t changed her status. 2: The Incident. Christian tries to light Eduardo’s apartment on fire. We mainly skim over 3: Reconciliation, as Christian does not apologize, but Eduardo noticeably gives him a present in this scene. And finally, 4: The calm, the honeymoon phase. Christian’s cue, unchanged from the original script, is “(like nothing happened)”. He completely glosses over the incident. Luckily, Eduardo is able to get out from there.
T: Even the Winklevoss twins are a lot worse off this time around. A part of their anger comes from the fact it was a girl that beat them, and Tyler’s more aggressive attitude towards Mark comes across a lot worse.
A: Yeah, the Winklevii and their partner, Divya, seem fairly normal in comparison to some of the men in the script. They’re not exceedingly sexist or condescending, and they recognize Mark’s worth enough to ask her to work on their project. But then you look closer, and see their tendency to resort to violence towards women. You also see that this set of twins is pissed that someone stole their website, but they’re even more pissed that that someone was Mark.
[At this point, we paused the interview to make fun of @moskov again. ]
T: …He literally says “I HAVEN’T SEEN ENOUGH FROM THE 1% COMMENT ON THE CLASS WAR WHICH I AM SADLY ON THE WRONG SIDE OF”. Bitch, nobody is MAKING you be a billionaire…
A: “Sadly”. Okay, so you haaaate being a billionaire? It’s such a pain? It’s so hard? Shut up.
T: Dustin is so funny to me because he’s like, yes, the rich aren’t good, too bad I am being FORCED to be one of them! But what can I do!
A: Build a time machine and never talk to Mark Zuckerberg, duh.
T: Dumbass. Anyway. Shall we continue.
A: Let’s address a burning question. Why didn’t we change Mark and Eduardo’s names? Besides the fact that “Eduarda” is a terrible name, because it is, even if it does mean “rich benefactress”.
T: In the script, Mark’s name is shown to technically be Marcia, and several characters address her as such — usually to talk down to her or because it’s in a professional setting. But she goes by Mark because she likes it, and the gender neutrality of it works to her advantage. I imagine that she started going by it when she first got into the world of coding and online platforms, and found that people there would react negatively if they knew she was a woman. But if she went by Mark, they were none the wiser, and she was treated like an equal. And it just stuck.
A: It’s worth noting that we previously said Mark doesn’t change herself to appease others, and yet, she changes her name. So she does know, she knows that being perceived as a woman is a challenge in this industry. And thus distances herself from classic “womanhood” as much as possible.
T: And as for Eduardo, it links back to her dad. We know from the original movie that Eduardo has issues with his father, and that’s no different in Lesbian TSN. The idea was that her father wanted a son, and even picked out a name for him. So when he has a daughter instead, he’s angry and upset (and has even higher expectations and less tolerance towards her), and makes the decision to give her the name of the son he should have had.
A: So that means we have Marcia, who makes the choice to go by Mark, and Eduardo, who has always had this role on her since birth. I think Eduardo is very protective of “Wardo” as a nickname, because that’s what Mark calls her, and it’s not an expectation. She doesn’t feel she has to play a role when she’s Wardo.
T: Right! There’s a moment where she snaps at Sean for referring to her as such, because it’s something that’s special between them. There’s something tender about giving someone a nickname, and “Wardo” is one that’s very dear to Eduardo’s heart. She’s not a disappointment of a daughter like she is when she’s Eduardo Saverin, she’s just…Wardo. Mark’s friend and partner.
A: My personal favorite parts to rewrite were Sean and Wardo’s interactions, such as that one. We’ve talked about how Sean is rude to Eduardo, but not to Mark. You can tell Eduardo is so familiar with guys like him, she sees right through him and knows he’s trying to manipulate Mark. And Sean tends to purposefully antagonize her and undermine her authority until it comes to this breaking point. Quite literally. She breaks his nose.
T: [laughing] She breaks his fucking nose!
A: Do you think Sean sees Eduardo as a threat?
T: I think he does, even if he doesn’t want to admit it. Maybe not professionally, because I think he still looks down on her and thinks he’s better than her at setting up meetings and organizing partners, but at the very least, [He sees her as a threat] in regards to her relationship with Mark. Sean’s not stupid, and he can tell that Eduardo’s presence and attention does mean something to Mark, even if Mark doesn’t realize it. And he knows that Eduardo doesn’t like him. So while he knows that Mark worships him, he definitely thinks Eduardo could change that if given the chance — which is why it works out in his favor when she doesn’t come out [to Palo Alto]. Without Eduardo around to threaten HIS place in Mark’s life, it’s easier for him to slowly edge his way in further, and push Eduardo out in the process.
A: I agree, I think Sean’s smart, and knows that even with her inexperience, Eduardo means business, and him acting like Eduardo isn’t a valuable asset to the company is really just a way to push her out. Like you said, he knows that Eduardo and Mark have a close bond. Closer than the original movie, even, because they are the ONLY two women. But Sean isn’t expecting Eduardo to actually get in his way. He isn’t expecting her to break his nose. That’s why it was important for girl Eduardo to actually hit Sean. She doesn’t just make him look foolish, she makes him look fucking… beaten.
T: She wounds his pride, which is something that’s important to Sean. He’s spent months undermining her because she’s a girl, and then she hits him and laughs about it. She makes him look weak, and that hurts his ego more than any comment about his Prada ever could.
A: So that was one of my favorite scenes to rework, what about you?
T: I really liked reworking the opening scene with Mark and Eric. It was the first scene I did, and the first draft of it took me about half an hour. Eric isn’t a likeable character to write, but it was fun dialogue to play with, and it made me realize very quickly that I loved this version of Mark. She’s mean, she’s honest, but her anger is a lot more understandable. Like, she’s absolutely right about how shitty the Final Clubs are! It was a scene that had to be almost completely changed, and I just liked playing with it during the writing and editing process.
A: That was a really interesting scene, especially because it’s what we as writers, and the readers, start with, and it’s where you realize just how much is going to be changed. Like, wow, the original dialogue can’t even exist in this world!
I’m a nerd and found it fun to research female final clubs for this script. When writing the bit about “The Bee” social club, (which existed in 2004, but is now merged with a male club) I discovered the creator of the club formed it because she “wanted to give women the option” of “building friendships” that same-sex clubs had. Which made me laugh, because that is so Not Mark. She isn’t in this to make friends.
I also learned club steward of the Fly “locked himself in a room with all of the food because he ‘was so angry about the female intrusion’” when someone invited girls into one of their parties. He sounds very fun to be around. x
T: So, that scene was one with some very obvious line changes. But what is, in your opinion, an underrated line change, that people might miss when reading?
A: After the initial meeting with Sean, the Sean-a-thon, if you will, Mark accuses Eduardo of wanting “to end the party at eleven”. Original Eduardo, male Eduardo, says, “I’m trying to pay for the party”. I changed this line to “I have to pay for the party, and clean up afterwards”. This was to show the weight of responsibility Eduardo feels. She has to pay, and she knows she’ll be expected to do the Womanly task of cleaning everything up. And she isn’t “trying” anymore, this is something she must do, something expected of her.
The same thing is reinforced in the line change from “Jed Clampett” to “Elly May Clampett”. Eduardo can’t just drop everything and be a California Gurl, Katycat style. She explicitly says she has responsibilities. Mark can’t relate to this, she only wants to take risks. What about you?
T: There’s so many little line changes like that that just get me. One of my favorites is towards the end, when Eduardo’s speaking with Facebook’s lawyers, and they’re shocked that she understands why they increased her ownership percentage. They go from “I like working with business majors,” to “Uh, yes, exactly. Business major?”, and it shows how little they’re taken seriously, even after everything.
A: What about your favorite line that doesn’t actually change from the original, but has different implications now?
T: Oh, easy. “Wardo, it’s like a final club, except we’re the president.” Mark starts the movie furious that she won’t even be considered for the Phoenix or the Porcellian because she’s a woman, she resents the Winklevoss twins for it, and she’s jealous that Christian gets considered. But with thefacebook, she and Eduardo have the potential to be bigger and better than them, to change the world, to be KNOWN — together, and as women.
A: “You had one friend” is one of my favorites, it just hits differently in this universe, knowing how difficult it is for Mark to connect to other women, how rare and special her relationship with Wardo is. Was. I also like the exchange between Cameron and Larry Summers, where Cameron tells him he chased Mark through the quad. Because at that point, Cameron has been the mediator between his brother and Divya when they’ve discussed violence towards Mark. But with that line, you realize Cameron ain’t shit either!
T: Men Suck and Women Are Powerful: The Script.
A: A minute ago I referenced Katy Perry’s California Gurls. Can you tell me more about some of the Official Jams of The Lesbian Social Network?
T: Well, there’s obviously songs like Joan Jett’s Bad Reputation and Mitski’s Remember My Name. Whenever I worked on the scenes of Mark creating Facebook and leading on the Winklevoss twins, I’d have One Way or Another by Blondie playing in my head. There’s some Hayley Kiyoko to help capture the spirit of “being a girl and loving your female best friend.” Everybody Wants to Rule the World by Tears for Fears and Lorde’s 2013 cover. And of course Taylor Swift, with Dress and The Lucky One being the two I feel work best for the script.
A: The playlist is basically a compilation of badass women (there’s like, half of Alanis Morrissette’s Jagged Little Pill album on there), and songs about being rich and living in California. I really like Men Explain Things to Me by Tacocat, obviously inspired by Rebecca Solnit’s writing. Truth Hurts by Lizzo is a sillier one for this universe, but still fun. Eric literally could’ve had a bad bitch, noncommittal, help him with his career, just a little. As for canon songs in the movie, the zipline scene’s song is replaced with Perry’s California Gurls, and Rich Girl by Hall and Oates is a great change from Baby I’m A Rich Man at the end. Just for fun and feminism. Listen here!
T: And it’s only five hours!
A: Obviously, these songs were inspiring for our writing. Are there any fics that helped inspire this script?
T: There are! batshit genius scientist prophet goddess by longtime_lurker was a huge inspiration, and one of my favorite things that came out of the Social Network fandom. It’s heartbreaking and beautiful, and touches on a lot of things that we couldn’t possibly do in the script, like Mark and Eduardo BEFORE Facebook. It’s definitely worth a read. In fact, I demand it. Stop reading this interview and go check it our right now. I promise you won’t miss a thing. Avery and I will still be here when you get back. Go now, and leave kudos!
A: Leave comments, too! Also, shoutout to Waves and Both of Us by hapakitsune. It’s a lesbian Chris/Dustin fic, for those who were disappointed those two weren’t women in our adaptation. And for anyone who doesn’t really know who Chris and Dustin are, read it anyway. It’s very cute, and won’t hurt you like batshit genius will. It also won’t hurt you like the real life @moskov will.
T: Cue another hour of us ragging on @moskov.
A: @moskov wishes he was lesbian Dustin.
T: Oh, and we are for each other then by aroceu is one where EVERYONE is a woman, and it’s a very sweet read. It still deals with all the drama that came with Mark and Eduardo, of course, but also gives them a happy future. Something that we, unfortunately, didn’t get to do here.
Although, Avery, do you have an interpretation of the ending? As far as you’re concerned, do Mark and Eduardo ever reconnect?
A: I think we’ve joked about this before, that if they ever reconnect, it’s just When Harry Met Sally. Just word for word: When Harry Met Sally. They were friends for a very long time. And then they weren’t. And then they fell in love.
T: Oh, absolutely. There’s no need to write a sequel script, because it does just come down to “What’s the expiration date on apologies?”
A: It really, really does. Obviously, in that ending, Mark and Eduardo fall in love. And we’ve been calling it “Lesbian TSN” the entire time. But the characters… aren’t explicitly lesbians, and do not fall for each other onscreen. On page. Whatever. Why is that?
T: I think, for starters, it would’ve changed things radically, and would have required a lot more reworking. So, there’s a technical side of things. But I think, in my experience, as a lesbian who HAS fallen for friends, it’s difficult to realize or even vocalize. Mark and Eduardo are young and they’re thrown into this adult world in the blink of an eye, and while I believe the feelings are there, they don’t get the time to think about it, let alone talk about it. It’s there, and it’s real, but I think it’s something that needs more and attention than this script could have given it. Maybe in another format, or a longer story, but the journey I would have wanted to tell with them explicitly falling in love, just wasn’t possible here.
A: Personally, I wanted a chance to experience the thrill of queerbaiting people. I must say, being on the other end is addicting. I even waited this far into the interview to ask that question just for baiting purposes.
T: DO you think we’re queerbaiting by not making them explicitly gay?
A: Seeing as we are making absolutely no money off of this, and WE are explicitly gay, I’m gonna go with no. But I’d love to be accused of it. In public. Like, I’m just walking through Target and I get yelled at. I don’t think anyone has ever been yelled at in a Target, so, happy to be the first!
But wait, Mark and Eduardo both have relationships with men. Do THEY even know they’re gay?
A: I think Eduardo does. I think about Lesbian Wardo a lot, and I think she’s very aware that she’s gay but also very aware that she’s not supposed to be. She’s already a disappointment to her father, and she’s scared that if she was gay, that would damage it more. She’s meant to be the pretty and smart and kind girl with the nice and handsome boyfriend, and she’ll sacrifice her own happiness so people are happy with the idea of her. Maybe she’d have sacrificed it all for Mark, but she was never given the chance to do that.
I don’t think Mark does, though. I think she’s a little disconnected from herself and her feelings, but I think it’s also tied to her not wanting to be what people expect of her. And Mark is the kind of girl people call a lesbian as an insult, because she’s mean and doesn’t conform to beauty standards and doesn’t care for guys. So she decides that she isn’t ever going to think about the possibility of being a lesbian, even though she, well, is.
A: I think the idea of Mark repressing her sexuality is so interesting. In batshit genius she is very noticeably Out, and it’s just another thing she’s unapologetic about. In our version of the events, Mark still prides herself on not caring about what anyone thinks of her, she loves how she doesn’t fit anyone’s standards, but she doesn’t accept this one crucial part of herself. And it just shows how hard it is to accept yourself as a lesbian, if even Girl Mark Zuckerberg can’t seem to do it.
I also think Mark does care a lot more than she lets on. And maybe, her being straight is one thing people will not actively hate her for, and if she can have that one thing, she’ll be okay. And maybe that’s why she holds onto that.
T: Shit. Is it normal to get teary eyed when having an interview about your own creation?
A: QUICK, LET’S TALK ABOUT SOMETHING FUN. LESBIAN DIVYA!
T: Right! Tune in next time where we rewrite it AGAIN except now Divya, Dustin, and Chris are ALSO women! Not Sean or the Bitcoin Bros, though. They don’t have the range.
A: Oh, hey, another fic rec… the road and the knower of roads, by myownremedy. It’s literally the only Erica/Divya fic, and Divya is a woman in it. Can you say MIND for me, please?
T: MIND!
A: Real talk, my dream woman is just a Social Network side character, reimagined as a lesbian. Lesbian Dustin, lesbian Chris, lesbian Divya… Lesbian… uh… Larry Summers…
T: Dakota Johnson in this movie, but like, explicitly gay. I like the idea of Lesbian Wardo, but we’re both emotional drama queens, so I don’t think it would work.
Speaking of Lesbian Chris, she’d be tall right? Because Chris Hughes is pretty tall, isn’t he?
A: You know.. I think Chris Hughes IS pretty tall. Taller than Mark Zuckerberg. Definitely taller than @moskov.
T: He’s five foot eleven, but seven foot emotionally. @moskov is neither of those.
A: Wait, how tall is Chris? Five foot what?
T: ELEVEN!
A: I CAN’T HEAR YOU HOW TALL IS HE
T: CHRIS! HUGHES! IS! FIVE! FOOT! ELEVEN!
A: Chris Hughes is 5'11.
END INTERVIEW.
SNAP TO BLACK.
ROLL CREDITS.
READ THE SOCIAL NETWORK: THIS TIME THEY’RE LESBIANS HERE.
