WRITING YOUR SCREENPLAY WHILE SOCIAL DISTANCING: BACKSTORY AND EXPOSITION

Exposition is tricky to employ in feature screenplays, but make no mistake about it:

When it comes to character, exposition is the secret sauce.

Let’s call it “revelation of character” rather than exposition. When done well, revelation of character often produces some of the most intriguing and memorable moments in a film. 

Note the sensation we chose to lead with here: Intrigue. 

When we watch movies (or TV shows or any visual storytelling medium), we don’t like to be bopped over the head with all we need to know about a character. We like to be intrigued. 

We want clues, nuggets and hints that we then piece together in our heads. Just because film is a SHOW ME medium doesn’t mean it’s a SHOW ME EVERYTHING medium. 

Characters are like bread. Nay! Cheese. Give us a small nibble and that little nibble will trigger dopamine in our brains. We’ll be excited by the flavor. We’ll want to devour more! But give us the whole block and we probably won’t be able to digest it. 

To put it less metaphorically: None of us walk around with emotional X-ray vision. None of us can see every little thing that’s happened… every belief, feeling or affliction that lives within every person that we meet. However, if we’re paying attention, people occasionally drop subliminal hints. When we get that hint or that clue, suddenly with this newfound knowledge, we’re afraid to encounter this person again or we can’t wait to know more about them or we eagerly anticipate what this person will do next.

Good revelation of character is the secret (cheesy) sauce. 

Exposition, of course, applies to more than just character. Exposition can also apply to the world, culture or time period in which the story takes place. A story can be derailed by too much expository information and confusing with too little. What information do you share? How much of it do you share? How much should you assume your audience knows or does not know going in? 

This blog post will focus exclusively on character exposition and backstory. This is because characters are the vehicle for everything else. If you reveal your characters in an intriguing way, everything else should (theoretically) follow.

CASABLANCA (1942)

Screenplay by Julius J. Epstein & Philip G. Epstein and Howard Koch

Based on the play “Everybody Comes to Rick's” by Murray Burnett and Joan Alison

• This moment in Casablanca utilizes two effective techniques. First, Rick looks up at that plane and we know it’s causing him anguish and we can’t help leaning in to wonder…. Why?

• Then, Renault speculates about Rick’s past life and activities, inviting speculation from us as readers too. It’s always good to remember that if a reader or audience is speculating, they’re actively participating in your story. 

COCO (2017)

Original Story by Lee Unkrich, Jason Katz, Matthew Aldrich, Adrian Molina

Screenplay by Adrian Molina and Matthew Aldrich

• Chicharrón could simply say, “No,” when Héctor shows up too borrow his guitar. In telling him he doesn’t want to see his “stupid face” and reminding him of things he’s borrowed and failed to return, Chicharrón explains to us that Héctor is a bum. 

• The exposition is used as ammo in the push/pull of the scene. Plus, we FEEL FOR Héctor who is clearly down on his luck. 

THE DEVIL WEARS PRADA (2006)

Screenplay by Aline Brosh McKenna

Based on the novel by Lauren Weisberger

• If you want to get the rules of a world across smoothly, a great technique is to make one character a fish out of water to whom the other characters must constantly explain everything. Here, the fish is Andy. 

• Note how all the details about how to prepare the office and work for Miranda add a total fearsomeness and deep dread (i.e. - gleeful anticipation) of her when she’s not even in the scene. 

• From Emily’s overzealous explanation, we also get a sense of her superiority complex AND how the Paris trip means everything to her. Both setups come into play later.

GET OUT (2017)

Written by Jordan Peele

• Just like The Devil Wears Prada, having characters talk and share information with each other — in this case, about Rose’s parents — creates a sense of expectation/anticipation around meeting them.  

• From this conversation, in any scenes with Rose’s parents, as a reader or audience, we look for signs of racism or lack thereof, which puts us in an engaged and active position. 

• It also helps us to contemplate the nature of racism, which is the underlying theme of the movie. 

GIRL, INTERRUPTED (1999)

Screenplay by James Mangold and Lisa Loomer and Anna Hamilton Phelan

Based on the book by Susanna Kaysen

• In this case, the writers need to get information to us — the audience — about the psychological conditions afflicting these hospital residents. How do they facilitate this? Susannah overhears her psychiatrist mention “Borderline Personality Disorder” to her parents, so to help her understand her diagnosis, the other hospital patients break into the doctor’s office where they all read their individual files. 

• The writers make psychological terms and jargon dynamic by having the patients switch files with one another and read them aloud (with commentary). 

HAROLD AND MAUDE (1971)

Written by Colin Higgins

• Maude is wise, sweet and unflinchingly optimistic, even in the face of great sadness. We all know what concentration camp inmate tattoos look like (and have thousands of pictures and associations of concentration camps in our head). In one tiny visual we learn more than Maude could explain to us in a 1000-word monologue. This is what we mean when we describe film as a “show me” medium. 

HOME ALONE (1990)

Written by John Hughes

• All you need to know is that Fuller wets the bed and that Linnie is a brat who feels the need to remind Kevin that Fuller wets the bed.

• Little splashes of detail can be wonderfully evocative in giving a sense of character. As illustrated time and again in this and other blog posts, less is often more. 

WONDER WOMAN (2017)

Screenplay by Allan Heinberg

Story by Zack Snyder & Allan Heinberg and Jason Fuchs

• The ultimate way to learn about character is to observe what someone does in a jam. Exposition is thrilling when in a moment of crisis, a character does something unlikely and surprises even themself. 

Happy New Year, writers! If you have questions about exposition or about other topics or scripts, feel free to e-mail the WGF Library staff at library@wgfoundation.org.

Until next time, happy writing! 

WRITING YOUR SCREENPLAY WHILE SOCIAL DISTANCING: TEXT ON SCREEN

This post is inspired by one of the great questions we get in the library from time to time. That question is, 

“How do I format a text message conversation within my script?” 

Patrons come to us looking for examples of how to describe a character sending texts, writing e-mails and letters, passing notes, reading sign posts, scanning websites and more.

So much of our communication in the digital/information/pandemic age is, in fact, written. To bring this written communication into your film and TV writing is to effectively hold the mirror up to the times in which we live. 

While conventions for formatting dialogue, description, montages, etc. are well-established, rules for formatting written text on screen are more ambiguous. Sometimes it’s easier to ditch the jargon, especially if you have lots of instances of texting or signage. Basically, you only have so many uses of the word “SUPER” or “CHYRON” before a reader heaves an exasperated sigh. 

So what do you do? Writers across genres and styles approach it differently. In the interest of providing lots of ideas and inspiration (and because this topic is more technical), this post will be example-heavy rather than loaded with commentary. 

EXTREMELY LOUD & INCREDIBLY CLOSE (2011)

Screenplay by Eric Roth

Based on the novel by Jonathan Safran Foer

• The character of the Renter doesn’t speak, but rather communicates by writing statements onto a notepad. Roth inserts the Renter’s “speech” into the description of what we see, using quotations.

FRUITVALE STATION (2013)

Written by Ryan Coogler

• Coogler, in this script, formats text message conversations just like dialogue adding “TO” and “FROM” to the character names and CAPITALIZING the text so that it stands out in the reader’s mind as written rather than spoken.

HARRY POTTER AND THE CHAMBER OF SECRETS (2002)

Screenplay by Steve Kloves

Based on the novel by J. K. Rowling

• Kloves takes a direct and literary approach in adapting how Harry writes and receives responses in Tom Riddle’s diary. Note the use of colons before somebody writes or speaks as well as the bolding and italicizing of the written text we see on screen. 

THE HOLIDAY (2006)

Written by Nancy Meyers

• Meyers formats the messages exchanged between the two characters much like the formatting of a conversation on AOL Instant Messenger. This way the reader can easily distinguish between the written messages and the spoken dialogue. Note the CAPITALIZING of character names (much like dialogue) as well as the verbs used before the colons, which helps to keep the description active. 

MEMENTO (2000)

Screenplay by Christopher Nolan

Based on a story by Jonathan Nolan

• Memento features a lot of on-screen written text, notably tattooed all over the main character’s body. Here, we find written text on the back of a photograph, which Nolan CAPITALIZES and puts into quotations.

NORTH BY NORTHWEST (1959)

Written by Ernest Lehman

• This moment in North by Northwest is discussed most often as a shrewd, unexpected turn of events, but we thought it might be fun to show how the note, “What do I do with him in the morning?” is formatted. 

TO ALL THE BOYS I’VE LOVED BEFORE (2018)

Screenplay by Sofia Alvarez

Based on the book By Jenny Han

• Here we have a character sitting down to write a letter. Alvarez keeps the description simple, but specifies the written text we see on screen by CAPITALIZING it, bolding it and putting it into quotations. 

WARGAMES (1983)

Written by Lawrence Lasker & Walter F. Parkes

• The written exchange between David and the computer is formatted exactly as we would watch it unfold on the monitor (CAPITALIZATION included). As in The Holiday, the formatting helps the reader distinguish between the seen/written text and the spoken dialogue as they happen concurrently.

WILD (2014)

Screenplay by Nick Hornby

Based upon the book by Cheryl Strayed

• Note that Hornby doesn’t use the word “SUPER” but rather simply explains how we see the text Cheryl writes in the book almost like a superimposed title. After establishing this, less explanation/description is required when more written text appears on screen. 

As you can see from these examples, there are a handful of different ways to approach text on screen. For questions and more elaboration on this or any other topic related to film and TV writing during the pandemic, send an e-mail to library@wgfoundation.org and we can try to help.

Happy writing! 

WRITING YOUR SCREENPLAY WHILE SOCIAL DISTANCING: VOICE-OVER

LIBRARIAN (V.O.)

What a fraud I am! Who am I to impart any kind of

screenwriting wisdom? My foot hurts. AHHHHH!!!

The above is a bit of what we like to call voice-over narration — a practice in movies whereby a character or narrator talks or shares their thoughts OVER the action we see on screen. 

Voice-over is likely derived from the choruses of ancient Greek theater, narration in novels, and the voices that provide omniscient commentary in documentaries, newsreels, and educational films. 

Whether the narration in a movie (or TV show) comes from an unseen narrator or a character in the story, the purpose is exposition and perspective to help the audience better understand and feel the action. In the voice-over at the top of this post, you see my secret thoughts and feelings, but they’re different from the tone and content of this piece. The voice-over gives you extra insight. 

A chorus in a play clarifies what a character is thinking when the character won’t say it or when we can’t see it. A narrator in a novel tells us what we see, hear, and sense, so we can form a picture in our mind’s eye. A voice-over in a documentary explains what we’re seeing to round out our understanding. 

Voice-over gets a bad rap when it’s used for the sole purpose of telling us something the screenwriter/filmmakers have failed to SHOW us. Voice-over is sometimes used inelegantly as a fix for story holes. 

A helpful metaphor is to think of voice-over like the garnish in a recipe. You can make yams WITHOUT cinnamon sprinkled on top, but cinnamon without the substance of the yams is NOT a meal. Voice-over is there to sweeten and specify once you have the main dish worked out. 

NARRATOR

The librarian suddenly felt a pang of hunger and

a desire to listen to holiday music. 

Voice-over can be delightful when done well, eliciting the same kind of conspiratorial joy of an actor in a play breaking the fourth wall and inviting us into their private thoughts. The emphasis here ought to be on “breaking” the wall or the rules/conventions. It’s not natural to situate ourselves inside a person’s head. Similarly, in films, which evoke a certain sense of naturalism, it can feel jarring to hear a storybook style narrator. 

This week, we’ll look at scripts where voice-over plays a critical role. We’ll dissect the devices and methods used to make it feel effortless. 

Before we get started, let’s clarify one thing. Voice-over is often delineated in scripts with the character’s NAME and (V.O.) in parentheses next to it. Writers take different liberties in writing voice-over, but this is the generally accepted practice. Voice-over is different from off-screen (O.S.) or off-camera (O.C.) dialogue. It’s the internal voice of an individual or it’s the voice of the narrator/God. 

ABOUT SCHMIDT (2002)

Screenplay by Alexander Payne & Jim Taylor

Based on the novel by Louis Begley

• The title character, Warren Schmidt, writes letters to a child he is sponsoring in Tanzania. His voice-over throughout the film is grounded and seamless because it’s his expressing himself through the letters. He’s basically reading us his writing.

BOYZ N THE HOOD (1991)

Written by John Singleton

• This example works almost like a pre-cursor to Drunk History in that Tre re-counts a story to his father, and as he speaks, we flash to the memory on Crenshaw Blvd. The characters talk under Tre’s voice-over, which heightens the feeling of HIS telling the story, much like a drunk person explaining something on Drunk History. 

• It’s a fun, stylistically playful way to use voice-over in a movie.

IT’S A WONDERFUL LIFE (1946)

Screenplay by Frances Goodrich & Albert Hackett & Frank Capra

Contributions to screenplay by Michael Wilson and Jo Swerling

• The vehicle for voice-over established right at the beginning of this movie is prayer. Prayer is very often internal, happening in a person’s head, so establishing a character’s voice-over as their prayers or talking to God (or any kind of deity or idol) is a great way to make voice-over natural.  

• The other component here is angels looking down at the main character George Bailey’s experiences on earth and giving commentary. By depicting them as stars, the script establishes that these heavenly voices are angels. Then, when the heavenly voices comment on the action, we know where they are talking from and why they are omniscient. 

MEAN GIRLS (2004)

Screenplay by Tina Fey

Based on the book Queen Bees and Wannabes by Rosalind Wiseman

• This is first-person, stream-of-consciousness voice-over narration. 

• This kind of narration helps us to get inside the head and relate more to the central character. It’s much like reading a novel written in the first-person. Here, the voice-over helps us to understand the subtext of the scene when Cady says she’s lost, but actually knows more than Aaron. Without the voice-over, we wouldn’t be fully privy to that irony. 

THE ROYAL TENENBAUMS (2001)

Written by Wes Anderson & Owen Wilson

• The Royal Tenenbaums establishes its “Narrator” by opening the movie with a book cover and dividing the story into chapters like a book, so it’s natural for a voice to be reading/telling us the story. 

• Notice that the writers never include the (V.O.) parenthetical next to the Narrator’s name. Rather voice-over is implied — and that’s okay. For purposes of this draft, we get it. 

THE THIRD MAN (1950)

Screenplay by Graham Greene

Story by Graham Greene and Alexander Korda

• What kind of voice-over post would this be if we didn’t include one example from Film Noir? Voice-over is a staple of the Film Noir genre — maybe because crime is typically at the center of the story and voice-over naturally feels like a character testifying or telling their “version” of the story (which is also possibly why the genre is known for unreliable narrators). 

• Note: This script sample features a third-person “Commentator”  who refers to the main character of Holly Martens. For the American release of The Third Man, the studio made the filmmakers change the voice-over narration to first-person from Martens himself. 

WAITING TO EXHALE (1995)

Screenplay by Terry McMillan and Ronald Bass

Based on the Novel by Terry McMillan

• Waiting to Exhale opens with a radio announcer, taking calls, looking for stories, which is what grounds the candid voice-over from each of the film’s four protagonists and gives their words a confessional feel. 

• The technique in this particular scene is first-person / stream-of-consciousness. Like Mean Girls, it helps to vocalize the subtext and make the scene more hilarious. 

WAITRESS (2007)

Written by Adrienne Shelly

• The voice-over here is kind of like an aside in a stage play. Protagonist Jenna explains pie recipes as a means of working through her feelings. 

• As an aside to this blog post, it’s not surprising that movies like Waitress and Mean Girls both work well in their respective adaptations as Broadway musicals. Musical numbers are often a manifestation of a character’s inner thoughts and feelings — much like voice-over.

For additional questions about these and other scripts, as always, e-mail library@wgfoundation.org 

Until next time, happy writing! 

WRITING YOUR SCREENPLAY WHILE SOCIAL DISTANCING: SUBTEXT

It’s a basic, universal survival instinct: 

Look strong and stable.

Why?  Because the weak, slow and inadequate ones get lost from the herd and devoured. 

Human beings operate from a place of self-protection. We find it in the way that we speak to and treat one another. The words we say are the armor we use to keep ourselves from exposing our sad truths. 

Seeing the truth underneath what a person says is the joy of engaging with a movie or TV show. Finding and bringing to light the essential core that exists underneath all the bullshit in the world is the very purpose of art. 

In dramatic writing, we call this subtext. 

Subtext is a hard thing to explain or teach because it’s about feeling beyond the words a person says. It’s about seeing the self-protection. It’s about intuiting the whole iceberg from just a glimpse of the tip that rests above water. This is both a writing and life skill that requires careful cultivation. 

Just like when you write a poem every day, you train yourself to see the poetic and the beautiful in the smallest, most mundane of things… if you regularly look beneath what’s being said, you’ll see the essential, subliminal truths that exist everywhere. 

Watch the news. You’re sure to see someone saying they’re in great health even as their bodily agony belies their words. A morose person will usually say they’re happy. An upset person will work extra hard to convince you they’re fine. A greedy person will try their darnedest to make you believe they’re charitable or generous. 

Everybody tries look faultless to protect themselves, but as a writer, your job is to help us see the vulnerability and to the find the truth. 

Over the past two weeks we’ve addressed character voice and dialogue. This week we’ll look at subtext because it’s an essential component of communicating via characters and story. One way to get better at harnessing subtext in your own writing is to seek it out in the scripts you read. With this in mind, we’ll offer examples from an array of different films, identifying the techniques used by the writers.  

BEACHES (1988)

Screenplay by Mary Agnes Donoghue

Based on the novel by Iris Rainer Dart

• How boring, flat and uncomfortable would this scene be if CC simply said to her best friend Hillary: “I love you, but I always thought I hated you, so I never showed it. You don’t know how much I really care!”? It’s much easier to speak about a dog than to speak directly to a friend about FEELINGS. 

• This is what we might call thematic subtext. It explores the themes of the movie: Friendship and loss while also foreshadowing what CC is going to go through later in the story, losing Hillary. One might argue that the whole exercise of watching a film is to LOOK for a theme. If a writer expresses the theme outright, they rob their readers of searching for it. 

DEATH BECOMES HER (1992)

Written by Martin Donovan & David Koepp

• Let’s call this ironic subtext, where every word out of Madeline and Helen’s mouths is the exact opposite of what they really mean. 

• We have all been in a position where we loooooathe somebody, but have to act in a civilized manner; where we want to kick somebody, but are forced to kiss them; where our polite decorum seethes with bitterness or jealousy. 

• Think — a boss you despise asks you to stay late on a Friday night for an assignment you think is totally pointless. You might retort, “Sure! No problem,” but is that really what you MEAN when you say it?

DOUBLE INDEMNITY (1944)

Screenplay by Billy Wilder and Raymond Chandler

Based on the novel by James M. Cain

• This is one of the most oft-cited examples of subtext in a movie, but we’ll repeat it now because it’s a great example of role-playing subtext. 

• Sometimes when a topic of conversation gets a little too salacious or uncomfortable, a character might take the heat off themselves by playing a role or pretending to be someone else. 

• When Phyllis realizes that Neff is coming onto her, she polices him, but he plays right along. If they’re not themselves, they don’t have to take responsibility for their emotions or for the wrong turn they’re taking. 

THE HURT LOCKER (2009)

Written by Mark Boal

• We felt it might be helpful to include this as a reminder that not all subtext is related to dialogue. Sometimes subtext can be visual subtext. 

• With the context of having seen James diffusing bombs in incredibly high pressure situations, we get exactly how incongruous he feels in a grocery store aisle, when faced with a mundane task like selecting a cereal. That’s what’s going on underneath what we see. 

LOVE JONES (1997)

Written by Theodore Witcher

• Subtext can be a staple in the romance genre. In this final moment of Love Jones, Nina mitigates the tension of reuniting with Darius by referring to him in the third person, like she’s talking about somebody who ISN’T him. Can you imagine if she said, “I had a jones for you. I think I left you hanging,” or if he said, “Am I fine?”

• We’ll call it third person subtext. Characters might do this if directly referring to themselves or each other is too awkward, painful, embarrassing, etc. Sometimes they’ll tell a story about someone else, but we know they’re really talking about themselves. 

ONE FLEW OVER THE CUCKOO’S NEST (1975)

Screenplay by Lawrence Hauben and Bo Goldman

Based on the novel by Ken Kesey

• In real life, people don’t often say, “I’m right. You’re wrong,” or, “I have the power here and you have to do what I say.” Rather, people jockey for control or authority in arguing over small, seemingly banal things. 

• This conversation between McMurphy and Big Nurse Ratched is not AT ALL about music or pills. Rather, it’s about who is in charge of the hospital — the patients or the administration? In this scene, despite McMurphy’s best efforts, the nurses maintain the upper-hand, even using subtle humiliation to get him to back down. 

• If you need a name for this kind of subtext, maybe it’s superiority subtext.

SIDEWAYS (2004)

Screenplay by Alexander Payne & Jim Taylor

Based on the novel by Rex Pickett

• Let’s call this an example of metaphoric subtext. It’s very similar to the third-person subtext used in Love Jones, but this is even more blatant. This is also a much-noted example of subtext, but it’s worth presenting again as its overtness makes it a great teaching scene. 

• In the scene, two wine enthusiasts talk about their passion for the beverage, but the wine becomes a conduit through which they actually talk about themselves. 

As we’ve repeated throughout this post, it’s easier to talk about dogs, speeding tickets, other people, music, wine, ANYTHING than it is to talk about or really deal with ourselves. Most great scripts are completely laden with subtext. Hopefully these examples help you to refine your ability to intuit it. 

For additional questions about these and other scripts, as always, e-mail library@wgfoundation.org 

Until next time, happy writing! 

WRITING YOUR SCREENPLAY WHILE SOCIAL DISTANCING: DIALOGUE

If you’re persistent, you’ll occasionally find yourself in this situation as a writer: You sit down to create a scene between two characters and the dialogue flows swiftly and seamlessly from your pen. It’s like a witty tennis match. You’re having so much fun and you could keep going and going. When the writing day is over, you think, “Dang! I have a really good ear for this! I’m so intuitive!” 

Here’s our question this week:

Does skill with dialogue mean a writer has a natural feel for how people talk (in the way that someone has natural rhythm or an eye for design)? Or, is dialogue a craft that a person can learn?

Perhaps it’s a little bit of both. 

We think good dialogue comes down to pretty much one thing: FRICTION.

Yes, friction, which is defined by the Oxford English Dictionary as:

1.) the resistance that one surface or object encounters when moving with another

2.) the action of one surface rubbing against another

3.) conflict or animosity caused by a clash of wills, temperaments or opinions

You are writing a motion picture, after all — and the force that creates motion is friction. Dialogue is the vehicle.

There’s a reason Mike Nichols famously stated, “There are only three kinds of scenes: a fight, a seduction and a negotiation.” These three scenarios naturally pit one force of will against another and the result is friction. 

The goal is to bring two different elements into the same beaker, then watch the natural chemical reaction. Dialogue sizzles when scene partners express themselves in opposite ways or have contrary belief systems, attitudes or approaches to life. 

What happens when hot meets with cold, slow meets with fast, smart meets with dumb, impulsive meets with careful, Democrat meets with Republican?

Let’s look at how a few scripts we love create friction with dialogue. 

CAN YOU EVER FORGIVE ME? (2018)

Screenplay by Nicole Holofcener and Jeff Whitty

Based on the book by Lee Israel

• Look closely and you’ll see that this is a seduction scene, but what makes the dialogue unconventional is the specific tactic by which Jack is trying to “seduce” Lee. 

• Jack tries to show Lee how vulgar, witty and literary he is in order to win her friendship.  Lee, by bringing up Jack’s closet pissing, calls him out for not being the cool guy he’s desperate to be… BUT it’s over being a loser that these characters genuinely connect. Seduction complete.

ERIN BROCKOVICH (2000)

Written by Susannah Grant

• In this negotiation scene, Ed tries to justify his inaction by throwing every obstacle he’s ever overcome at Erin, hoping that it absolves him of having to do the right thing. 

• This is something to note when writing dialogue: When we know we’re wrong or feel guilt, we will talk ad nauseam trying to prove our correctness or innocence. Notice that Erin, who in this scene has actual conviction and a backbone, doesn’t have to say much. She doesn’t have to convince herself that fighting for the people who have been poisoned is the right thing to do. 

HIS GIRL FRIDAY (1940)

Screenplay by Charles Lederer

Based on the Play "The Front Page" by Ben Hecht & Charles MacArthur

• Hildy negotiates with the Police Lieutenant to let Bruce out of jail. The Lieutenant is slow and compromised. Hildy is hot-headed and quick. This opposition in nature and attitude is what makes for a good back-and-forth dynamic between the two characters. 

• Generally, it also makes for good comedy when people — like the Lieutenant — are clearly corrupted and in the wrong, yet try to wield authority over somebody who is onto them. 

• Screwball comedy is a great genre to study if you’re trying to brush up on dialogue because it’s fast and coarse, much like a game of table tennis. 

MIDNIGHT COWBOY (1969)

Screenplay by Waldo Salt

Based on the novel by James Leo Herlihy

• Another scene about pissing!

• We wanted to include this because it’s a friendship scene. Ratso is essentially dying on a bus and his friend Joe tries to make him feel better by getting him to laugh. 

• It’s a sweet, genuine kind of seduction, trying to get somebody to laugh in the face of death. It’s also a great contrast — laughing when something is desperately sad. 

POSTCARDS FROM THE EDGE (1990)

Written by Carrie Fisher

• This dialogue works particularly well due to Suzanne and Doris’s opposite natures. Doris (the mother) is full of feeling and premonition while Suzanne (the daughter) is cynical. One is over-the-top; one is even-keeled. 

• The friction is caused by Suzanne’s need for her mother to come down to earth and by Doris’s need for her daughter to take her flights of fantasy more seriously. 

• Mike Nichols, who directed this film, would probably call this a negotiation. 

PULP FICTION (1994)

Screenplay by Quentin Tarantino

Story by Quentin Tarantino and Roger Avary

• It’s as small as debating whether the correct pronunciation is “po-tay-toh” or “po-tah-toh.” This scene proves the debate, no matter how seemingly trivial, is still a debate and creates friction. 

• Sometimes a Samuel Beckett-like scene in which two characters contemplate the nature of something small really gives us a lot to chew on as readers / an audience. Two hit men contemplating small cultural differences in a corporate world does a lot to humanize the hit men. 

SORRY TO BOTHER YOU (2018)

Written by Boots Riley

• Like His Girl Friday, this is a negotiation. You know you have a good scene when one character needs something from their scene partner, but their scene partner doesn’t have it. Money to survive is always a charged need. 

• Sergio tries to make Cassius look like a leech. Cassius tries to make Sergio look greedy. Their vibrant words about each other are what make their speech pop like a boxing match. 

If you have questions about these or other scripts, as always send us an e-mail at library@wgfoundation.org.

Until next time, happy writing!