30 Days of Screenplays, Day 13: “Shakespeare in Love”
Why 30 screenplays in 30 days?
Why 30 screenplays in 30 days?
Because whether you are a novice just starting to learn the craft of screenwriting or someone who has been writing for many years, you should be reading scripts.
There is a certain type of knowledge and understanding about screenwriting you can only get from reading scripts, giving you an innate sense of pace, feel, tone, style, how to approach writing scenes, how create flow, and so forth.
So each day this month, I will provide background on and access to a notable movie script.
Today is Day 13 and the featured screenplay is for the movie Shakespeare in Love. You may read the screenplay here.
Background: Written by Marc Norman and Tom Stoppard
Plot summary: A young Shakespeare, out of ideas and short of cash, meets his ideal woman and is inspired to write one of his most famous plays.
Tagline: ..A Comedy About the Greatest Love Story Almost Never Told…
Awards: Nominated for 13 Academy Awards, winning 7 including Best Original Screenplay as well as winning the WGA Award.
Trivia: Writer Marc Norman got the idea for the film when his son Zachary called him from Boston University and suggested doing something on William Shakespeare as a young man in the Elizabethan theatre. It took two years for Norman to come up with the idea of having Shakespeare struggling with writer’s block on “Romeo and Juliet.”
Will is the story’s Protagonist. What does he want? To be a great writer. What does he need? To fall in love… then lose that love. Why? In order to drive him deeper into his Self. He has been living on the surface of his life, sleeping with illicit and uninspiring women, writing uninspired plays to fend off creditors. At the story’s beginning, he is in Disunity, a great talent unrealized.
And the other characters? Each of them has a role in Will’s metamorphosis, from Viola, the Attractor, who captures Will’s heart and inspires his words, to the Nemesis Lord Wessex, who eventually claims Viola as his wife, to Christopher Marlowe, the Mentor, who challenges Will by the very presence of Marlowe’s own writing talent, to various Tricksters including Fennyman and most importantly Queen Elizabeth.
In the end, Will loses his lover… but finds his creative voice. And each character along the way plays their part, large or small, in his metamorphosis.
One of the things that makes this script so eloquent is the distinctive way it approaches the traditional Protagonist metamorphosis. I will talk about this more when discussing Theme on Thursday, but for now, let’s consider those four movements typical of transformation:
Disunity (Act I)
Deconstruction (Act II — 1st half)
Reconstruction (Act II — 2nd half)
Unity (Act III)
There are many ways Norman & Stoppard put a spin on this paradigm. Here is one:
Generally the Protagonist experiences Deconstruction as a negative one. They have been thrust out of their Old World (Act I) and into the New World where they find they are strangers in a strange land. They don’t know the rules, don’t know the customs, don’t know the people or places.
Moreover psychologically they are on the defensive, the point of this part of their metamorphosis to punch holes in their defense, assault their behaviors and beliefs they had formed in their lives before Fade In. This is a critical phase in order to allow / force them to get in touch with their Core Essence.
In “Shakespeare in Love,” what happens in the first half of Act II? Will and Viola fall madly and deeply in love. That is not a negative experience, but a delightful, rapturous positive one. And yet it is still Deconstruction:
- Will’s stooping to dalliances with uninspired and uninspiring women totally undone by his romance with Viola.
- Will’s dark mood lifted.
- And most importantly Will’s writer’s block gone.
All of that — and more — Deconstructed by his relationship with Viola.
In the second half of Act II, the Protagonist most often goes through some sort of Reconstruction, which they generally experience as a positive. By now they feel more comfortable in the New World, no longer strangers. Plus now that their defenses have been knocked about (Deconstruction), they are able to access their Authentic Self, feel a sense of empowerment based on that alignment with Who They Are To Become.
What happens in the second half of Act II in “Shakespeare in Love”? Will must confront the horrible reality that Viola is getting married and moving to Virginia — and there is nothing he can do about it. Also he believes he has killed Marlowe, filling him with pangs of remorse and guilt. This is no positive experience, but a deeply negative one. And yet it is Reconstruction:
- Whereas Will began the story living on the surface of his life, not nearly tapping into the depths of his creativity, he needs not only the rapturous joy of the love he feels for Viola, but also the heart-rending sorrow of losing her.
- Along with the guilt and pain he experiences tied to his presumed role in Marlowe’s death.
In other words, in order for him to become William Shakespeare the great playwright, he needs to experience the full range of human emotion, to pull him down from living on the surface to the depths of Life in all its variety of experiences. So even though the second half of Act II is a negative experience, it is Reconstruction as it builds on Will getting in touch with his Core Essence, and moves him toward becoming the great writer he is fated to become.
What this reversal in mood in the script demonstrates — yet again — is how malleable narrative paradigms are… or should be. We can bend, reshape, tweak and twist them to avoid formula and create something distinctive and fresh.
Shakespeare in Love
Scene-by-scene breakdown
1–4: Establishing shot (London). To avoid being tortured, Henslowe takes on Fennyman as partner on Shakespeare’s new play.
4–5: Will’s house. Henslowe visits Will who has not finished play. Will states his goal: Needs to find his “muse.”
5–7: Street. Henslowe begs Will to finish the play — to deaf ears.
7–10: Dr. Moth’s office. Will admits he has “lost his gift” of writing. Moth gives Will a bangle to offer a woman to bring back Will’s muse.
10–13: Whitehall Palace. Will agrees to sell his new play to Burbage, potentially double-crossing Henslowe.
13–14: (cont’d): The Queen arrives. Will gives bangle to Rosaline.
14–15: (cont’d): A comedy act to the Queen’s delight. Viola introduced. Lord Wessex enters and “notices” Viola.
15–16: (cont’d): Viola recites Will’s words along with the actors revealing she is a fan of the theater. Will has left to write.
17–19: Viola’s room. Viola complains about custom of men playing ladies’ roles. Goal: “I will have poetry in my life. And adventure. And love.”
19–21: Street. Fennyman presses Henslowe about the play.
21–23: Street. Will barges into Burbage’s place, only to find Rosaline having sex with Tilney. She’s not his muse. Will burns the new pages he’s written.
23–26: Tavern. Will lies and tells Henslowe the play is done. Henslowe puts out the call for actors.
26–28: (cont’d): Will admits to Christopher Marlowe he hasn’t written a word of the play. Marlowe gives him some helpful tips for the story.
28–31: Rose Theater. Auditions, but scant talent. “Thomas Kent” (Viola dressed as man) auditions. Will is astonished at her talent. Pressed by Will to remove her hat, Viola runs away.
31–33: Chase. To Viola’s house where she just beats Will inside.
33: (cont’d): While Viola changes, her mother talks with Nurse about party that night: Wessex to speak with Viola’s father re matrimony.
33–35: (cont’d): Will slips a note for “Thomas Kent” to Nurse. Viola reads and accepts his offer for “Kent” to play a role in his newest play.
35–38: (cont’d): Will sneaks into the party. Wessex talks to Viola’s father re matrimony. Will spots Viola — immediately smitten. A changing partner dance. Will meets Viola. Offends Wessex who puts a knife to his throat. Will identifies himself as Christopher Marlowe.
38–40: (cont’d): Outside Viola’s balcony, Will and Viola flirt with each other. Will climbs the wall. Nurse screams. Will narrowly escapes.
41–44: Rose Theater. First rehearsal. Ned and compatriots enter, fill out the play’s parts.
44–45: (cont’d): Will goes outside to look for Thomas Kent. No show. Speaks to Urchin
45–49: (cont’d): “Thomas” does show, playing Romeo. Inspired, Will goes off to write a sonnet. Viola is “love-struck.”
49A-52A: Viola’s house. She returns with Will’s sonnet. Wessex waits impatiently. Viola emerges. Wessex announces arranged marriage. Viola has to pass the Queen’s scrutiny in Greenwich visit. Viola writes Will a note about impending marriage.
53–54: Rose Theater. Will arrives mid-rehearsal. Tells Ned about his role as Mercutio.
55–58: River. Thomas gives Will the letter from Viola. Will grills Thomas about Viola and she grills Will about Viola. Caught up with emotion, Thomas kisses Viola, then runs to her house. Will now knows Thomas is Viola.
58–60: Viola’s house. Will climbs wall to Viola’s room. They make love.
60–62: (cont’d): Next morning, Viola urges Will to write more of the play.
62–63: Rose Theater. Rehearsing the middle of the play. Will kisses Viola as Thomas playing Romeo, then goes off to write.
63–70: Series of shots: Play rehearsal / Will and Viola making love / Will and Viola reading his pages fresh after he’s written them
70–73: Rose Theater. Rehearsal. Will delivers more pages. Fennyman now caught up in the play’s plot.
73–74: Viola’s bedroom. Will indicates the play will not turn out well for Romeo and Juliet. Wessex arrives. Viola remembers the visit to Greenwich with the Queen. Viola must still marry Wessex.
74–75: (cont’d): Viola appears to Wessex. Will accompanies, dressed as Viola’s chaperon.
75–79: Greenwich Palace. Wessex asks Will (in drag) about Marlowe and Will continues to set up Marlowe. The Queen meets with Viola and a 50 pound wager is set: “Can a play show the very truth and nature of love.” Queen tells Wessex Viola has been “plucked.” Wessex figures her secret lover is Marlowe.
79–82: Burbage house. Marlowe interrupts Burbage having sex with Rosaline. Informs him Shakespeare is doing Romeo at the Rose.
83–87: The Rose. Burbage tries to assault Will, setting off a massive fight on stage with Fennyman emerging as the hero.
87–91: Brothel. A party with all the members of the Romeo crew including Viola as “Thomas Kent.” Learning that Will is married, she leaves in tears. Other bad news: Marlowe has been murdered.
91: Church. Will is there, convinced he is culpable for Marlowe’s death.
91–92: Road. Wessex meets Viola, riding her horse to church. Informs her of Marlowe’s murder, but Viola believes he means Will.
92–93: Church. A grieving Viola enters. So does Wessex. He spots Will, thinking he is Marlowe’s ghost. Wessex runs away screaming.
93–94: (cont’d): Viola races out of the church to Will — “thought you were dead.” Will: “I killed a man.”
94–95: Field. Viola admits her love for Will, but she must marry Wessex.
95–98: The Rose. Will tells the rest of the cast the end of the play — with one scene missing.
98–100: Viola’s bedroom. Will presents a copy of the play to Viola and recites the missing scene — farewell words.
100–101A: The Rose (cont’d): Farewell continues with Will making love to “Thomas.” Spied by John Webster (set up earlier) — tells Tinsley.
102–107: The Rose. Wessex arrives, knowing the truth about Will and Viola. Will learns Marlowe’s death was not by Wessex — Will not to blame. But Tinley closes the Rose due to woman actor — Viola revealed.
107–108: Tavern. Burbage offers his theater for Will’s play.
108–110: Outside. A playbill announces the premiere of Romeo and Juliet at the Carriage Theater — even though there’s no one to play Romeo. Will cares not, runs to Viola’s house. Sees Viola leaving with Wessex to be married.
110–111: Church. Newly married, Viola gets in Wessex’s carriage to go with him to Virginia. Playbill blows in. She escapes.
111–112: Carriage Theater. The cast preps for the play. Will dressed to perform as Romeo — devastated at losing Viola.
112–114: (cont’d): The play begins. Sam (as Juliet) — his voice has dropped. Viola and Nurse hustle toward theater, as does a furious Wessex.
114–117: (cont’d): Viola talks with Henslowe and takes on the part of Juliet.
117–118: (cont’d): Will shocked to see Viola.
118–120: (cont’d): Will throws himself into the role of Romeo.
120–123: (cont’d): The play continues through its sorrowful ending — and rapturous applause.
123–126: (cont’d): Tinley interrupts celebration to arrest everyone because of Viola — woman on stage. But he is interrupted by the Queen who has seen the play. She invites “Master Kent” forward. Covers for Viola. Recalls wager with Wessex. Invites Will to meet with her.
126–126B: Outside. Queen can not undo wedding. Has Wessex give fifty pounds — lost wager — to Viola to dispense with. Tells Viola to tell Will to “write something more cheerful next time.”
126B-128: Theater. Viola gives Will the money. Tells him the Queen’s desire for a new play. They talk through plot elements which emerge from their relationship, then kiss and say good-bye.
128–129: Will’s room. Will writes the beginning of Twelfth Night intercut with Viola’s ocean crossing to the New World.
What do you consider the major Plotline points?
What’s your take on Shakespeare in Love? Stop by comments and post your thoughts.
To see all of the posts in the 30 Days of Screenplays series, go here.
This series and use of screenplays is for educational purposes only!