30 Days of Screenplays: Vol. 3?
Seeking your suggestions for 30 scripts to read in 30 days.
Seeking your suggestions for 30 scripts to read in 30 days.
Some years ago, I ran a series: 30 Days of Screenplays: Vol. 1. I followed that up a year later with 30 Days of Screenplays: Vol. 2. The concept: Encourage folks to read movie 30 scripts in 30 days. One per day. I provide background on each movie, then a link where they can download the script. From my original post:
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.
To this day, I get comments on those threads from people who take up the challenge and find it rewarding. By reading 30 scripts in 30 days, there is kind of Gestalt learning that happens. You begin to intuit aspects of the screenwriting craft: scene construction, transitions, enter later / exit early, dialogue = conversation with a purpose, subtext, subplots. You just start to get it, not only at a conscious level, but also subconscious.
I thought it would be a good idea to do 30 Days of Screenplays: Vol. 3. Thus, I am soliciting your suggestions!
This time around, I’d like to have two points of focus:
- While reading scripts for classic movies is great, contemporary screenplays are more reflective of style and format sensibilities. Therefore, while you can certainly suggest a movie produced before 2000, let’s see if we can ‘freshen up’ the Vol. 3 list with more modern movie scripts.
- Sorely lacking from Vol. 1 and Vol. 2 are movies which feature characters reflecting the diversity of human experience. For this list, let’s see if we can aggregate scripts with a strong presence of stories featuring characters and/or writers who represent the BIPOC and LGBTQIA+ communities.
THIS IS KEY: Any script recommendation must be a script which is available for download online.
Since I work in the business and am a member of the WGA, I can only provide download links on my blog which the studios, production companies, and financiers provide to the public. However, we ALL know there are PLENTY of online sites which host movie scripts. I have no problem linking to those because…
THIS SERIES IS FOR EDUCATIONAL PURPOSES ONLY!
One final thing. For Vol. 1, I provided background on the movies. However, Go Into The Story readers volunteered to do that for each of their movie suggestions. Therefore, if you are up to do that for the script you suggest, that’s great. Here is a template you can use:
Today’s guest columnist: Roger Market.
Title: The Way Way Back [download a PDF version of the script here].
Year: 2013
Writing Credits: Nat Faxon & Jim Rash
IMDB Rating: 7.4
IMDB Plot Summary: Shy 14-year-old Duncan goes on summer vacation with his mother, her overbearing boyfriend, and her boyfriend’s daughter. Having a rough time fitting in, Duncan finds an unexpected friend in Owen, manager of the Water Wizz water park.
Tagline: We’ve All Been There.
Awards: Nominated for eighteen awards, including three Critics Choice Awards (Best Young Actor/Actress for Liam James, Best Actor in a Comedy for Sam Rockwell, and Best Comedy). Won the Newport Beach Film Festival Audience Award for a US Feature Film, as well as the Young Hollywood Award for Breakthrough (Male) Performance for Liam James.
Analysis: The Way Way Back is a great read. It’s funny and heartfelt. It’s frustrating yet relieving, surprising yet inevitable.
Structurally, the movie has one of the earliest and most frustrating inciting incidents I’ve ever encountered. The opening scene takes place in a station wagon as 14-year-old Duncan, his mom, her boyfriend Trent, and Trent’s daughter drive toward the house they’re going to stay in for the summer. At the top of the scene, while Duncan’s mom and Trent’s daughter are sleeping, Trent asks Duncan if he’s awake just so he can then tell the boy that, on a social scale from one to ten, he’s a three and needs to raise that score this summer. Who says that to a child? Never before have I hated an antagonist so much right from the start. By the third page of the script, it’s clear that the movie is about Duncan proving that he is not a three.
From there, the movie proceeds like normal, with Duncan being forced to tag along with his mom, Trent, and Trent’s daughter on this summer vacation. At the second-act turning point, Duncan meets Owen, who soon gives Duncan a job at his water park and who will be instrumental in Duncan’s eventual transformation. Duncan keeps the job a secret. The midpoint has Duncan’s mom descending deeper and deeper into Trent’s terrible thrall, and when the second act becomes the third, Duncan finally stands up to Trent (but it ultimately does no good) and then tries to kiss the girl next door but is rebuffed. We can see it now: he’s getting bold, but he’s not there yet. He needs Owen’s help. He needs the water park.
A running thread throughout the second half of the movie is the legend about a boy once passing someone on the tallest waterslide at the park. Some believe it, and others don’t. At the climax, that’s exactly what Duncan does, and he becomes a hero. By passing Owen on the waterslide in front of everyone — including his mom, Trent, and Trent’s daughter — Duncan proves that he is not a three, that he can make friends and put himself out there. Or better yet: that it doesn’t matter. The “way way back” is not such a bad seat, and he prefers to ride there anyway.
The script is a fun read with many laugh-out-loud moments. These moments usually center on dialogue from either Owen or Betty, the lonely, alcoholic lady next door whose husband left her because he was gay. But the heart of the story is Duncan’s transformation from a reserved teenager to a popular cool kid, and on at least a couple of occasions, this transformation is evidenced in his repetition of a piece of dialogue or an idea that he got from Owen. Duncan is such a predictable, straight-laced kid that when he begins to change, he surprises everyone. And he makes both his mom and Owen proud.
Most Memorable Dialogue:
BETTY (off Steph’s skimpy bikini): “That’s exactly the kind of [swim] suit that got me pregnant the first time.”
LEWIS: “These [swimming trunks] don’t have any mesh, so you’re basically going ‘commando.’ Watch sitting. [Your] junk will fall out.”
PAM: “It’s Candlyland, Trent….(seconds later, in tears) It’s fucking Candyland!”
OWEN (over the waterpark’s loudspeaker): “Duncan, back to his lady friend. Duncan, to his lady friend. Please let her know that our conversation was entirely about her. In other news, this is extremely awkward for you.”
TRENT: “[Your father] doesn’t want you, kid.”
DUNCAN: “Don’t die wondering, man.”
Most Memorable Moments: Trent telling Duncan, a 14-year-old kid, that he’s a three on a social scale of one to ten. Duncan receiving his nickname, Pop ‘n Lock, at the waterpark after dancing with the break-dancers. The “going away” party for Lewis. Duncan passing Owen on the waterslide and proving that he is not a three.
What Did I Learn About Screenwriting From Reading This Script: One thing I learned, or that was reiterated to me, by reading this script is that the earlier one can place the inciting incident, the better. In this case, the first three pages tell the reader exactly what this story is about, and I can see why the filmmakers were successful in getting it made and executing on such a well-defined conflict.
Another thing I learned, or that was reiterated to me, by reading The Way Way Back is that comedy is all about structure. A writer can craft a pretty funny line by itself, sure, but the funniest lines are usually only funny because they’ve been well set up. In a vacuum, they’d never be funny. So I guess in short: context and setup are the keys to writing comedy that works.
To sum up:
- I am seeking YOUR suggestions for 30 Days of Screenplays: Vol. 3.
- The scripts must be available online for download.
- A preference for contemporary scripts (2000–2020).
- An inclusive representation of stories written by or featuring BIPOC and/or LGBTQIA+ storylines.
- Volunteers to provide background on their movie script suggestion.
Once we get 30 viable suggestions, we’ll run the series in an upcoming month. So spread the word for this exciting learning experience!
Here are links for the previous two series:
30 Days of Screenplays: Vol. 1
Day 5: The Shawshank Redemption
Day 25: The Silence of the Lambs
30 Days of Screenplays: Vol. 2
Day 14: Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy
Day 25: The Kids Are All Right
Day 30: The Great Gatsby (bonus)
30 Days of Screenplays: Vol. 3. Let’s make this happen!