Go Into The Story Resource: Page One
A daily series featuring the first page of notable movie scripts from all eras.
A daily series featuring the first page of notable movie scripts from all eras.
On May 16, 2021, Go Into The Story turned 13 years old — you can read the very first blog post here. I led with this paragraph:
Welcome to Go Into The Story! Right now, it’s nothing but a humble, threadbare blog, but I hope it will evolve into an active resource for aspiring screenwriters, as well as a community for anyone interested in storytelling and the creative life.
And evolve it did! To the point where it was recently named “Best of the Best” Scriptwriting Website in the 20th Annual Writer’s Digest Best Websites for Writers list.
To celebrate 13 years of blogging about screenwriting, writing, Hollywood, movies, TV, and the creative life, each day in May, I’m going to feature a piece of Go Into The Story trivia, plus a writing resource you can find in the site’s archives. This is not an exercise in self-congratulations so much as I figured readers could use some tips about how to best use the site. With — to date — over 100 archive topics, there is a LOT of content here. Hopefully, these posts this month will clue in more recent followers and remind long-time readers about resources you can use to facilitate deepening your understanding of the writing craft.
Today’s Go Into The Story resource: Page One. For the first twelve years of my blog’s existence, I ran a series called Daily Dialogue. It was exactly like it sounds: Each day, feature dialogue from notable movie scenes. When I was forced to take a break from blogging due to shoulder surgery, I had an inspiration: Why not start a new daily series called Page One? The concept is simple: Feature the first page of a movie script every day. Different genres, different eras, give readers a small taste of hundreds of screenplay styles. It’s proved to be a popular series and spawned a bunch of helpful online discussions about screenplay format, style, narrative voice, and much more.
Here are links to all of the Page One posts, a series which began last August.
10 Things I Hate About You (1999)
3:10 to Yuma (2007)
48 Hrs. (1982)
(500) Days of Summer (2009)
1917 (2019)
2001: A Space Odyssey (1968)
Ace in the Hole (1951)
Adaptation. (2002)
Aliens (1986)
Almost Famous (2000)
The Apartment (1960)
Apocalypse Now (1979)
Armageddon (1998)
Avatar (2009)
Avengers: Endgame (2019)
The Babadook (2014)
Baby Driver (2017)
Back to the Future (1985)
Basic Instinct (1992)
Barton Fink (1991)
Batman Begins (2005)
A Beautiful Mind (2001)
Being John Malkovich (1999)
Being There (1979)
The Best Exotic Marigold Hotel (2011)
Big (1988)
The Big Chill (1983)
Big Fish (2003)
The Big Lebowski (1998)
The Big Short (2015)
The Big Sick (2017)
Bill & Ted’s Excellent Adventure (1989)
Billy Elliot (2000)
Birdman or (The Unexpected Virtue of Ignorance) (2014)
Black Swan (2010)
BlacKkKlansman (2018)
Blade Runner (1982)
Blazing Saddles (1974)
Blood Simple. (1984)
Blue Velvet (1986)
The Blues Brothers (1980)
Body Heat (1981)
The Bodyguard (1992)
Bonnie and Clyde (1967)
Boogie Nights (1997)
Booksmart (2019)
Bottle Rocket (1996)
Boyhood (2014)
Braveheart (1995)
Brazil (1985)
The Breakfast Club (1985)
Breaking Away (1979)
Bridesmaids (2011)
The Bridge on the River Kwai (1957)
Bring It On (2000)
Broadcast News (1987)
Bull Durham (1988)
Buried (2010)
Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid (1969)
Captain Phillips (2013)
Carol (2015)
Casablanca (1942)
A Clockwork Orange (1971)
Children of Men (2006)
Chinatown (1974)
Cloud Atlas (2012)
Cloverfield (2008)
Collateral (2004)
Con Air (1997)
The Conjuring (2013)
Crazy Rich Asians (2018)
Dallas Buyers Club (2013)
Dances with Wolves (1990)
The Dark Knight (2008)
The Dark Knight Rises (2012)
Dave (1993)
Deadpool (2016)
Dead Poets Society (1989)
Dear White People (2014)
The Deer Hunter (1978)
The Devil Wears Prada (2006)
Die Hard (1988)
Diner (1982)
The Disaster Artist (2017)
Disturbia (2007)
The Diving Bell and the Butterfly (2007)
Django Unchained (2012)
Dog Day Afternoon (1975)
Dogma (1999)
Donnie Darko (2001)
Don’t Look Now (1973)
Down and Out in Beverly Hills (1986)
Drive (2011)
The Driver (1978)
Dunkirk (2017)
Easy A (2010)
Election (1999)
The Elephant Man (1980)
The End of the Tour (2015)
The English Patient (1996)
Erin Brockovich (2000)
Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind (2004)
E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial (1982)
Ex Machina (2014)
Eyes Wide Shut (1999)
The Fabulous Baker Boys (1989)
Fargo (1996)
The Father (2020)
The Fault in Our Stars (2014)
Ferris Bueller’s Day Off (1986)
Field of Dreams’ (1989)
Fight Club (1999)
Flight (2012)
The Florida Project (2017)
Forrest Gump (1994)
The 40-Year-Old Virgin (2005)
Four Weddings and a Funeral (1994)
Foxcatcher (2014)
Frances Ha (2012)
Frankenweenie (2012)
The French Connection (1971)
Friday the 13th (1980)
Fried Green Tomatoes (1991)
Frozen (2013)
The Fugitive (1993)
Full Metal Jacket (1987)
Galaxy Quest (1999)
Gattaca (1997)
Get Out (2017)
Get Shorty (1995)
Ghostbusters (1984)
The Godfather (1972)
The Godfather: Part II (1974)
Gone Girl (2014)
Goodfellas (1990)
The Graduate (1967)
Gran Torino (2008)
The Grand Budapest Hotel (2014)
The Grapes of Wrath (1940)
Gravity (2013)
The Great Gatsby (2013)
The Greatest Showman (2017)
Grosse Pointe Blank (1997)
Groundhog Day (1993)
Halloween (1978)
The Hangover (2009)
Hanna (2011)
Harold and Maude (1971)
Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets (2002)
Harry Potter And The Prisoner Of Azkaban (2004)
Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone (2001)
The Hateful Eight (2015)
Heat (1995)
Hell or High Water (2016)
His Girl Friday (1940)
Inception (2010)
Inside Out (2015)
The Iron Giant (1999)
It’s a Wonderful Life (1946)
Jaws (1975)
John Wick (2014)
Jojo Rabbit (2019)
Joker (2019)
Judas and the Black Messiah (2021)
Juno (2007)
Knives Out (2019)
Knocked Up (2007)
Kramer vs. Kramer (1979)
L.A. Confidential (1997)
La La Land (2016)
The Last Boy Scout (1991)
Lawrence of Arabia (1962)
The Lego Movie (2014)
Legally Blonde (2001)
Lethal Weapon (1987)
Lincoln (2012)
The Lion King (1994)
The Little Mermaid (1989)
Little Miss Sunshine (2006)
Little Women (2019)
Local Hero (1983)
Locke (2013)
Looper (2012)
The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring (2001)
The Lost Boys (1987)
Lost in Translation (2003)
The Maltese Falcon (1941)
Manhunter (1986)
Marathon Man (1976)
M*A*S*H (1970)
The Mask of Zorro (1998)
The Matrix (1999)
McCabe & Mrs. Miller (1971)
Mean Girls (2004)
Memento (2000)
Men In Black (1997)
Michael Clayton (2007)
Midnight Cowboy (1969)
Midnight Run (1988)
Midsommar (2019)
Milk (2008)
Minari (2020)
Moonlight (2016)
Moonrise Kingdom (2012)
Moonstruck (1987)
Mr. Smith Goes to Washington (1939)
Network (1976)
Nightcrawler (2014)
A Nightmare on Elm Street (1984)
No Country for Old Men (2007)
Nomadland (2020)
North By Northwest (1959)
O Brother, Where Art Thou? (2000)
On the Waterfront (1954)
One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest (1975)
Out of Sight (1998)
Palm Springs (2020)
Pan’s Labyrinth (2006)
Panic Room (2002)
Patton (1970)
Pineapple Express (2008)
Platoon (1986)
Pretty Woman (1990)
The Princess Bride (1987)
Prisoners (2013)
Promising Young Woman (2020)
A Quiet Place (2018)
Rachel Getting Married (2008)
Raiders of the Lost Ark (1981)
Rear Window (1954)
Rebel Without a Cause (1955)
Repo Man (1984)
Reservoir Dogs (1992)
RoboCop (1987)
Rocky (1976)
Roma (2018)
Romancing the Stone (1984)
The Room (2003)
Rosemary’s Baby (1968)
Roxanne (1987)
Scott Pilgrim vs. the World (2010)
Shakespeare in Love (1998)
Sideways (2004)
The Silence of the Lambs (1991)
Soul (2020)
Sound of Metal (2019)
Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse (2018)
Star Wars: Episode VII — The Force Awakens (2015)
The Third Man (1949)
Three Days of the Condor (1975)
The Trial of the Chicago 7 (2020)
The Untouchables (1987)
The Usual Suspects (1995)
The Verdict (1982)
To Kill a Mockingbird (1962)
Trading Places (1983)
Training Day (2001)
Unforgiven (1992)
Up in the Air (2009)
V for Vendetta (2005)
Vertigo (1958)
WALL·E (2008)
War Games (1983)
When Harry Met Sally… (1989)
Whiplash (2014)
Winter’s Bone (2010)
Witness (1985)
Wonder Woman (2017)
Zombieland (2009)
Each day this month, I featured a blog resource as a way of celebrating Go Into The Story’s 13th birthday. I hope you’ve enjoyed this series!