Page One: “Midnight Cowboy” (1969)

Screenplay by Waldo Salt, novel by James Leo Herlihy

The movie version of the opening:

Completely different. Let’s reverse engineer why the change. Pretty easy to guess: Why begin the movie with a news type show when you can start by focusing on the Protagonist… while featuring a Harry Nilsson song which, by the way, went on to be a huge hit. Read the script. The movie cut the first 4+ pages and begins on p. 5.

Read the script here.

FOR EDUCATIONAL PURPOSES ONLY!

Page One is a daily Go Into The Story series featuring the first page of notable movie scripts from the classic era to contemporary times. Comparing them is an excellent way to study a variety of writing styles and see how professional writers start a story.

For more Page One posts, go here.

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