Script Analysis: “A Beautiful Day in the Neighborhood” — Part 4: Themes

Read and analyze the script for the Award-winning drama.

Reading scripts. Absolutely critical to learn the craft of screenwriting. The focus of this bi-weekly series is a deep structural and thematic analysis of each script we read. Our daily schedule:

Monday: Scene-By-Scene Breakdown
Tuesday: Plot
Wednesday: Characters
Thursday: Themes
Friday: Dialogue
Saturday: Takeaways

Today: Themes.

I have this theory about theme. In two parts. First, a principle: Theme = Meaning. What does the story mean? Second, while there is almost always a Central Theme, there are multiple other Sub-Themes at play in a story. Therefore the question: What does a story mean takes on several layers of meaning?

Time to ponder themes in A Beautiful Day in the Neighborhood. You can download the script here.

Screenplay by Micah Fitzerman-Blue & Noah Harpster, inspired by an article by Tom Junod.

IMDb plot summary: After a jaded magazine writer (Emmy winner Matthew Rhys) is assigned a profile of Fred Rogers, he overcomes his skepticism, learning about empathy, kindness, and decency from America’s most beloved neighbor.

Tomorrow we shift our focus to the script’s dialogue.

Major kudos to Karen Dantas for doing this week’s scene-by-scene breakdown.

To download a PDF of the breakdown for A Beautiful Day in the Neighborhood, click here.

For Part 1, to read the Scene-By-Scene Breakdown discussion, go here.

For Part 2, to read the Plot discussion, go here.

For Part 3, to read the Character discussion, go here.

To access over 70 analyses of previous movie scripts we have read and discussed at Go Into The Story, go here.

I hope to see you in the RESPONSE section about this week’s script: A Beautiful Day in the Neighborhood.