Script Analysis: “Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind” — Part 6: Takeaways

Read the script for the critically acclaimed 2004 film and analyze it all this week.

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: Takeaways.

This week, we have been reading, analyzing, and discussing the script and movie Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind. In some ways, today’s exercise is the whole point of the series: What did you take away from the experience of reading and analyzing the script?

You may download a PDF of February 4, 2003 draft here.

Screenplay by Charlie Kaufman, story by Charlie Kaufman & Michel Gondry & Pierre Bismuth

IMDb plot summary: When their relationship turns sour, a young couple undergoes a medical procedure to have each other erased from their memories.

Write a RESPONSE and let me know what your takeaways have been from the script for Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind.

Major kudos to Andrew Lightfoot for doing this week’s scene-by-scene breakdown.

To download a PDF of the breakdown for Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind, go here.

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

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

For Part 3, to read Characters discussion, go here.

For Part 4, to read Themes, go here.

For Part 5, to read Dialogue, go here.

I hope to see you in the RESPONSE section about this week’s script: Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind.

For 70 movie scripts which members of the GITS community have read and analyzed, go here.