Script Analysis: “Get Out” — Scene By Scene Breakdown

Here is my take on this exercise from a previous series of posts — How To Read A Screenplay:

After a first pass, it’s time to crack open the script for a deeper analysis and you can do that by creating a scene-by-scene breakdown. It is precisely what it sounds like: A list of all the scenes in the script accompanied by a brief description of the events that transpire.

For purposes of this exercise, I have a slightly different take on scene. Here I am looking not just for individual scenes per se, but a scene or set of scenes that comprise one event or a continuous piece of action. Admittedly this is subjective and there is no right or wrong, the point is simply to break down the script into a series of parts which you then can use dig into the script’s structure and themes.

The value of this exercise:

• We pare down the story to its most constituent parts: Scenes.
• By doing this, we consciously explore the structure of the narrative.
• A scene-by-scene breakdown creates a foundation for even deeper analysis of the story.

This week: Get Out. You can download a PDF of the script here.

Written by Jordan Peele.

IMDb plot summary: It’s time for a young African-American to meet with his white girlfriend’s parents for a weekend in their secluded estate in the woods, but before long, the friendly and polite ambience will give way to a nightmare.

Get Out
Scene-By-Scene Breakdown
By David Joyner
gointothestory.blcklst.com
 
 1–3 Andre (Lakeith Stanfield) is a young black man walking alone at night, lost in an affluent white neighborhood. He’s kidnapped. This Andre is the
same one we meet later in the film (and on page 49 of the script),
though his manner and appearance are different, and his name changed to
Logan.
 
Title card.

4–6 While packing for the trip, Rose and Chris discuss her (white) parents
in Chris’ apartment. Chris asks if she has told them that he is black.
No, she hasn’t. We also are told she has told him that he’s the first
black man she’s dated. Later, this is revealed to be a lie.

7–10 Chris and Rose leave in Rose’s car (and she’s driving). In the car, the
discuss Rose’s family and Chris calls Rod on his cell phone. (Shot
as an intercut.) We learn Rod is a TSA agent (who happens to have
excellent comedic timing). In the script, Rod is more flirtatious
towards Rose than in the film. After hanging up with Rod, Chris
and Rose flirt and get a little silly.

10–13 Their flirtation is suddenly interrupted when Rose’s car hits a deer.
It doesn’t die immediately and Chris appears more hurt than Rose.
An officer arrives and asks Rose for her driver’s license. She
complies. He then asks Chris for his. Rose objects strenuously,
since he wasn’t driving. Chris appreciates the support. There are
two police in the script but only one in the film.

14–17 Chris and Rose arrive at the Armitage estate, a large house 
in the country surrounded by lots of woods and no neighbors in sight.
They pass Walter, a black groundskeeper, as they follow the long
driveway to the home. Rose’s dad Dean, a surgeon, has a good
sense of humor but “poor social filter”. Rose’s mom Missy, a
psychiatrist, is described in the script as intelligent and able
to “read people like a book.” Rose and Chris sit in the living
room and have awkward small talk with Dean and Missy. They discuss
the deer. Dean is happy to hear it’s dead. Missy is more understanding.

We learn Chris and Rose have arrived on the weekend of a big
family get-together/party. Rose seems to have forgotten
and seems to regret bringing Chris during such an eventful
weekend.

(In the film, Dean next takes Chris on a tour of the
house and his backyard. In the script, Rose and Chris go
upstairs to unpack, with the tour coming later.)

18 Chris and Rose unpack in Rose’s bedroom. (While the bedroom is
decorated with her childhood stuffed animals, we were told during
the drive up by Rose that her parents only moved there in the past
several years, when Rose presumably lived elsewhere.)

19–21 Dean takes Chris on a tour of the house and his backyard.
We learn that Dean’s (white) dad was an Olympic-quality sprinter
beaten by Jesse Owens in the 1936 Olympic qualifiers. As Dean says,
“He almost got over it.”

22–25 Chris and Rose talk to Dean and Missy on the outside patio.
They discuss Chris’ skill as a photographer (also shown
during the opening credits) and Missy’s skills as a hypnotist
(Dean brags she helped him quit smoking and she offers to
help Chris the same way). Georgina, the black housekeeper,
serves them and acts odd.
 
Peele’s dialog and skillfully written scenes places us in a
world where it Rose is a typical loving supportive girlfriend with
a strange but harmless parents.

26–30 Jeremy, Rose’s brother arrives. They are all drinking but Jeremy
gets uncomfortably aggressive towards Chris. Dean assertively tells
Jeremy to back off. Jeremy talks a wine bottle with him as he
leaves the room.

31–32 Chris and Rose discuss Jeremy in Rose’s bedroom. Rose appears quite
angry at Jeremy and affectionate towards Chris.

33–34 Chris sneaks outside in the middle of the night for a cigarette.
He’s scared by Walter the groundskeeper (in work clothes) who ran straight
towards him then broke away at the last second. He’s startled by
Georgina making a toothy grin in a window. It turns out she’s
just checking her teeth in the reflection.

35–41 Chris sneaks back into the house, only to discover Missy
awake, dressed, and in her office. She invites him in.
They chit-chat before he agrees to let her hypnotize him to stop his cigarette urges.

In this long, tension-filled scene, the hypnosis is
intercut with memories of Chris as an 11-year old,
brought up by Missy as she clinks her snoop against her
tea-cup. (This sound, we learn later, causes Chris to enter
a hypnotic state.) The scene ends with Chris, catatonic
in his hypnotic state, eyes open in helpless terror,
as Missy says “Now you are in the Sunken Place.”

42 Chris wakes up in bed. Rose is in the shower (her bedroom
has its own bathroom). Chris gets a text message from Rod
with a pic of Chris’s dog. Chris plugs in his phone into
the charger as it’s low on power. (Later, Chris discovers
Georgina has unplugged it.)

43–44 Chris takes his camera outside in the morning sun and talks to
Walter, who’s working (chopping wood in the film). They have
an awkward conversation. (For example, Walter says Rose is
“One of a kind; top of the line. A real doggone keeper.”)

45–46 Back in Rose’s bedroom, Chris tells Rose that he thinks
Missy hypnotized him. He doesn’t remember it but now
he’s repulsed by the idea of smoking and he had some
weird dreams. Rose seems upset by this news. However,
they notices outside the window that cars are arriving for
the big party.

47–49 Chris and Rose wander through the party crowd. Mostly,
they are old white people. In each conversation, the old
couples say something racially insensitive. (Remember, we are
seeing all this from Chris’ POV. We don’t realize until
later that Chris is really on sale, and these people are
potential buyers.)

50–51 Chris spots Andre from the 1st scene at the bar making himself
a drink. Due to his new appearance, Chris does not recognize
Andre (who he actually knows, as a friend of Rod’s). (Nor
did I recognize him as the same actor from the 1st scene.)
Andre’s new name is Logan and he appears to be romantically
attached to a much older white woman, Philomena.

52 Dean makes a strange welcoming speech in which he
points out Chris specifically to everyone and then talks about the “Templar” and “knights of old”.

53–54 Chris wanders around taking shots with his camera and
runs into Jim, a old blind gallery owner who is an admirer
of Chris’ work. (It’s later revealed that Jim is Chris’
buyer.)

55 Jeremy gets Chris to play badminton with him.
The crowd ogles Chris uncomfortably.

(If memory serves, no pun intended, this scene was cut from the film.)

56–57 Chris goes to Rose’s bedroom to get his cell-phone,
which has been unplugged. He sees Georgina near the bedroom
and suspects her. Rose joins Chris. Chris tells Rose
about the cell-phone being unplugged. She acts upset by it.
Chris says he’ll meet her later and that he just wants to
talk to Rod and see how his dog is doing.

58–59 Chris talks to Rod. Extremely funny convo about the weird
things Chris has experienced.

60 Chris has an awkward conversation with Georgina where
she seems to apologize about unplugging his phone.
Chris talks his cellphone and leaves.

61–63 Chris walks into the party crowd. Dean makes him feel
uncomfortable by introducing him to lots of people.
One of them asks Chris about “advantages or disadvantages”
of “being African American”. Chris is frozen in shock
over the strangeness of the situation. Chris sees Andre/Logan
and asks him to answer. Andre answers in such an odd manner
that Chris decides to take a picture of him with his cellphone.
The cell-phone flash goes off. Andre changes his tone and
screams at Chris “Get the fuck out of here!”

64–65 Chris, Rose, Dean wait in the living room for Missy to finish
treating Andre/Logan. Dean claims A/L had a seizure. Rose
seems to be on Chris’ side, as she appears skeptical.
Missy and A/L enter from Missy’s office. Acting embarrassed,
A/L apologizes and leaves with Philomena. At this point,
Chris might be recognizing Andre as a friend of Rod’s.
Chris and Rose leave to take a walk.

66–69 In the woods alone, Chris tells Rose “That wasn’t a seizure.”
Chris says he wants to go. Rose seems to be confused but
supportive. She says they will make up an excuse and then
leave.

66–69 Intercut with the convo between Chris and Rose is a silent
bidding war for Chris by the rich whites are the party.
People hold up fingers or bingo cards in the silent
language they use. No words are used.

70 As Chris and Rose walk back to the house they see the party
 has broken up and the guests are leaving.

71 In the bathroom, alone, Chris sends Rod the cellphone pic he took
of Andre and they talk. Their very funny convo is interrupted by
Chris’ cellphone dying.

72–73 In Rose’s bedroom, Chris and Rose pack to leave. When Rose
leaves to get a bag, Chris stumbles on a box of photos of
Rose with friends. One is a pic of Rose and black boyfriends,
including Walter the groundskeeper, strongly suggesting Rose has
lied to him. Rose returns and they finish packing.
Rose can’t find her car keys. She says they are in their
bags somewhere, pick up their bags and leave.

74–75 As they come down the stairs, Chris is confronted by Missy,
Dean and, by the door with his lacrosse stick, Jeremy. Rose and
Chris make a lame excuse why he must go. After a brief
tense discussion, Chris says “Rose! The keys!” and Rose
replies “You know I can’t give you the keys.” (In the film,
she holds the keys in her hands to prove she has found them.)
The scene ends with the TING-TING of Missy’s spoon against
her tea cup.

76–77 Jeremy, Rose, Missy, Dean take Chris downstairs.

78 Rod tries to call Chris but it always goes to voice-mail.
He starts a computer search for Andre, based on the cellphone
pic he got from Chris.

79 Chris wakes up in the basement, tied to a chair in front
of a TV and near a mounted deer with antlers. The TV in front
of Chris turns on and shows a tea cup. TING TING. Chris falls
asleep.

80–82 Rod sits with a skeptical (female) police detective. After
telling her about Chris and Sid (who he has with him)
and Andre, Rod explains his theory that Chris was kidnapped
by a bunch of whites who are kidnapping young black men to
be used as sex slaves. She calls in two more detectives and has
Rod repeat his theory. The detectives break out laughing.

83 Chris wakes up in the basement, tied to a chair in front
of a TV thinking out loud about what’s happened to him.
He scratches on the arm of the chair he’s tied to.
The TV in front of Chris turns on and shows a tea cup.
TING TING. Chris falls asleep.

84–85 Rod calls Chris’ cellphone again. Rose answers. The call is
intercut. She claims Chris left already but forgot his phone.
“Wait. You haven’t seen him?” Rod is convinced she’s
lying and starts to record the phone call. When Rose
starts to flirt with Rod, he hangs up on her.

86–87 Chris wakes up in the basement, tied to a chair in front
of a TV. The TV turns on to a tape of Roman Armitage
(Rose’s grandpa, deceased). Roman explains in soothing
tones Chris’ horror that is about to be real.

88 The TV turns on to a live broadcast of Jim (the old
blind gallery owner) explaining the procedure in more
detail.

(If memory serves, this scene was cut from the film.)

89 Chris wakes up in the basement, tied to a chair in front
of a TV. The TV in front of Chris turns on and shows
a tea cup. Chris says “No, no.” TING TING. Chris falls
asleep.

90 Jim is on an operating table. Dean and Jeremy are in scrubs.
Dean starts the brain surgery on Jim, with Jeremy assisting.
Jeremy leaves to get Chris. We hear (presumably O.C. or V.O.
but the script format does not indicate this) Jim talk to
Chris (in a continuation of their convo started on page 88).

91 Jeremy untied the seemingly unconscious Chris the goes to turn
off the TV. Chris hits him over the head, knocking Jeremy out.
Chris takes cotton earplugs out of his ears.

92 Dean removes the top of Jim’s cranium then waits for Jeremy.
Impatient, Dean goes out of the operating bay (a room in
the basement) looking for Jeremy. Chris stabs Dean in the chest
with the antlers of the mounted deer.

93 Chris comes upstairs, covered with Dean’s blood. He enters
Missy’s office. She is there. A tea cup and spoon is on the table
between them. They sprint for it, Chris wins, smashing it to the floor.
Missy stabs him in the hand with a letter opener. Missy
and Chris struggle more until he (off screen) subdues her.

When Chris is about to walk out the front door,
Jeremy comes out of nowhere, putting him in a choke hold.
Each time Chris tries to open the front door, Jeremy kicks
it shut. Chris tries once more but this time, as Jeremy brings
up his leg for the kick, Chris stabs it with the letter opener.
Jeremy falls, Chris breaks the hold and (off camera)
kicks Jeremy in the head several times. Chris grabs Jeremy’s
car keys.

94 Chris takes off in Jeremy’s sports car (the same car that
was used to kidnap Andre in the 1st scene). Out of nowhere,
Georgina runs in front of the car and Chris hits her so hard
she bounces up and over the car, landing in the driveway behind
him. After a flashback (not indicated in the script formatting)
to his youth when he thinks his inaction as an 11 year old
may have killed his mom, Chris decides to stop and help
Georgina by putting her in the passenger seat.

Meanwhile, Rose has been listening to music in her bedroom
with headphones (in the film, surfing the internet for good
looking young black guys). After this crash into Georgina, Rose
takes off her headphones, thinking she’s heard something.

95 Rose comes out of the house carrying a rifle. Rose yells
“Grandma” (referring to Georgina). Chris floors it just as
Georgina wakes up. She attacks him, causing his to crash into a
tree. The impact kills Georgina. Rose shoots at
Chris in the car, missing him. He crawls out of the car
as she reloads. Walter, who is really grandpa Roman, runs from
the house to stop Chris.

96 Walter/Roman easily catches Chris and holds him on the ground.
Rose approaches with the loaded rifle to finish Chris off.
Chris pulls out his cellphone, firing a flash into W/R’s eyes.

W/R looks at Rose behind him and asks for the gun.
She gives him the rifle. W/R shoots Rose in the stomach
then shoots himself in the head.

97 Sirens approach from the distance but Rose is not dead. She and
Chris struggle for the gun. Chris gains the upper hand and starts
to strangle Rose to death. As she is about to die, he stops.

A patrol car with sirens and flashing lights pulls up. Rose screams
“Help! He’s trying to kill me.” Chris gets up, with his hands in the air. 
Rod gets out of his TSA patrol car, yelling, “Oh shit, Chris!”

98 As Chris gets into the passenger seat, Rod says “I told
you to get the fuck out”.

Writing Exercise: I encourage you to read the script, but short of that, if you’ve seen the movie, go through this scene-by-scene breakdown. What stands out to you about it from a structural standpoint?

Major kudos to David Joyner for doing the scene-by-scene breakdown.

To download a PDF of the breakdown for Get Out, go here.

For 100+ movie scripts broken down scene by scene, go here.