Script Analysis: “Moonrise Kingdom” — 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.

Today: Moonrise Kingdom (2012). You may download the script here.

Written by Wes Anderson, Roman Coppola

IMDb plot summary: A pair of young lovers flee their New England town, which causes a local search party to fan out to find them.

Moonrise Kingdom
Scene-By-Scene Breakdown
By Daniel Bigler
GoIntoTheStory.com

P. 1–2 On a rainy September day on the island of New Penzance, with everyone stuck inside, we’re introduced to the Bishop family: Mr. and Mrs. Bishop, the three Bishop boys, and finally, 12-year-old Suzy Bishop — one of our story two co-protagonists. Throughout the entire day, Suzy watches studiously out the windows with a pair of binoculars.

P. 2 Elsewhere on the island, we’re introduced to The Narrator — a very Bob Balaban-like character who sets the stage and explains the context for our story.

P. 3–7 At Camp Ivanhoe, Khaki Scout Troop 54 begin their day as Scout Master Ward goes around conducting an inspection of each scout’s work. However, they soon notice that one of the troops is missing. 12-year-old Sam Shakusky has flown the coop!

P. 7–9 Scout Master Ward radios the island’s sole police officer, Captain Sharp, to report Sam’s disappearance. He explains they found a letter from Sam, resigning from the Scouts.

P. 9–12 At the post office, Scout Master Ward and Captain Sharp place a long-distance call to Sam’s foster parents, Mr. and Mrs. Billingsley. Mr. Billingsley interrupts to say they won’t be inviting Sam back to live with them; Sam truly is an orphan.

P. 12–15 Ward rounds up Troop 55 to begin a search party. Some of the troops decide to arm themselves just in case Sam is crazy.

P. 15–16 Captain Sharp stops by the Bishop’s house to ask if they’ve seen Sam. They haven’t. Above them, at her window, Suzy watches through her binoculars. As Captain Sharp leaves, Suzy notices Mrs. Bishop covertly leaving the house to follow after Sharp, eventually meeting him at a rendezvous point not far away to talk.

P. 16 Back at Camp Ivanhoe later that night, Scout Master Ward dictates the day’s search efforts to an audio recorder. He is dejected. Needless to say, things are not going well.

P. 17 The next morning, we finally meet Sam Shakusky. With meticulous Khaki Scout skill, Sam canoes and hikes across the island, and at last comes to a wide meadow where he finds Suzy waiting for him. From the looks of the luggage at her side, she’s come prepared (albeit with a kitten and record player) to run away with Sam.

P. 18–21 Flashback to the previous summer — we get to see how Sam and Suzy met. As his Khaki Scout troop attends a performance of Benjamin Britten’s “Noye’s Fludde” at St. Jack’s Church, Sam sneaks off from the audience and wandering into the dressing rooms backstage. There he meets Suzy, dressed as a raven for the play. The other birds are not impressed, but it’s clear that Suzy and Sam have an instant connection.

P. 21–25 Back in the present, Suzy and Sam set off on their runaway escape. Using his cartography patch skills, Sam show Suzy where he’d like to pitch camp later that day. He also explains the finer points of camouflage and sucking on pebbles in case your mouth gets parched. They journey on.

P. 25–26 Sam are Suzy are in the middle of a lake in a canoe. Sam uses a strip of red licorice as bait while fishing.

P. 27–31 Dusk. The two children have set up camp at the lake shore, and Sam cooks them a fish dinner over the fire. Later, they take inventory of everything Suzy’s brought along: the aforementioned kitten and record player, cans of cat food, a few other items, and a suitcase filled to the brim with fantasy books stolen from her school library (mostly “stories with magic powers in them”). Sam asks Suzy why she didn’t any other supplies, but says it’s alright, they can share. He then realizes that Suzy must have stolen the library books. Sam asks Suzy if she’s depressed, and she shares about her parents’ concerns that she may be a “very troubled child.” They later fall asleep in the tent as Suzy reads from one of her fantasy books.

P. 31–34 Back at the house, Mr. and Mrs. Bishop discover Suzy has run away from home when she doesn’t show up for dinner. They also surprisingly catch Captain Sharp waiting outside the house in the dark, sitting in his patrol car. Mrs. Bishop insists he go look for Suzy. Later, as Captain Sharp drives around the island with Mr. Bishop, Mr. Bishop begins to suspect that something is up between Captain Sharp and his wife.

P. 35–38 They return to learn that Mrs. Bishop has found a collection of letters Suzy and Sam wrote to each other over the summer. Via a montage of the letters, we learn the full history of the children’s correspondence — from them bonding over shared hardships and being misunderstood by their families, all the way up to their plans to run away.

P. 38–40 The following morning, the search team finds evidence of the runaways in the wide meadow where Sam and Suzy initially met. Captain Sharp takes charge, deputizing some of the scout troop, and they set off in hot pursuit!

P. 41–43 In the woods, Sam and Suzy are finally tracked down by some of the other scouts (who have come well-armed in case Sam is crazy). One of them, Redford, exchanges heated words with Sam (the least popular member of the troop by far), and an epic confrontation occurs — which results in the entire troop running for their lives, Redford being stabbed in the back by Suzy with lefty scissors, and Deluca being shot by Sam’s air-rifle.

P. 43–44 Suzy and Sam discover that Snoopy, the Khaki Scout troop’s wire-haired dog terrier, has been shot with an arrow during the kerfuffle. Grieving, they realize he’s not going to make it. (“Was he a good dog?” Suzy asks. “Who’s to say,” Sam answers.)

P. 45–46 Scout Master Ward tends to Redford’s wounds as the injured scout troop ride in Captain Sharp’s patrol car to the island’s police station/seaplane dock. In the back of the car, the scouts who were present excitedly re-cap the confrontation for the others.

P. 46–49 They get to the station and begin to load up Redford into a seaplane bound for the infirmary at Fort Lebanon. Mr. and Mrs. Bishop are already there, and Sharp and Ward break it to them that it’s very clear Suzy and Sam conspired in this together and she’s the one who stabbed Redford. They don’t take this news well, and tensions between the four escalate — until, out of nowhere, the Narrator steps in and interjects, saying he thinks he knows where Sam and Suzy are going.

P. 49–55 Sam and Suzy have finally reached their destination: a tidal lagoon with a small cove enclosed by a low, rocky cliff (“Mile 3.25 Tidal Inlet,” according to the Narrator’s map). Their luggage is piled up on the beach, Suzy’s record player plays a Leonard Bernstein album, and the children wander the cove exploring. They each climb up onto rocks on opposite sides of the lagoon, strip down to their underwear, and leap into the water, swimming toward each other.
Cut to later… Their camp’s set up, tent pitched, and their clothes sway like flags on a clothesline.

A series of short scenes taking place at the cove follows:

• Suzy poses for Sam as he paints her portrait, and they discuss how the place needs a new name.
• Sam offers Suzy some jewelry that he’s made for her — earrings made from two dead beetles and fish hooks. Back in the tent, he pierces her ears in order to put them in.
• Sam and Suzy dance on the beach together, listening to a song from a French singer. Eventually they press up against each other and kiss.
• Sam and Suzy sit on a tree branch together over the water and talk: Suzy explains the reason she always uses her binoculars, they both agree they want to go on adventures and not get tied down when they grow up, and Suzy shares about how she’s always wanted to be an orphan, since most of her favorite characters are and she thinks their lives are more special. Sam frowns at this, and then tells Suzy, “I love you, but you don’t know what you’re talking about.” A long pause. Then Suzy tells him she loves him, too.
• Nighttime. A campfire burns in front of the tent, with the two children inside. Suzy reads aloud from another of her books.

P. 55 The next morning, Sam and Suzy lie asleep together in the tent, wearing only their underwear. They’re awoken to find that they’ve been discovered by the search party. Mr. Bishop is incensed, and lifts their entire tent up off the ground above them. Mrs. Bishop pulls Suzy away, and Scout Master Ward asks the other scouts to strike the camp.

P. 56–58 Sam and Suzy get interrogated during the police boat ride back. Scout Master Ward and Captain Sharp also give Sam a letter from his foster family explaining he won’t be invited back. Mr. Bishop is still furious, and declares that the two children will never see each other again.

P. 58 Later, at the police station/dock, Scout Master Ward consoles Sam about his parents. He also says the camp back at the lagoon was one of the best-pitched camp-sites he’s ever seen.

P. 59–61 Captain Sharp, Scout Master Ward, and Becky take a call from Social Services at the post office. Social Services says she’ll come immediately tomorrow morning to collect Sam, and from there he’ll be taken to an orphanage named Juvenile Refuge (where they’ll determine if he’s a candidate for institutional treatment or electroshock therapy).

P. 62–63 Back at home, Mr. Bishop goes to look for a tree to chop down, while Mrs. Bishop washes Suzy in the bathtub, attempting to console her daughter. Suzy says she hates her, and also knows what she does with that “sad, dumb policeman.”

P. 63–65 Sam stays with Captain Sharp in his Airstream trailer for the night. Before bed, they talk about life and love over slugs of beer and sausages.

P. 65–67 At Camp Ivanhoe, Scout Master Ward unsuccessfully tries to recollect his thoughts for his audio log. Meanwhile, up in the camp’s treehouse, the other scouts have assembled. They discuss Sam and Suzy and admit how they’ve been jerks to Sam this whole time. Skotak rallies the others to lend their fellow Khaki Scout a hand, and then a plan begins to emerge…

P. 67 Back at the Bishop’s house, the plan gets underway. As Mr. Bishop rests against an almost completely chopped down tree outside, we see five silhouettes run silently away from the house.

P. 68 Mrs. Bishop and Captain Sharp meet at their usual rendezvous point to talk. Mrs. Bishop says she’s calling their relationship off, realizing she’s got to do better, for everybody. With one final exchange, where Captain Sharp admits he admires the two children for their romance, the two adults part ways.

P. 69 At the Airstream trailer, Sam is awoken by the other scouts’ attempt to rescue him. At first he resists leaving, but then sees that Suzy is also with them. They’re both ecstatic! Quietly, Sam and his rescuers sneak away.

P. 70 Still nighttime, five mini-canoes race across a strait to the open ocean. They head for Camp Lebanon, where Skotak says his Cousin Ben can help them.

P. 71 On the island of St. Jack Wood, the Narrator explains the islands’ geographies to us as he takes meteorological readings, amidst increasingly gusting winds. Clearly, a storm is approaching.

P. 71–72 At home, lying in separate beds, Mr. and Mrs. Bishop discuss law job stuff as they get ready to fall sleep. Mrs. Bishop apologizes to Mr. Bishop for hurting him. Mr. Bishop says he hopes the roof comes flying off their house and he gets sucked into space, since they’d be better without him. Mrs. Bishop reminds him: “We’re all they’ve got, Walt.”

P. 73 Sam, Suzy, and their scout rescuers have taken shelter in a stone cave for the night. They all
encircle Suzy, listening attentively as she reads to them aloud from another of her books.

P. 73 At Camp Ivanhoe the next morning, Scout Master Ward notices his troop’s disappearance. At first he tries to go about eating breakfast, unsure what to do, but he then reads a quote from the Khaki Scout’s Master-in-Chief, Commander Pierce. Something dawns on him.

P. 73–74 At Fort Lebanon, young scout telegraph operators receive a message from Ward. They deliver it to Secretary McIntire, who then delivers the message to Commander Pierce himself.

P. 75–79 Suzy, Sam, and the rest of Troop 54 (minus Redford) sneak into the fort. Skotak leads them to the supply tent where Cousin Ben is, and after some tense negotiation involving a can with seventy-six dollars in nickels, Ben hooks Sam up with a cold-water crabber moored off Broken Rock that he can escape on. Before departing, though, Sam asks if they can go to the wedding chapel so he and Suzy be get married. Hesitant, Cousin Ben asks them to talk about it seriously together; as they do, Suzy reflects on her worries about getting married, and wonders whether it might just be better if they go steady together permanently. Sam doesn’t agree. He then shows her the one photo he has of his parents (taken at their wedding), which convinces Suzy.

P. 80 At the chapel, Cousin Ben officiates the ceremony as the troop is gathered around Sam and Suzy. (“Even though the union won’t legally hold up in the state, county, or, frankly, any courtroom in the world,” he adds as a disclaimer.) Out of concern for their future, the troop also vote to lend Sam and Suzy back the can of nickels. Now officially wed, Sam and Suzy exit the wedding chapel and lead the group through the camp to the marina.

P. 81–82 The group wish Sam and Suzy farewell as they board a small sailboat. They depart, and sail off… and then turn around, and come right back. Suzy’s forgotten her binoculars in the chapel!

P. 83–84 Sam returns to the wedding chapel for the binoculars — only to find that they’ve fallen into the hands of Redford, who’s heavily bandaged and in medical pajamas. Sam confronts the other scout. He manages to get Suzy’s binoculars back from him, but not before Redford alerts others about how the “fugitives” are there.

An emergency siren sounds. Two teams of scouts playing capture the flag start to chase after Sam, and he runs away frantically — eventually onto a wide sport field, where he grabs a flag marker, and then onto a hill, where he tries to scare the approaching mob off by throwing the flag down at them. As he does, though, he gets struck by a bolt of lightning! Suzy runs up to him: he’s OK. Using her binoculars, he spots another way they can escape. They race toward a ladder that’s leaning against a high fence and climb up it.

P. 84–85 Commander Pierce is on the phone with Captain Sharp, Scout Master Ward, and Becky. He tells them that the kids have been found and are at the fort now. They notify the Bishops in turn, and they all depart immediately for St. Jack Wood.

P. 86–88 Outside, the storm continues to pick up. Amid heavy rain and turbulence, Jed pilots the seaplane toward the island, with Social Services riding inside; meanwhile, Scout Master Ward races determinedly across the channel in his motorboat. On the island, Sam, Suzy, and Troop 54 scramble away from Fort Lebanon through some woods; at the Fort, scouts try frantically to pack everything up as a flood warning goes out over the radio. Commander Pierce informs them all that their designated storm shelter is St. Jack Wood’s church (the site of “Noye’s Fludde”).

P. 88 Suzy, Sam, and the troop sneak into the church as others rush around madly, trying get it set up as a flood shelter.

P. 88–90 At the fort, Commander Pierce has all the Khaki Scouts assembled. Then, out of nowhere, Scout
Master Ward’s boat arrives. He joins them, looking for his troop. Pierce chastises Ward for losing his entire troop, then strips him of his field command. They continue the evacuation — but just as Commander Pierce heads back to his tent to retrieve his medicine, a flash-flood rips through the fort, stranding Pierce and setting his tent aflame. Scout Master Ward jumps into action and saves the commander!

P. 91–97 Captain Sharp and the Bishops arrive at the church/flood shelter, right as the scouts from Fort Lebanon march in. Scout Master Ward tells them Suzy and Sam have escaped again. He and Becky then go back out with volunteers to help the others. Just as Sharp notices eleven familiar-looking children dressed in animal costumes up in the choir loft, Social Services arrives, demanding to know where Sam is. She berates Captain Sharp and Scout Master Ward both for their incompetence as custodial guardians, but they protest, saying that she can’t send Sam to Juvenile refuge. Commander Sharp stops everyone from what they’re doing and says that he’s not getting electroshock therapy. Social Services is furious, writes him up for gross misconduct, and they start to argue with each other. Redford interrupts, pointing up to the choir loft — they’re here! Suddenly the lights go out, however… and when they look back up, Suzy and Sam have disappeared.

P. 97–101 Captain Sharp races after them, up onto the church roof. Suzy and Sam start climbing up the church’s steeple to get away. Sharp isn’t far behind, and Scout Master Ward gets him a rope he can use just in case. As he follows after the children, Sharp uses his walkie-talkie to call and ask Social Services something.

We intercut between him and the children:

• Up at the top of the steeple, Suzy and Sam are prepared to make a jump and swim for it.
• Sharp begins climbing up the steeple after them. Over the radio, we hear Social Services deny him his application.
• Sharp then asks Mr. and Mrs. Bishop for their legal perspective. They talk it over, extremely confident they can litigate.
• Before Suzy and Sam jump, they say their farewells to each other just in case, and then kiss. A little electric zap crackles at their lips; Sam still has a big of lightning inside of him.
• Just as they’re about to take the plunge, Captain Sharp gets there and asks them to stop and listen to the radio: Social Services tells them Captain Sharp has offered to be Sam’s new foster parent. Tears streaming down his cheeks, Sam agrees. Captain Sharp exclaims they’re coming down.
• Inside the church, everyone listens to the radio. But just about to cheer, another bolt of lightning hits the roof.
• Up top, the entire steeple has disappeared! Dangling off the edge of the roof, at the end of the rope, Captain Sharp holds onto Sam and Suzy. He tells them evenly: don’t let go.

P. 101–103 Three days later. Standing in front of the wreckage at various places across the island, the Narrator explains the storm was the region’s worst meteorological event of the second half of the twentieth century. At Camp Ivanhoe, we see Scout Master Ward and Skotak welcome a new Pigeon Scout to Camp Ivanhoe. As for Mile 3.25 Tidal Inlet, the Narrator explains, it was erased from the map forever.

P. 103–105 One year later. The Narrator says on the island’s harvest the following autumn was extraordinary. At the Bishops, another Benjamin Britton record plays as the boys lie around it listening. Suzy sits reading a book, while Sam — wearing a miniature version of Captain Sharp’s police uniform — paints a picture nearby. Mr. and Mrs. Bishop call them downstairs for dinner, and Sam smiles, telling Suzy he’ll see her tomorrow. Sam ducks out the window, and Suzy watches through her binoculars as he gets in Captain Sharp’s police car and they drive off. Suzy leaves down the stairs, and then we see the painting Sam was working on — it’s a watercolor landscape of Mile 3.25 Tidal Inlet, but now it has a new name, written in sand at the edge of the water with seashells: Moonrise Kingdom.

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?

If you’d like a PDF of the Moonrise Kingdome script scene-by-scene breakdown, go here.

Kudos to Daniel Bigler for doing this breakdown.

To see 100+ screenplay scene-by-scene breakdowns, go here.

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