Script Analysis: “The Tender Bar” — Part 3: Characters

A week-long analysis of the 2021 drama starring Ben Affleck and directed by George Clooney.

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: Characters

Characters are the players in our stories. They participate in scenes, move the plot forward through action and dialogue, influence each other, evolve and change. Each has their own distinct backstory, personality, world view, and voice. When a writer does their best, digging deep into their characters, tapping into their souls, the players in our stories magically lift up off the printed page and come to life in a reader’s imagination.

But there’s this: In a screenplay, characters exist for a reason. Hence my principle: Character = Function. Writers can shade and shape a story’s character in limitless ways. But if you dig down deep enough, you can find each character’s narrative function, and that can become a lens through which you develop the players in your stories.

Same thing with script and movie analysis: Look at each character and think about why they exist and what their function is.

Today, we discuss the characters in the script for The Tender Bar. Download the screenplay here.

A list of the key players:

JR / Young JR

Uncle Charlie

Mom

The Voice

Grandpa

Aunt Ruth

Pat

Bobo

Joey D

Chief

Bayard

Jimmy

Sidney

The Priest

Screenplay by William Monahan, based on the memoir by J.R. Moehringer

Plot summary: A boy growing up on Long Island seeks out father figures among the patrons at his uncle’s bar.

Major kudos to Ava Regal for doing this week’s scene-by-scene breakdown.

To download a PDF of the breakdown , go here.

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

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

I hope to see you in the RESPONSE section about this week’s script: The Tender Bar.