Script Analysis: “Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri” — Part 6: Takeaways

Read the script for the critically acclaimed indie 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 Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri. 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 the script — free and legal — here.

Written by Martin McDonagh.

IMDb plot summary: A mother personally challenges the local authorities to solve her daughter’s murder when they fail to catch the culprit.

Write a RESPONSE and let me know what your takeaways have been from the script for Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri.

Major kudos to Halil Akgündüz for doing this week’s scene-by-scene breakdown.

To download a PDF of the breakdown for Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri, 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.

To access 60+ 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: Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri.