Script To Screen: “Almost Famous”

A terrific movie Almost Famous (2000), written and directed by Cameron Crowe. One of the keys to creating drama is to put characters under pressure. Here is a classic example.

Setup: Members of the rock band Stillwater, troubled by underlying tensions, find themselves on a small plane which hits a horrible storm and seems destined to crash.

Here is the scripted version of the scene:

Here is the movie version of the scene:

What a great idea to get the truth out: stick the characters on a seemingly doomed plane so they feel like there’s no reason not to tell the truth. But the point of the scene is really William’s outburst. Followed up by this moment:

William’s defense of Penny offers him a clarity of perspective, serving as a junction point for him… to leave the tour.

One of the single best things you can do to learn the craft of screenwriting is to read the script while watching the movie. After all a screenplay is a blueprint to make a movie and it’s that magic of what happens between printed page and final print that can inform how you approach writing scenes. That is the purpose of Script to Screen, a series on Go Into The Story where we analyze a memorable movie scene and the script pages that inspired it.

For more articles in the Script To Screen series, go here.