Script To Screen: “Beavis and Butt-Head Do America”
One of countless scenes of inspired stupidity in the 1996 animated comedy Beavis and Butt-Head Do America.
One of countless scenes of inspired stupidity in the 1996 animated comedy Beavis and Butt-Head Do America.
Plot Synopsis: The dimwitted teen duo of Beavis and Butt-Head travel across America in search of their stolen television set.
EXT. MUDDY'S CAR DRIVING ON HIGHWAY - DAY
ANGLE OUTSIDE MUDDY'S TRUNK. From within we hear:
BUTT-HEAD (O.C.)
Hey, Beavis, check it out. I'm jacking
off!
B&B
Huh huh huh huh huh huh.
Pumping up the jack, they cause the lid of the trunk to
start to bend.
Suddenly, it pops open. B&B are a sweaty mess. They gasp.
BUTT-HEAD
This sucks. Let's get outta here.
They look out. The road behind them races past at 80 mph.
Beavis stares dumbly.
BEAVIS
Uh, you first.
BUTT-HEAD
C'mon, Beavis, just start running really
fast when you hit the ground. It'll work.
BEAVIS
Okay. I'll go right after you.
Butt-Head shoves Beavis out of the car.
BEAVIS (CONT.)
Ahhhhghghhghghgh!
Beavis tries to run, but hits the road and flips over and
over - and smashes his butt.
BEAVIS (CONT.)
Owwwwww, my butt!!!!!!
His body stops in the middle of the road. A huge truck,
about to hit him, swerves and jackknifes over the side.
Behind the truck, several cars screech to a halt, one
smashing into the other.
ANGLE ON MUDDY'S TRUNK
Butt-Head looks at the road.
BUTT-HEAD
Huh huh huh huh huh. That was cool.
ANGLE ON MUDDY'S TIRE. It hits a pothole.
ANGLE ON BUTT-HEAD, shooting out of the trunk, he grabs onto
the lid. He bounces against the road again and again.
Finally, he loses his grip as the lid to the trunk closes.
ANGLE ON BUTT-HEAD, rolling along the highway.
A car, about to hit Butt-Head, screeches to a halt. Other
cars behind it smash and pile up.
ANGLE ON ROAD SOME WAYS BACK. On Tom and Marcy in their car.
TOM
Boy, what I wouldn't give for five minutes
alone with them two little bastards...
The car ahead of Tom crashes into the car ahead of that. Tom
crashes into it. And the car behind crashes into Tom.
OVERHEAD ANGLE shows cars and trucks behind, crashing,
piling up. A massive pile-up.
The scene from the movie:
Beyond the comic inanity, one thing you notice when comparing a shooting script of an animated movie to the film version: They are almost always identical. Any idea why that might be the case?
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 Go Into The Story series 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.