Script To Screen: “Celeste & Jesse Forever”

A memorable scene from the 2012 movie Celeste & Jesse Forever, written Rashida Jones and Will McCormack.

Plot Summary: A divorcing couple tries to maintain their friendship while they both pursue other people.

In this scene, a guy Celeste (Rashida Jones) has just met tries to hit on her.

INT. EQUINOX GYM-MORNING 25

A bunch of Los Angeles hipsters file out of a yoga class.
Everyone is sweaty and a little out of it. Celeste heads out
as she towels off. She heads towards the shoe cubby holes.

PAUL
Hello.

CELESTE
What?

PAUL
I said hello.

CELESTE
Oh. Hi.

Celeste keeps walking briskly. PAUL, 35, short but handsome,
tries to keep up with her.

PAUL
(a little too loud)
How was your practice?

CELESTE
My practice?? It was...wait,
what?...it was fine. (who is this
guy?)

PAUL
I see you in class a lot. You have
a great warrior two. Are you
single?

Celeste puts on her shoes.

CELESTE
Are you really doing this right
now? You're really doing this right
now.

Paul realizes that his game is wack. Oh well.

PAUL
Yeah, I can't believe it either. I
don't do this, it's just happening,
I can't stop...it...what do you do?

CELESTE
Just gonna jump right in there.
Wow, Captain Conversation.

PAUL
Paul. Here's my card.

CELESTE
You bring cards to yoga??

PAUL
Look, you're really pretty. I'm not
good at this. Help.

He smiles nervously.

CELESTE
(she looks at the card.)
A financial analyst. Cool.

PAUL
Not really. It's not cool. Did
you ever tell me what you did for a
living?

CELESTE
No, no I didn't.

There is a pause in conversation. Celeste continues to put
her shoes on.

PAUL
Well, will you? I'd love to know.

CELESTE
I'm a trend forecaster. I forecast
trends.

Paul scoffs at the notion that this is a real career.

PAUL
Trend forecaster. Really? Huh.

They have reached the parking lot. Celeste turns to him with
purpose.

CELESTE
You traded in your Porsche for an
Audi because the economy is tanking
and you're afraid you'll lose your
job soon. You bought a Samsung cell
phone because you think it makes
you seem more "business-oriented,"
unlike the iPhone which is for
teenage girls. You go to yoga
because you went to a sub Ivy
League college, spent the last ten
years working long weeks and
drinking all weekend and you feel
like it's time to do something
"spiritual." Nice to meet you,
(looks at the card) Paul.

Celeste walks away. Paul remains where he is, flummoxed.

Here is the scene in the movie:

The dialogue is almost word for word the same. One small tweak in the middle of the scene where they take the scene description — Paul scoffs at the notion that this is a real career — and put it into dialogue:

PAUL
Trend forecaster. Yeah.

He grins, thinking it’s a joke. They stop. He looks at her. 
She’s not joking.

PAUL
Are you serious? I’m sorry, 
I thought you were just —

Two questions: (1) Why do you think they made this change? (2) What do you think Paul was going to say before Celeste interrupted him? I have thoughts on both questions, but would like to hear from you first. Hit Reply and post your thoughts in comments.

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 GITS where we analyze a memorable movie scene and the script pages that inspired it.

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