Script To Screen: “Out Of Sight”

A memorable scene from the 1998 Out Of Sight, screenplay by Scott Frank, novel by Elmore Leonard.

Setup: In an escape attempt, Foley (George Clooney) ends up in the trunk of a car with cop Karen (Jennifer Lopez).

Here is the scripted version of the scene:

Here is the scene from the movie:

The movie version is almost exactly the same as the script save for a few lines of dialogue about Bonnie & Clyde which were cut.

Such a great scene, a fun inventive take on the meet cute trope.

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 Script To Screen posts, go here.