Script To Screen: “The Apartment”

A key revelation scene from my favorite movie, the 1960 The Apartment, written by Billy Wilder and I.A.L. “Izzy” Diamond.

Plot Summary: A man tries to rise in his company by letting its executives use his apartment for trysts, but complications and a romance of his own ensue.

INT. BAXTER'S OFFICE - DAYBud ushers Fran in, and is confronted by a strange couple
necking in the corner. He gestures them out, crosses to his
desk. BUD
Miss Kubelik, I would like your
honest opinion. I've had this in my
desk for a week -- cost me fifteen
dollars -- but I just couldn't get
up enough nerve to wear it --From under the desk he has produced a hatbox, and out of the
hatbox a black bowler, which he now puts on his head. BUD
It's what they call the junior
executive model. What do you think?Fran looks at him blankly, absorbed in her own thoughts. BUD
Guess I made a boo-boo, huh? FRAN
(paying attention again)
No -- I like it. BUD
Really? You mean you wouldn't be
ashamed to be seen with somebody in
a hat like this? FRAN
Of course not. BUD
Maybe if I wore it a little more to
the side --
(adjusting hat)
is that better? FRAN
Much better. BUD
Well, as long as you wouldn't be
ashamed to be seen with me -- how
about the three of us going out
this evening -- you and me and the
bowler -- stroll down Fifth
Avenue -- sort of break it in -- FRAN
This is a bad day for me. BUD
I understand. Christmas -- family
and all that -- FRAN
I'd better get back to my elevator.
I don't want to be fired. BUD
Oh, you don't have to worry about
that. I have quite a bit of
influence in Personnel. You know Mr.
Sheldrake? FRAN
(guardedly)
Why? BUD
He and I are like this.
(crosses his fingers)
Sent me a Christmas card. See?He has picked up a Christmas card from his desk, shows it to
Fran. It is a photograph of the Sheldrake clan grouped
around an elaborate Christmas tree -- Mr. and Mrs.
Sheldrake, the two boys in military school uniforms, and a
big French poodle. Underneath it says: SEASON'S GREETINGS
from the SHELDRAKES
Emily, Jeff, Tommy, Jeff Jr.,
and Figaro. FRAN
(studying the card ruefully)
Makes a cute picture. BUD
I thought maybe I could put in a
word for you with Mr. Sheldrake --
get you a little promotion -- how
would you like to be an elevator
starter? FRAN
I'm afraid there are too many other
girls around here with seniority
over me. BUD
No problem. Why don't we discuss it
sometime over the holidays -- I
could call you and pick you up and
we'll have the big unveiling --
(touching the brim of
his bowler)
-- you sure this is the right way
to wear it? FRAN
I think so. BUD
You don't think it's tilted a
little too much --Fran takes her compact out of her uniform pocket, opens it,
hands it to Bud. FRAN
Here. BUD
(examining himself in
the mirror)
After all, this is a conservative
firm -- I don't want people to
think I'm an entertainer --His voice trails off. There is something familiar about the
cracked mirror of the compact -- and the fleur-de-lis
pattern on the case confirms his suspicion. Fran notices the
peculiar expression on his face. FRAN
What is it? BUD
(with difficulty)
The mirror -- it's broken. FRAN
I know. I like it this way -- makes
me look the way I feel.The phone has started to ring. Bud doesn't hear it. He
closes the compact, hands it to Fran. FRAN
Your phone. BUD
Oh.
(picks up phone from desk)
Yes?
(throws a quick look
at Fran)
Just a minute.
(covers mouthpiece;
to Fran)
If you don't mind -- this is sort
of personal FRAN
All right. Have a nice Christmas.She exits, closing the door. Bud takes his hand off the
mouthpiece. BUD
(every word hurts)
Yes, Mr. Sheldrake -- no, I didn't
forget -- the tree is up and the
Tom and Jerry mix is in the
refrigerator -- yes, sir -- same to
you.He hangs up, stands there for a moment, the bowler still on
his head, the noise from the party washing over him. He
slowly crosses to the clothes-tree. picks up his coat -- a
new, black chesterfield. With the coat over his arm, he
starts out of the office.

Here is the movie version of the scene:

If you want a master class in how to write a scene, look no further than this one. What’s the point of the scene? To reveal to Baxter that Fran is Sheldrake’s mistress. How to do that? Payoff the broken compact mirror which was set up previously.

But how to do that artfully? What about a reversal? Party scene. Baxter is feeling grand. Promotion, his own office, now he gets to make his play for his longtime love interest. Just preceding this scene, Sheldrake’s current secretary (and former lover) lets Fran know she (Fran) is just another in a long line of Sheldrake’s paramours. Hence her foul mood as she enters this scene. Since we saw the exchange with Fran and the secretary, and Baxter didn’t, we have the knowledge of why Fran is acting the way the she is, but not Baxter.

This allows for all sorts of irony: “You know Mr. Sheldrake,” Baxter asks. Oh, she most certainly does. Showing off Sheldrake’s Christmas card, rubbing salt in Fran’s wounds. And then the subtext:

• “This is a bad day for me.”
• “Too many girls here with seniority over me.”
• “Makes me look the way I feel.”

Ending with the bitter pill Baxter has to swallow, confirming with Sheldrake that his apartment is all set up for Sheldrake’s tryst… with none other than the woman Baxter just discovered is his boss’s mistress.

All great stuff. But the piece de resistance? The hat. Wilder and Diamond do this type of thing all the time, where they provide the characters what I call a BOB (Bit Of Business), something to do around which they can wrap the scene. So there’s this whole thing with Baxter messing around with his hat, of course symbolic of his recent success, meanwhile his life is unraveling… and he doesn’t even know it… until he makes the connection from the broken mirror.

Absolutely brilliant scene, a huge turning point in the story, and deftly done.

Which is why when you compare the script to the screen version, you see virtually no differences because Wilder and Diamond almost always cracked their scenes in the script phase.

God, I love The Apartment.

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

Comment Archive