Script To Screen: “The Terminator”

The beginning of the 1984 film The Terminator, written by James Cameron & Gale Anne Hurd.

Setup: It’s late at night when…

1 EXT. SCHOOLYARD - NIGHT 1 Silence. Gradually the sound of distant traffic becomes
audible. A LOW ANGLE bounded on one side by a chain-link
fence and on the other by the one-story public school build-
ings. Spray-can hieroglyphics and distant streetlight sha-
dows. This is a Los Angeles public school in a blue collar
neighborhood. ANGLE BETWEEN SCHOOL BUILDINGS, where a trash dumpster looms
in a LOW ANGLE, part of the clutter behind the gymnasium.
A CAT enters FRAME. CAMERA DOLLIES FORWARD, prowling with
him through the landscape of trash receptacles and shadows. CLOSE ON CAT, which freezes, alert, sensing something just
beyond human perception. A sourceless wind rises, and with it a keening WHINE.
Papers blow across the pavement.
The cat YOWLS and hides under the dumpster.
Windows rattle in their frames.
The WHINE intensifies, accompanied now by a wash of frigid
PURPLE LIGHT. A CONCUSSION like a thunderclap right over-
head blows in all the windows facing the yard. C.U. - CAT, its eyes are wide as the glare dies.

1A/FX ANGLE - DUMPSTER 1A/FX ELECTRICAL DISCHARGES arc from the dumpster to a water
faucet and climb a drain pipe like a Jacob's Ladder. CUT TO:

2 EXT. SCHOOLYARD - NIGHT 2 SLOW PAN as the sound of stray electrical CRACKLING
subsides.
FRAME comes to rest on the figure of a NAKED MAN kneeling,
faced away, in the previously empty yard.
He stands, slowly.
The man is in his late thirties, tall and powerfully built,
moving with graceful precision. C.U. - MAN, his facial features reiterate the power of his
body and are dominated by the eyes, which are intense, blue
and depthless. His hair is military short. This man is the TERMINATOR. He glances down, taking calm inventory of himself, and
notices that a fine white ash covers his skin. He brushes
at it unconcernedly as he walks toward the fence, scanning
his surroundings. CUT TO:

2A/FX CRANE SHOT - SCHOOLYARD/CITY - NIGHT 2A/FX CAMERA MOVES UP as Terminator approaches the schoolyard
fence beyond which is an embankment rolling down in darkness
to the cityscape below. The school is perched at the edge
of a promontory offering a respectable view of the urban
sprawl teeming and glistening under a sullen sky. The night
clouds are shot through with occasional flashes of
LIGHTNING, presaging a thunderstorm. Terminator stands, hands on hips in prefect symmetry, gazing
down at the city as the CAMERA REACHES FULL HEIGHT. CUT TO:

3 EXT. PLAYGROUND - NIGHT 3 A beer bottle SMASHES on the ground. PULL BACK to include
its ex-owner and his two compatriots, YOUTH GANG MEMBERS,
lounging on the jungle gym of a deserted playground. They
sport nondescript PUNK REGALIA...torn T-shirts, fatigue
pants, combat boots or high-top sneakers, leather jackets. The leader notices something and sits up. LEADER
(pointing)
Hey, hey...what's wrong with
this picture? ANGLE - REVERSE, seen past the lounging toughs, Terminator
walks naked into a pool of streetlight, striding purpose-
fully toward them. ANGLE - OVER TERMINATOR'S SHOULDER, as he approaches them.
They slide from their perches and drop easily to the ground
liquid shadows. LEADER
Nice night for a walk, eh? Terminator stops right in front of them. TERMINATOR
(without inflec-
tion)
Nice night for a walk. They surround him, all swagger and malign good humor. SECOND PUNK
Washday tomorrow, huh? Nothing
clean, right? Terminator eyes them without expression, unhurried.
Reptilian. TERMINATOR
Nothing clean. Right. LEADER
This guy's a couple bricks
short. Terminator turn to the second punk, ignoring the
others. TERMINATOR
Your clothes. Give them to me. The punks exchange glances, dismayed. TERMINATOR
(coldly)
Now. SECOND PUNK
(bracing)
Fuck you, asshole.Without warning Terminator hammer-punches him in the temple
with blinding speed. The blow flings him with a CLANG into
the jungle gym. He drops to the ground in a still heap,
eyes open, twitching. The leader whips out his SWITCHBLADE and slashes in one
motion. Terminator ducks back and catches the knife-
wielder's wrist in an inhuman grip. Then he punches the
leader with piledriver force just below the breastbone. ANGLE - PAVEMENT, as the knife clatters down. The punk's
combat boots are on tiptoe, barely touching the ground. ANGLE - TWO SHOT, Terminator and the leader are close
together as if dancing, but motionless. Their bodies are in
total shadow. The punk's eyes are wide, his veins distended
with an agonizing pressure. Terminator jerks his fist back
with a WET SOUND and the other drops OUT OF FRAME. The last tough is stumbling away, gaping with terror. He
backs into a chainlink fence, turns to run along it, finds
he is in a corner. Terminator takes a step toward him, his gaze ominous. The punk begins shakily stripping off his clothes.
Thunder peals overhead.

Here is the scene from the movie:

The script excerpt is from the reported 4th draft, so there are some incidental changes from screenplay to movie, but largely quite the same.

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.

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