The next Go Into The Story Reading and Analysis Script: “The Farewell”

Read the script for the acclaimed drama comedy and analyze it next week.

In 2015, we launched this initiative at Go Into The Story: A script read and analysis series. As a result, there are 75 movie scripts GITS readers have analyzed. Moreover, volunteers wrote up scene-by-scene breakdowns for most of the scripts to serve as a foundation for our week-long discussion. To date, we have 74 scene-by-scene breakdowns.

This initiative is in keeping with two of the guiding principles I had in mind when I launched this blog in May 2008:

• To motivate writers to read scripts and analyze them as a key part of how they ought to go about learning the craft
• To create a free, online educational resource for anyone interested in screenwriting and movies

Tomorrow on Monday, January 6th, we will begin our 2020 series of script readings and analysis featuring movies released in 2019. Our first featured script this year: The Farewell, written and directed by Lulu Wang.

Plot summary: A Chinese family discovers their grandmother has only a short while left to live and decide to keep her in the dark, scheduling a wedding to gather before she dies.

Here is the movie’s trailer:

This was my favorite movie at the 2019 Sundance Film Festival, just a wonderful story, superbly told, and Awkwafina’s performance as Billi is terrific. The movie has received over 120 film critic award nominations including 2 Golden Globes.

Why has this movie connected with audiences and critics (currently a 98% rating on Rotten Tomatoes)? What writing lessons can we glean from it? Those are key questions we will be considering in our reading and analysis of the The Farewell script next week.

Our daily schedule next week:

Monday: Scene-By-Scene Breakdown
Tuesday: Plot
Wednesday: Characters
Thursday: Themes
Friday: Dialogue
Saturday: Takeaways

You may download the script for The Farewell here.

With the ongoing release of 2019 movie scripts as part of the studios annual For Your Consideration campaigns, I am soliciting volunteers to read one of these scripts and do a scene-by-scene breakdown.

As proof of the importance of reading scripts / watching movies and burrowing into their underlying structure, check out this video clip with screenwriter Kristen ‘Kiwi’ Smith who co-wrote such hits as 10 Things I Hate About You and Legally Blonde.

For those folks who volunteer to write a scene-by-scene breakdown, beyond your name being noted here, my thanks, and your own personal dose of creative juju, you will learn something about story structure and further develop this important skill set.

To download PDFs of the scene-by-scene breakdowns we have aggregated to date, go here.

Here is our current list of literary heroes and heroines who have volunteered to do a 2019 movie script scene-by-scene breakdown:

The Aeronauts / Andrew LightfootAfter the Wedding / Nikhil Kamkolkar
Booksmart / Andrew Semancik
The Farewell / Karen Dantas
Hustlers / Priya Gopal
The Lighthouse / Halil Akgündüz
Midsommar / Michael Duffey
Parasite / Olivia Ramirez
Waves / Savanah Mears

[Bold = scene-by-scene breakdown already delivered]

Now is YOUR chance to contribute to this most worthy cause and provide an additional resource for the online screenwriting community.

Let’s not forget about what YOU can learn in the process. When Nikki Leydecker emailed me her scene-by-scene breakdown two years ago, she wrote this:

I have done breakdown’s before, but by beats via the Save The Cat method. That method and this method are great for learning story structure. However I found that this version of a script breakdown gave me more insight into the story. I was able to find the storylines easily and the central theme of the script. Breaking down all the scenes provided a clear indicator of what worked and what didn’t. I would find set ups and payoffs, and some set ups that didn’t pay off to anything at all. Another benefit I found was that it was great warm up exercise for my own writing. Instead of a writing prompt, reading a script and writing a few scenes out quickly moved my brain in writing mode. It was a lengthy process, but an enjoyable one. I am going to take this experience and use it again for my own work. It will help tremendously with the rewrite process because I will be able to spot the strengths and weaknesses in the story.

It’s a win-win. Plus you get public accolades from me and a hearty dose of creative juju. Go here to to see the entire roster of 2018 movie scripts now available for download. Cross reference the list with those above already with volunteers, determine which ones are still available, then write a RESPONSE to this post and claim your script to read and break down. To see examples of scene-by-scene breakdowns, go here.

IF YOU HAVE VOLUNTEERED, PLEASE SEND ME YOUR SCENE-BY-SCENE BREAKDOWN AS SOON AS POSSIBLE!!!

Don’t let your fingers linger, folks. Send me your scene-by-scene breakdowns!

Finally, allow me to use the words of one of Hollywood’s hottest screenwriters to bludgeon you over the head with the value of reading scripts. From an interview I conducted with Jon Spaihts, his response to my final question: What advice would you offer to aspiring screenwriters about learning the craft and breaking into Hollywood?

Read the script and then watch the movie. Watch the movie and then read the script. Watch the movie with the script in your lap. Study the parts. You have to see through the surfaces. Being a fan is insufficient. Break it down. That means slowing it down and looking at it through a series of different lenses.

Once you’ve begun to do that, you can see what the parts of a screenplay and the parts of a movie do.

First thing Jon said: Read scripts.

We’re going to do that every other week in 2020 combined with a week-long analysis of each script. People who volunteer to do a scene-by-scene breakdown provide an important aspect of that process.

See you Monday as we dive into the first of our 2020 script reading series with our week-long analysis of The Farewell.

Onward!