I’m about to do some traveling for various book festivals and I am packing some leisure reading.  In this case, my leisure reading will be a selection of screenplays that I’ve pored over in the past.  The more I write, the more I find that I pay attention to writing, both spoken and written. Certain movies have drawn me in due to dialogue, monologue and phrasing.  Sometimes the spoken word is essentially so well written that I find myself no longer enveloped by plot, pacing and characters, but catapulted from the movie’s experience, removed to the “sidelines” of the story, wondering what the writer(s) were thinking when expressing their character’s thoughts that way.  Over the years, the writing on several HBO shows has been so good that I began to think of watching certain episodes as a form of “training.” 

 

I decided to enhance my training by examining the screenplays of certain movies I thought were well done.  While a screenplay is a far cry from children’s picture books, it is still instructive on many levels – dialogue, pacing, plot, physical layout, structure, theme, and transition, for example.  My most significant manuscript is a novel I’ve written and unfortunately, at this point, I find that I can always improve it.  Reading all kinds of writing helps – especially writing that provides explanation as to why certain mechanics were selected.  And, the screenplay is a special form – length is an issue so words must be precisely chosen.  So, I examined a few writers whom I feel make every line count – that is, those who are able to move the plot forward and essentially waste no lines. 

 

Here are a few screenplays, some with accompanying journals that I can recommend.  My favorite is “Jerry Maguire & A Jerry Maguire Journal” by Cameron Crowe.  Crowe conveys so much in so few words and it’s evident from this screenplay.  “L.A. Confidential The Screenplay” by Brian Helgeland & Curtis Hanson is excellent.  I have always loved James Ellroy’s novels and “L.A. Confidential” is one of my favorite movies.  I was thrilled that the movie did justice to Ellroy’s novel.  When you read Ellroy’s Introduction you learn that he diagrammed his novel, which only makes exceptional sense because there are eight interweaving plots.  Ellroy notes that the outline for his story ran 250 pages.  In “The Shooting Script – The Shawshank Redemption” – screenplay and notes by Frank Darabont, which is based on the novella “Rita Hayworth and Shawshank Redemption” by Stephen King, after watching the movie, you hear Morgan Freeman’s voice narrate the script.  It’s rich in terms of detail and especially explanation of scenes.  Darabont also included “Mutatis Mutandis” – his explanation of “script-to-screen” changes.  William Goldman is a favorite and his “Four Screenplays with Essays” is extremely worthwhile, covering “Marathon Man,” “Butch Cassidy and The Sundance Kid,” “The Princess Bride,” and “Misery.”  Last, I have the screenplay for “Raising Arizona” by Joel Coen and Ethan Coen.  With such varying styles of writing, each screenplay offers so many different gems.

About The Author

Samantha grew up on the East coast where she attended Georgetown University Law Center. She practiced law in Washington, D.C. and Chicago. Now she and her family reside in the Pacific Northwest where she writes as much as she can and heads outside whenever the sun shines.  Read more about Samantha R. Vamos.

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