Genre Essentials: Drama
The idea: If you want to write in a genre, you should know [at least] the essentials of that genre. Dynamics, themes, tone, pace, feel, atmosphere, characters, dialogue, scenes, memes, tropes, and so on. So we are dutifully compiling lists of essentials for every major movie genre. For those who care about the drama genre, please hit continue to vote.
Based on your suggestions, per these five areas:
– 10 Movies You Must See
– 10 Scripts You Must Analyze
– 10 Books [Fiction] You Must Read
– 10 Book [Non-Fiction] You Must Cover
– 10 Resources [Blogs, Websites, Journals, Magazines, DVD Commentaries] You Must Track
Special thanks to Shaula Evans who has taken on the mammoth job of overseeing these posts and compiling the data.
Here is a list of drama movies. Please vote for no more than 10!
1. 12 Angry Men
2. 127 Hours
3. 4 Little Girls (1996)
4. 4 Months, 3 Weeks and 2 Days
5. A Face in the Crowd
6. A Streetcar Named Desire
7. About a Boy
8. All About Eve
9. Amadeus
10. Amelie
11. American Beauty
12. Another Year
13. Apocalypse Now (1979)
14. Au Revoir Les Enfants (1987) by Louis Malle
15. Beginners
16. Bicycle Thieves
17. Black Orpheus (1959) by Marcel Camus & Jacques Viot
18. Boogie Nights
19. Caché /Hidden (2005) by Michael Haneke
20. Casablanca (1942)
21. Casino
22. Catch Me If You Can
23. Chinatown (1974)
24. Cinema Paradiso
25. Citizen Kane (1941)
26. Dances With Wolves
27. Days of Heaven
28. Dead Poets Society
29. Do the Right Thing
30. Doctor Zhivago
31. Donnie Brasco
32. Donnie Darko
33. Double Indemnity (1944)
34. Downfall (2004) by Bernd Eichinger
35. Drive
36. Erin Brokovich
37. Fight Club
38. Forbidden Games (1952) by Jean Aurenche, Pierre Bost, François Boyer & René Clément
39. Gandhi
40. Glengarry Glen Ross
41. Godfather I (1972)
42. Gone with the Wind
43. Good Will Hunting
44. Goodfellas
45. Grand Illusion (1938)
46. Grapes of Wrath (1940)
47. Guess Who’s Coming to Dinner
48. Hamlet (2010, with David Tennant as Hamlet)
49. Happy-Go-Lucky
50. Hidden Fortress (1958)
51. I Am A Fugitive From A Chain Gang
52. In The Heat of the Night
53. In the Name of the Father (1994)
54. Jean de Florette / Manon des sources
55. Jesus of Montreal (1989) by Denys Arcand
56. La Strada
57. Lawrence of Arabia
58. Leaving Las Vega
59. Leon: The Professional
60. Lock Stock & Two Smoking Barrels
61. Mean Streets
62. Meet Joe Black
63. Michael Clayton
64. Midnight Cowboy
65. Monster
66. Muriel’s Wedding
67. My Left Foot
68. Network
69. On Golden Pond
70. On the Waterfront (1954)
71. Once Upon a Time in America
72. One Flew Over The Cuckoo’s Nest
73. Proof (2005)
74. Pulp Fiction
75. Raging Bull
76. Rain Man
77. Rebel Without a Cause
78. Requiem for a Dream
79. Schindler’s List (1993)
80. Shawshank Redemption (1994)
81. Slingblade
82. Sophie’s Choice
83. Sunset Blvd (1950)
84. Sunset Blvd.
85. Taxi Driver (1976)
86. The 400 Blows
87. The Battle of Algiers by Gillo Pontecorvo & Franco Solinas
88. The Caine Mutiny (1954)
89. The Color Purple
90. The Deer Hunter
91. The Elephant Man
92. The Girl from Monaco (2008) by Anne Fontaine & Benoît Graffin
93. The Godfather
94. The Godfather, Parts I and II
95. The Grapes of Wrath
96. The Last Picture Show
97. The Lives of Others
98. The Piano
99. The Sacrifice (1988)
100. The Seventh Seal
101. The Shawshank Redemption
102. The Social Network
103. The Tree of Life
104. The Verdict (1982)
105. The Wind That Shakes the Barley (2006)
106. To Kill A Mockingbird
107. Touchez Pas Au Grisbi (1954) with Jean Gabin by Jacques Becker, Albert Simonin & Maurice Griffe
108. Trainspotting
109. Ulee’s Gold
110. Unforgiven
111. Up In The Air
112. Walk the Line
113. What’s Eating Gilbert Grape
114. Wild Strawberries
115. Wings of Desire (1987)
116. Z by Jorge Semprún, based on a novel by Vasilis Vasilikos
Based on your suggestions, here are drama scripts that are available online. Vote for no more than 10.
A DRY WHITE SEASON — script
Screenplay by Colin Welland and Euzhan Palcy. Based on the novel by Andre Brink.
ALL ABOUT EVE — script
Screenplay by Joseph L. Mankiewicz. Based on “The Wisdom of Eve,” a short story and radio play by Mary Orr
ALL THE PRESIDENT’S MEN — script
Screenplay by William Goldman. Based on the book by Carl Bernstein & Bob Woodward
AN AFFAIR TO REMEMBER — script
Screenplay by Delmer Daves, Donald Ogden Stewart (originally uncredited) and Leo McCarey. Based on a story by Leon McCarey and Mildred Cram.
APOCALYPSE NOW — script
Written by John Milius and Francis Coppola. Narration by Michael Herr
AWAY FROM HER — script
Screenplay by Sarah Polley. Based on a story by Alice Munro.
BROKEBACK MOUNTAIN — script
Screenplay by Larry McMurtry & Diana Ossana. Based on the short story by Annie Proulx.
CASABLANCA — script
Screenplay by Julius J. & Philip G. Epstein and Howard Koch. Based on the play “Everybody Comes to Rick’s” by Murray Burnett and Joan Alison.
CAPOTE — script
Screenplay by Dan Futterman. Based on the book by Gerald Clark.
CHINATOWN — script
Written by Robert Towne
CITIZEN KANE — script
Written by Herman Mankiewicz and Orson Welles
CRASH — script
By Paul Haggis and Robert Moresco
THE CRYING GAME — script
By Neil Jordan
DEAD POETS SOCIETY — script
Written by Tom Schulman.
THE DEPARTED — script
By William Monahan. Based on the 2002 screenplay “Mou gaan dou” by Alan Mak and Felix Chong.
DOUBLE INDEMNITY — script
Screenplay by Billy Wilder and Raymond Chandler. Based on the novel by James M. Cain
EASTERN PROMISES — script
By Stephen Knight.
FARGO — script
Written by Joel Coen & Ethan Coen
FROM HERE TO ETERNITY — script
Screenplay by Daniel Taradash. Based on the novel by James Jones.
THE GODFATHER — script
Screenplay by Mario Puzo and Francis Ford Coppola. Based on the novel by Mario Puzo
THE GODFATHER II — script
Screenplay by Francis Ford Coppola and Mario Puzo. Based on Mario Puzo’s novel “The Godfather”
GOOD NIGHT, AND GOOD LUCK — script
Screenplay by George Clooney and Grant Heslov
GOODFELLAS — script
Screenplay by Nicholas Pileggi and Martin Scorsese. Based on book “Wise Guy” by Nicholas Pileggi
HOTEL RWANDA — script
Screenplay by Keir Pearson and Terry George
THE HURT LOCKER — script
by Mark Boal.
THE KING’S SPEECH — script
By David Seidler
L.A. CONFIDENTIAL — script
Screenplay by Brian Helgeland & Curtis Hanson. Based on the novel by James Ellroy
LAWRENCE OF ARABIA — script
Screenplay by Robert Bolt and Michael Wilson. Based on the life and writings of Col. T.E. Lawrence
THE MALTESE FALCON — script
Screenplay by John Huston. Based on the novel by Dashiell Hammett
MIDNIGHT COWBOY — script
Screenplay by Waldo Salt. Based on the novel by James Leo Herlihy
MIDNIGHT EXPRESS — script
Screenplay by Oliver Stone. Based on the book by William Hayes and William Hoffer
MILK — script
By Dustin Lance Black.
NETWORK — script
Written by Paddy Chayefsky
PRECIOUS — script
Screenplay by Geoffrey Fletcher. Based on the novel by Precious.
RAGING BULL — script
Screenplay by Paul Schrader and Mardik Martin. Based on the book by Jake La Motta with Joseph Carter and Peter Savage
REAR WINDOW — script
Screenplay by John Michael Hayes. Based on the short story by Cornell Woolrich
SCENT OF A WOMAN — script
Screenplay by Bo Goldman. Based on the novel “Il Buio E Il Miele” by Giovanni Arpino.
SCHINDLER’S LIST — script
Screenplay by Steven Zaillian. Based on the novel by Thomas Keneally
SLUMDOG MILLIONAIRE — script
Screenplay by Simon Beaufoy. Based on a novel by Vikas Swarup
THE SHAWSHANK REDEMPTION — script
Screenplay by Frank Darabont. Based on the short story “Rita Hayworth and the Shawshank Redemption” by Stephen King
THE SOCIAL NETWORK — script
Screenplay by Aaron Sorkin. Based on a novel by Ben Mezrich.
SYRIANA — script
Screenplay by Stephen Gaghan. Based on a novel by Robert Baer.
TAXI DRIVER — script
Written by Paul Schrader
UNFORGIVEN — script
Written by David Webb Peoples
THE USUAL SUSPECTS — script
Written by Christopher McQuarrie
THE VERDICT — script
Screenplay by David Mamet. Based on the novel by Barry Reed
WITNESS — script
Screenplay by Earl W. Wallace & William Kelley. Story by William Kelley and Pamela Wallace & Earl W. Wallace
Based on your suggestions, here are drama books [fiction]. Vote for no more than 10.
Books by Category
The Bible
Shakespeare — (tragedies and history plays)
Classical mythology
World mythologies
Grimm’s fairy tales, unexpurgated
Books by Title
Aesops Fables
Animal Farm — George Orwell
The Beach by Alex Garland
The Bell Jar — Sylvia Plath
The Bookseller of Kabul
The Boy in the Striped Pyjamas by John Boyne
The Catcher in the Rye — J.D. Salinger
Collected Short Stories of W. Somerset Maugham
Collected Stories of Flannery O’Connor
The Crucible — Arthur Miller
A Doll’s House — Henrik Ibsen
Great Expectations by Charles Dickens
Hatter’s Castle by AJ Cronin
The Help by Kathryn Stockett
Invisible Man — Ralph Ellison
The Trial + Short Stories — Franz Kafka
The Kite Runner by Khaled Hosseini
Little Women by Louisa May Alcott
Lolita — Vladimir Nabokov
Lord of the Flies — William Golding
Miss Julie + A Dream Play — August Strindberg
The Old Man and the Sea — Hemmingway
Of Mice and Men — John Steinbeck
On the Road — Jack Kerouac
One Hundred Years of Solitude — Gabriel Garcia Marquez
The Room by Emma Donoghue
The Sound and the Fury — William Faulkner
The Stranger — Albert Camus
Ulysses — James Joyce
Waiting For Godot — Samuel Beckett
What Katy Did by Susan Coolidge
Wild Swans by Jung Chang
Here are your suggestions for 10 drama books [nonfiction]. We can use more suggestions.
Dramatic Non-Fiction
We Wish to Inform You That Tomorrow We Will Be Killed with Our Families by Philip Gourevitch
Michael Lewis (Moneyball, The Blind Side, Liar’s Poker, The New New Thing, etc.)
Homicide: A Year on the Killing Streets by David Simon
Non-Fiction for Drama Writers
Flourish by Martin E. P. Seligman
Games People Play: The Psychology of Human Relationships by Eric Berne
The Hero of a Thousand Faces by Joseph Campbell
A History of Narrative Film by David Cook
History of Film [Wikipedia]
The Power of Myth by Joseph Campbell
A Theory of Human Motivation (Psychological Review) by Abraham Maslow
For the other resources, here are your suggestions. We need more!
DVD Commentaries
Citizen Kane — Roger Ebert’s commentary (Ebert comments on everything from camera angles to script lines to Welles’ own character flaws.)
Videos
Saving the World vs Kissing the Girl: Lindsay Doran’s TEXxConejo2012 talk (video) on what makes movie endings satisfying (pertinent to all genres but especially to drama)
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