GITS Script Reading and Analysis Series: “Bridesmaids”

Welcome to Week 2 of the GITS Script Reading & Analysis series. This week we will be analyzing the 08/12/2009 draft of “Bridesmaids,” your choice for the Comedy genre. If you haven’t had a chance to read the script yet, you can go here to access it.

Let’s use this post today for your general reactions to the script.

Did you enjoy it? Why? Why not?

What are the script’s strengths? Are there areas you felt were strengthened in the movie version?

Speaking of which, there are a lot of differences between this draft and the movie, so one thing we should do is aggregate a list of them. Have at it in comments.

That said, there are a bunch of tips to take away from this version of the script in terms of comedy writing. What did you learn?

For those of you who haven’t seen the movie, you’re in luck. You can go to MovieClips and see four versions of the trailer and nine clips from the movie. Almost like watching the movie itself!

For even more background, you can listen to this podcast with Annie Mumolo where she talks about how it took all of six days to write the first draft of the script that subsequently went through a “bajillion” rewrites.

Our schedule this week for discussion:

Monday, September 12: General.

Tuesday, September 13: Structure.

Wednesday, September 14: Characters.

Thursday, September 15: Themes.

Friday, September 16: Dialogue.

See you in comments!

[Remember next week’s genre is drama. The script: Good Will Hunting.]

NOTE: THIS SERIES AND THE USE OF SCRIPTS IS STRICTLY FOR EDUCATIONAL PURPOSES!

UPDATE: By the way as I was doing some research attempting to find out exactly when the original deal for “Bridesmaids” happened, I found this in Variety:

Perry Katz Prods. and Imagine Entertainment have set up an original pitch by Joanne Waters (currently writing “The Bridge” for Paul Schiff at Fox). The price was undisclosed.

The pitch, which is called “Bridesmaids,” is a revenge comedy about a bride who is left standing at the altar by the groom and the ensuing battle of the sexes, led by the maid of honor on one side and the best man on the other.

Date: May 29, 1997. Different premise entirely.

And then there’s this from the archives of Done Deal Pro:

Title: Bridesmaids
Logline: A female buddy comedy set against a wedding in Martha’s Vineyard.
Writer: Liz Brixius 
Prod. Co: Revolution Studios 
Genre: Comedy 
Logged: 1/9/2002 
More: Sandra Bullock to star in and produce.

More proof that Hollywood operates on a ‘similar but different’ basis.

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