GITS Weekly Script Analysis
So let’s move forward on this. And by this, I mean this:
As longtime GITS readers may remember, in the past we have done a variety of script reading and analysis series including 40 Days of Screenplays, 6 Days of Screenplays, and so on.
I think it’s time to bring something like that back for these reasons: (A) To encourage GITS followers to read screenplays. (B) To engage in an open dialogue about story-crafting principles. © To further develop our individual and collective critical analytical skills.
Here’s my idea: We focus on one script per week. It will be a script from a notable produced movie. We will rotate by genre each week (e.g., Action, Comedy, Drama, Sci-Fi, Thriller). The GITS community will suggest scripts and determine each week’s choice by vote or consensus.
The concept is to create a schedule a few weeks in advance so people who want to participate will have a chance to download a copy of the script (via myPDFscripts.com) and read it in time for the weekly discussion.
We have four weeks in September, so I suggest we start off by working our way through the big four genres:
September 5: Action
September 12: Comedy
September 19: Drama
September 26: Thriller
Starting today and through the weekend, let’s aggregate movies in each genre. Then Monday-Thursday of next week, we vote each day for one genre:
Monday, August 15: Action
Tuesday, August 16: Comedy
Wednesday, August 17: Drama
Thursday, August 18: Thriller
By the end of that week, we will have the four scripts we will be reading in September.
Note: Any script you want to add to the list must be available for download from myPDFscripts.com. So please do not suggest it if you haven’t checked its availability at that site.
Here are some suggestions from the GITS community represented on the late lamented GITS Script List (I do not know for sure if these scripts are available on myPDFscripts.com, so I’m leaving that up to the GITS community to figure that out):
Action
Aliens
Alien (Walter Hill and David Giler draft)
The Bourne Identity
Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid
Dark Knight, The
Die Hard
Gladiator
Fight Club
Last Boy Scout, The
Indiana Jones and the Raiders of the Lost Ark
Matrix, The
Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black
Pearl
Robocop
Salt
Star Trek
Terminator 2
Comedy
40 Year-Old Virgin
A Fish Called Wanda
Airplane
American Pie
Broadcast News
Dazed and Confused
Down and Out in Beverly Hills
Dr. Strangelove
Ferris Bueller’s Day Off
Hangover, The
Harold and Maude
His Girl Friday
Legally Blonde
Liar, Liar
Little Miss Sunshine
Mean Girls
O Brother, Where Art Thou?
Parenthood
Planes, Trains and Automobiles
Ratatouille
Shrek
Some Like It Hot
Tootsie
Wedding Crashers
When Harry Met Sally
Young Frankenstein
Drama
All About Eve
Before the Devil Knows You’re Dead
Breaking Away
Bridge on the River Kwai, The
Brokeback Mountain
Casablanca
Chinatown
Cool Hand Luke
Dead Poet’s Society
Deer Hunter, The
Dog Day Afternoon
Fahrenheit 451 (Darabont Draft)
French Lieutenant’s Woman, The
Godfather, The
Godfather, The — Part 2
Good Will Hunting
Jaws
Kramer vs. Kramer
Michael Clayton
Moon
No Country for Old Men
One Flew Over the Cuckooís Nest
Platoon
Rocky
Searching for Bobby Fischer
Shakespeare in Love
Shawshank Redemption, The
Shawshank Redemption, The (93 draft)
Thelma & Louise
Unforgiven
Up in the Air
Verdict, The
Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf?
You Can Count On Me
Thriller
Basic Instinct
Blood Simple
Buried
Fatal Attraction
Fugitive, The
Jaws
Lookout, The (1998 Draft)
Memento
Rear Window
Se7en
Silence of the Lambs, The
Signs
Sixth Sense, The
What Lies Beneath
Zodiac
If you want to add to these lists, please do so, but again make sure the script is available for download from myPDFscripts.com.
I will post this today, tomorrow, and Sunday to collect all your suggestions. Voting begins on Monday. We will know our first four scripts by a week from today.
I look forward to adding this new GITS series. It should be a terrific and entertaining learning experience for all of us.