Go Into The Story Movie Analysis: Nightingale

Starting Monday, we begin our next installment of the Go Into The Story Movie Analysis series: Nightingale, written by Frederick Mensch.

This is a special movie for many reasons. It is the first movie produced from a script discovered on the Black List website. It debuted and currently airs on HBO. It stars David Oyelowo who played Dr. Martin Luther King in the movie Selma. And it is essentially a one-actor contained drama-thriller. Plus there’s this: You don’t have to leave the comfort of your own home to watch it. It’s an HBO original.

Remote control. Click! Boom! Movie!

Our schedule for discussion next week:

Monday: General Comments
Tuesday: Plot
Wednesday: Characters
Thursday: Themes
Friday: Takeaways

Why watch movies?

Because to be a good screenwriter, you need to have a broad exposure to the world of film. Every movie you see is a potential reference point for your writing, everything from story concepts you generate to characters you develop to scenes you construct. Moreover people who work in the movie business constantly reference existing movies when discussing stories you write; it’s a shorthand way of getting across what they mean or envision.

But most importantly, you need to watch movies in order to ‘get’ how movie stories work. If you immerse yourself in the world of film, it’s like a Gestalt experience where you begin to grasp intuitively scene composition, story structure, character functions, dialogue and subtext, transitions and pacing, and so on.

Movies must be in your lifeblood — and the best way to do that is to watch and analyze them.

This series is your Call To Adventure! So do yourself a favor: Watch Nightingale and join the discussion beginning Monday, September 14.

If you have found interviews and/or analysis of the movie, please post in comments.

The official Nightingale website here.

To access all of the movies we have analyzed in this series, go here.