Go Into The Story Resource: Great Scenes
When you boil it down, screenwriting is scene-writing. Hone your scene-writing ability by studying these scenes.
On May 16, 2019, Go Into The Story turned 11 years old — you can read the very first blog post here. I led with this paragraph:
Welcome to Go Into The Story! Right now, it’s nothing but a humble, threadbare blog, but I hope it will evolve into an active resource for aspiring screenwriters, as well as a community for anyone interested in storytelling and the creative life.
And evolve it did! To the point where it was recently named “Best of the Best” Scriptwriting Website in the 20th Annual Writer’s Digest Best Websites for Writers list.
To celebrate 11 years of blogging about screenwriting, writing, Hollywood, movies, TV, and the creative life, each day in May, I’m going to feature a piece of Go Into The Story trivia, plus a writing resource you can find in the site’s archives. This is not an exercise in self-congratulations so much as I figured readers could use some tips about how to best use the site. With — to date — 26,447 articles and over 100 archive topics, there is a LOT of content here. Hopefully, these posts for the next 31 days will clue in more recent followers and remind long-time readers about resources you can use to facilitate deepening your understanding of the writing craft.
Today’s trivia: As of today, I have blogged on this site 4,033 consecutive days. Let’s say I have averaged 2 hours per day managing this site. That’s 8,066 hours. That comes out to 336 days. That means I have devoted the equivalent of 92% of one entire year of my life overseeing Go Into The Story.
An obvious question: Has it been worth it?
If I hadn’t started and maintained this blog…
I wouldn’t have met Franklin Leonard and partnered with the Black List.
I wouldn’t have launched ScreenwritingMasterClass.com.
I wouldn’t have been been offered a job as assistant professor at the DePaul University School of Cinematic Arts.
I wouldn’t have been invited to speak at the Austin Film Festival, the Willamette Writers Conference, and the London Screenwriters’ Festival.
I wouldn’t have been approached by a well-known publishing company to write a book.
I wouldn’t have intersected with hundreds of screenwriters, TV writers, novelists, filmmakers, actors, managers, agents, producers, and movie executives.
That’s just things that have benefited me. There’s also these:
Dozens upon dozens of writers have contacted me over the years to let me know how the blog helped them on their way to breaking into Hollywood.
The Zero Draft Thirty Challenges have helped thousands of writers pound out scripts, some of them leading to winning screenwriting contests and landing representation.
The Story Idea Each Day for a Month series has led to numerous original screenplays including some which have led to option deals or sales.
The Zero Draft Thirty Facebook group emerged from this blog and now has just shy of 3,000 members.
Then there’s this: There’s not a week that goes by where I don’t have someone email me to express thanks for the site in helping them to grow as a writer. I mean, how can you possibly quantify the value of a woman writing that she was in tears because after failing to complete a script for over a decade, she finally did in one of the Zero Draft Thirty Challenges.
Yes, Go Into The Story is a lot of work, but all in all, I feel like Fate led me to it. As to where it goes, I have no idea. I’ll just keep doing what I’ve been doing for the foreseeable future. Always open to suggestions. And as always…
Onward.
Today’s Go Into The Story resource: Great Scenes
An ongoing series in which I analyze a memorable scene from a noteworthy movie, including script excerpt and often an accompanying video.
2001: A Space Odyssey: The dawn of man.
(500) Days of Summer: Tom’s greatest day ever.
A Christmas Story: Tongue meets frozen pole = stuck!
A Few Good Men: A drunk Kaffee blows his top at Galloway’s suggestion.
Alien: Chestburster.
Almost Famous: Flying in a storm… and some truths emerge.
Almost Famous: On the bus, the band sings “Tiny Dancer”.
Amadeus: Mozart’s death bed composition dictated to Salieri.
American Beauty: The beauty of a dancing plastic bag.
Annie Hall: Woody Allen spells out the subtext in this scene.
Apocalpyse Now: The introduction of a dangerous, drunk Captain Benjamin Willard.
Back to the Future: Marty ‘meets’ his father for the first time.
Big: The piano scene in FAO Schwartz.
Big Lebowski, The: Walter and The Dude bid farewell to Donny.
Big Night: Making breakfast the morning after a disaster.
Blue Velvet: Frank’s interesting relationship with ‘Mommy’.
Boogie Nights: A drug deal goes south to the tune of “Jessie’s Girl”.
Breakfast Club, The: Bender attempts an escape, fails, and the others cover for the “ruckus”.
Broadcast News: Aaron’s flop sweat moment on national TV.
Bull Durham: Annie sets ground rules for tryst, but Crash has other ideas.
Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid: The knife fight.
Caddyshack: Carl’s Dalai Lama monologue.
Casablanca: “Round up the usual suspects.”
Cast Away: Chuck returns to Kelly… but she needs to return home.
Chinatown: “My sister. My daughter.”
Citizen Kane: “Rosebud.”
Citizen Kane: The downward spiral of Kane’s marriage told in a memorable series of shots.
Close Encounters of the Third Kind: A throng of worshippers in India point to where the mysterious music came from.
Collateral: A jazz club, conversation, Miles Davis… and murder.
Conversation, The: Caul witnesses a murder.
Dark Knight, The: Joker offers Harvey Dent a chance to embrace chaos.
Deer Hunter, The: Russian roulette in Vietnam.
Die Hard: Explosion on the rooftop.
Die Hard: McClane meets Gruber.
Dog Day Afternoon: “Attica! Attica! Attica!”
Double Indemnity: Neff flirts with Phyllis for the first time.
Dr. Strangelove or: How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Bomb
Duck Soup: Groucho and Harpo mirror scene.
Elephant Man, The: John Merrick gets his final wish — to sleep lying down.
Exorcist, The: “The power of Christ compels you!”
Ferris Bueller’s Day Off: “Twist and Shout”.
Fabulous Baker Boys, The: “Makin’ Whoopee”.
Fight Club: The opening scene where we meet Narrator and Tyler Durden.
Frost/Nixon: A late night phone call from a drunk ex-President.
Full Metal Jacket: Private Pyle goes full metal jacket.
Full Monty, The: The guys meet in the unemployment line.
Godfather, The: The final scene between Michael and Kay.
Goodfellas: “You think I’m funny?”
Good Will Hunting: Will takes down a Harvard student and meets Skylar.
Graduate, The: The brilliant musical montage of Benjamin’s affair with Mrs. Robinson.
Great Escape, The: Hilts attempts a motorcycle escape.
Halloween: Michael Myers shot dead… or is he?
Heat: Hanna and McCauley meet for a ‘casual’ dinner conversation.
Inception: Cobb wakes up. He’s home. Finally, home. But… is it real?
Inglourious Basterds: Col. Hans Landa ‘chats’ with a French farmer.
Insider, The: An incendiary story. Corporate interests. The news. Something has to give.
It’s A Wonderful Life: The phone scene.
It Happened One Night: The art of hitchhiking.
Jaws: The U.S.S. Indianapolis speech.
King of Hearts: The poetic ending.
Kramer vs. Kramer: The two French toast scenes.
Léon: The Professional: The ending played out in three great scenes.
Life of Brian: Brian attempts to escape a crowd of devotees who believe that he is the Messiah.
Little Miss Sunshine: Olive’s shocking dance routine.
Magnolia: Frog storm.
Magnolia: Linda’s meltdown.
Manhunter: Graham seeks help from Hannibal Lecktor.
Matrix, The: The red pill… or the blue pill.
Metropolitan: Charlie pontificates about the importance of the bourgeoisie.
Metropolitan: Nick gets punched by Rick Von Sloneker.
Michael Clayton: Clayton confronts Crowder, then rides alone with his thoughts.
Monty Python and the Holy Grail: The Black Knight.
Moonrise Kingdom: Dancing on the beach.
Natural, The: The Big Game-winning home run.
Network: “I’m as mad as hell and I’m not going to take it anymore!”
Night Shift: Bill breaks down the word “prostitution”.
No Country for Old Men: Coin toss.
North by Northwest: Crop duster.
On the Waterfront: Father Barry ‘preaches’ the truth to the dockworkers after one of them has been killed.
One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest: Chief puts MacMurphy out of his misery, then escapes.
Pulp Fiction: God stops the bullets.
Psycho: The shower scene.
Repo Man: Miller takes Otto for a drive.
Rocky: Rocky takes Adrian ice skating.
Rounders: Mike plays one last hand with Teddy KGB.
Rushmore: Revenge.
Scarface: Say hello to my little friend!
Schindler’s List: The Girl in the Red Dress.
Se7en: Final struggle between Mills and John Doe… and Mills with himself.
Shakespeare in Love: Will makes a startling discovery about Thomas.
Shawshank Redemption, The: Red’s parole board subplot.
Sideways: Miles and Maya talk pinot noir.
Silence of the Lambs, The: Clarice flashes back to the funeral of her father.
Sophie’s Choice: Sophie must choose between her son or daughter — who shall live and who shall die.
Source Code: Steven gains some closure via a phone call.
Star Wars: The Empire Strikes Back: Luke confronts a phantasm of Darth Vader… and his own Shadow.
Stardust Memories: Two trains. One cool. One not. Guess which one Woody is in.
Sunset Blvd.: Norma is ready for her close-up.
Tampopo: Learning from a Ramen master.
Thelma & Louise: The ending.
There Will Be Blood: “I drink your milkshake.”
There’s Something About Mary: The hair gel scene.
Thief: Frank meets with his old flame Jessie for a cup of coffee.
Thing From Another World, The: The scientists discover a ‘flying saucer’.
This is Spinal Tap: “These go to 11.”
To Kill a Mockingbird: Atticus Finch summation speech for the jury.
Tootsie: George tells Michael absolutely no one will hire him.
True Grit: A snakebit girl. A wounded lawman. A flagging horse. A desperate ride.
Untouchables, The: Ness meets Malone for the first time.
Up: Carl discovers that Ellie wants him to go on a new adventure.
Usual Suspects, The: Verbal Kint revealed as Keyser Söze.
Verdict, The: Frank’s summation argument in front of the jury.
Wall Street: “Greed is good.”
Whale Rider: Pai gives a performance… while her grandfather makes a stunning discovery on the beach.
When Harry Met Sally: An argument over an awful looking coffee table.
Withnail and I: It’s Withnail taking on Danny the Headhunter in a verbal joust.
Witness: Samuel witnesses a murder.
Wizard of Oz, The: Tornado!
Young Frankenstein: “Puttin’ on the Ritz”.
Zorba the Greek: After a catastrophe, Basil asks Zorba to teach him to dance.
Each day this month, I want to take the opportunity to thank you for supporting Go Into The Story. I’d love to hear from you in RESPONSES. When did you start following the blog? What are your favorite features? And as always, if you have any suggestions, feel free to suggest away.
