Go Into The Story Script Reading & Analysis: 32 Scripts
Reading movie scripts is one of the most important things you can do to learn the craft of screenwriting. That’s why I have brought back a regular script reading and analysis series. In 2015, we will read and analyze a movie script every other week for as long as we can. The scripts are largely drawn from our archives here, screenplays studios and financiers have made legally available to the public.
Thus far, we have broken down and studied 32 movie scripts. They are:
(500) Days of Summer — 6 part series
American Hustle — 5 part series
Argo — 5 part series
Black Swan — 6 part series
Blade Runner — 5 part series
Bridesmaids — 5 part series
Buried — 5 part series
Cloverfield — 5 part series
Drag Me to Hell — 5 part series
Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind — 5 part series
Frankenweenie — 5 part series
Galaxy Quest — 6 part series
Gladiator — 5 part series
Good Will Hunting — 5 part series
Gravity — 5 part series
Groundhog Day — 5 part series
It’s a Wonderful Life — 5 part series
Juno — 6 part series
Michael Clayton — 6 part series
Moonrise Kingdom — 5 part series
No Country for Old Men — 6 part series
Pan’s Labyrinth — 5 part series
Panic Room — 5 part series
Prisoners — 5 part series
Raiders of the Lost Ark — 6 part series
Shakespeare in Love — 5 part series
The Silence of the Lambs — 5 part series
The Sixth Sense — 5 part series
The Social Network — 6 part series
The Thing — 5 part series
Toy Story 3–5 part series
Up in the Air — 5 part series
I consider this series to be one of the most valuable resources on this blog and am thrilled 24 volunteers have stepped forward to provide scene-by-scene breakdowns of numerous contemporary scripts as a foundation for each of our discussions. We resume the series Monday, January 5 with the script for the movie Hanna, screenplay by Seth Lochhead and David Farr, story by Seth Lochhead. You may download a PDF of the official script here.
This is one New Year’s resolution you should make and keep: Read. More. Scripts. If you followed this series throughout the year, once every other week, imagine how much more you would know, consciously and intuitively, about the craft of screenwriting and storytelling generally.
See you January 5th for Hanna!