Script Analysis: “Monsters University” — Scene By Scene Breakdown
Reading scripts. Absolutely critical to learn the craft of screenwriting. The focus of this weekly series is a deep structural and thematic analysis of each script we read.
Today: A scene-by-scene breakdown of the script for the movie Monsters University.
Here is my take on this exercise from a previous series of posts — How To Read A Screenplay:
After a first pass, it’s time to crack open the script for a deeper analysis and you can do that by creating a scene-by-scene breakdown. It is precisely what it sounds like: A list of all the scenes in the script accompanied by a brief description of the events that transpire.
For purposes of this exercise, I have a slightly different take on scene. Here I am looking not just for individual scenes per se, but a scene or set of scenes that comprise one event or a continuous piece of action. Admittedly this is subjective and there is no right or wrong, the point is simply to break down the script into a series of parts which you then can use dig into the script’s structure and themes.
The value of this exercise:
* We pare down the story to its most constituent parts: Scenes.
* By doing this, we consciously explore the structure of the narrative.
* A scene-by-scene breakdown creates a foundation for even deeper analysis of the story.
You may download the script for Monsters University (2013) here.
Monsters University
Scene by Scene Breakdown
By Liz Correal
GoIntoTheStory.com
1–3: A bird pecks at the ground then turns to reveal its two heads. It flies off, startled by a school bus full of singing monster children. The bus takes them from Frighton Elementary on a field trip. After arriving at their destination, Monsters Incorporated, the kids pair up, but the smallest MIKE is left alone and needs to pair with the teacher.
3–8: Inside the Monsters Inc factory the group is met by a tour guide who escorts them to the Scare Floor. The guide, as well as imparting information on the collection of Scream Energy advises them its a dangerous area to be in. The guide encourages the kids to practise their scariest roar, Mike excels and thinks his classmates are impressed at his skill but soon realises they’re actually watching a group of real scarers entering the scare laboratory.
Mike admires the professional scarer who interacts with him and his classmates telling them he learnt his scaring skills at Monster University. Rivalry between MU and another scare school, Fear Tech, is mentioned. Preparations are made for a scare exhibition. Mike steps over the safety line and is warned to step back. He does, but gets pushed to the rear of the crowd and can see nothing. He hides behind a cart of scream collection cans, moves forward with it as its pushed to the experimentation area and at the same time as a professional scarer, steps through a door which opens into the human world.
8: Mike hides in the human child’s room. He’s afraid but excited watching the MU scarer get ready to do his job. Mike, behind the door, is almost seen by the child’s parents who come to check on him. Mike is awestruck as the scarer frightens the child.
8–9: Scream cans fill on the scare floor and the scarer, content with his performance, re-enters the lab. Mike is revealed to be right behind him. Everyone in the scare lab goes into a state of panic about the danger Mike has put himself and their into. The MU scarer expresses his admiration for Mike. Mike decides to become a scarer.
10: Montage of Mike studying to enter the Monster University. Mike receiving his acceptance letter.
10: A bus arrives outside the MU and the driver asks if anyone is getting off.
10–11: An excited Mike bids farewell and gives advice to his friends then gets off the bus.
11: Mike stands, awestruck, before the university gates.
11–12: Mike mingles on the campus grounds enthralled with his new world.
12–13: Mike is escorted to the registration area and given an orientation pack, has his photo taken for his id badge then tags on with a group of others for a freshman tour.
13: The tour takes them to the Door Technology labs. When a door test is started Mike catches a glimpse of a child’s bedroom.
14: The tour continues through the cafeteria where the best chefs in the world prepare dishes from trash.
14: The tour goes past the Scare School where Mike stares at the building in awe.
14–16: Mike and the other freshman are enticed to join various clubs none of which interest him until the Scare Games are mentioned. The games are explained to him in detail and he’s intrigued.
16–17: Mike is presented with the key to his room and meets his room mate Randy Boggs who displays his ability to disappear. Mike gives Randy advice on his personal appearance.
18: Mike unpacks and settles in. Mike unpacks the MU cap he kept since the school visit when he was a child. He expresses his desire to get started with his studies.
18: The first day of class. A slug student panics because he’s late.
19: Mike and randy enter the Scare School after superstitiously touching a statue.
19–23: Mike is impressed with his classroom. His fellow students are amused by his less than scary appearance. The introductory speech by Professor Knight is interrupted by the arrival of Dean Hardscrabble who is revealed to be a dragon woman. She tells them she’s come to see their scary faces and drops them the surprise of a final exam for inspiration to be more scary. Knight then begins to question the students on their scare general knowledge. Mike begins to answer but is interrupted by Sulley, the offspring of a famous scarer, which annoys him.
23–28: Mike declines to go to a party worried about his exam results. He marks the date of the Scare games on his calendar. Mike studies while randy attends the party. His studying is interrupted by a pig flying in the window closely followed by Sulley. Sulley shushes Mike which angers him. Sulley physically quietens him with a hand over his mouth while four Fear Tech monsters pass below the window. Sulley displays a lack of respect for the other scarers and reveals he stole the pig from them so he could use it as an entrance into an elite group of scarers, the ROR’s. Mike has to help Sulley catch the pig, in the process of which he is bitten by it and the room is wrecked. Sulley is impressed by Mike but Mike just wants him to leave so he can carry on studying. Sulley deems studying unnecessary for scaring. The pig steals Mike’s old MU hat.
28 -29: Mike and Sulley chase the pig across campus.
29–30: The pig chase continues through various locations.
30–34: They continue to chase the pig until Mike finally catches it and grabs his hat back. Sulley grabs Mike and the pig proclaiming they’re his mascots. The pig is presented to a group of students who cover its Fear Tech badge with an MU sticker. Several fraternities jostle for Sulley’s attention until the ROR representative arrives and Sulley is accepted in the ROR frat. Mike receives a put down from the ROR’s, he looks for Sulley’s support but the big monster turns his back and goes off with his new friends.
34–35: Professor Knight’s class practice scare moves. (I’m still laughing at the line — Drool is a tool, kids. Use it — Too funny.) Mike is piqued because Sulley is singled out as being a natural scarer. Mike marks the second day of class over on his calendar.
36: Mike studies in the library.
36: Mike practices scare faces in front of a mirror in his room.
36: Sulley uses a text book to prop up a ping-pong table. He play table tennis.
37: Mike and Randy play ball and quiz each other on phobias.
37: A football game in progress. Sulley watches the game. Mike’s there too but studies instead of watching. His calender for October is completed.
38: Mike excels in a classroom quiz which annoys Sulley.
38: They compete in a gym session. Both fall off a treadmill.
38–39: Sulley’s low exam mark is exposed by a ROR member. Mike scores high. November is marked off the calendar.
39: Mike studies while he works.
39–40: Mike impress the Proff with his scare impressions. Sulley is disappointed with his own performance. The exam date approaches.
40–41: A nervous Randy and Mike arrive at the Scare school for the exam. Sulley boasts but the RORs remove his frat jacket in case he doesn’t pass. Sulley displays a lack of confidence.
42: Prof Knight prepares the classroom for the exam and tells them Dean Hardscrabble will be there.
42–48: The exam begins. Mike does last minute cramming. Sulley attempts to undermine Mike’s confidence and Mike reminds him how hard he’s worked to be there. They both practice roaring but it turns into a competition between them until Sulley trips over. In the fall, Sulley accidentally releases a scream from the Dean’s can. She gets her retribution by tasking them screams which Mike performs well, but Sulley doesn’t listen and she removes him from the program. Sulley blames Mike, but he’s also thrown off the program for not being scary enough.
48: Time lapse shot to autumn/winter
48: Mike stares through the window at the Scare School in the distance while he attends a boring can design class. Mike and Sulley express frustration and animosity at their new situation.
49: Sulley follows a dejected Mike out of class. Mike ignores him.
49: Mike throws his can book at the dorm wall. He sees the Scare Games marked on the calender and smiles. Mike rushes out of his room to find Sulley standing at the door, but he pushes past him leaving Sulley confused.
49–54: The Scare games begin and the Dean arrives. They laugh at Mike as he signs up to participate. Sulley arrives looking for Mike. Mike introduces the new Misfit frat. Dean asks Mike what’s happening and he makes a wager with her he and his frat will win. She tells him if they lose they will have to leave MU. The team is one head short for entering and at the last minute Sulley joins them.
54: They all go to the frat house where Don welcomes them.
54–59: They mingle socially at the house. Discuss why they’re not still Scare majors by doing one by one introductions.
59: Mike and Sulley are shown to a room they will share. Sulley expresses his lack of confidence in the team and the lights go out.
59–60: Searching for the door to get out they discover a stairwell in the darkened room.
60–62: They go down into the basement and are submitted to an initiation ceremony by the rest of the frat. Don’s mother turns up mid-ceremony with the laundry. The initiation continues.
62–64: Mike wakes with Sulley’s hand caressing his face. Mike throws Sulley to the floor and complains about his hair shedding. Don interrupts by taking their photo and announces the arrival of a letter containing a riddle advising of the first scare in the games.
64–75: Mike, Sulley and friends go down a sewer to where the first game event is being held. The teams are introduced to load roars from the crowds apart from Mike’s team who are greeted by silence. Don’s mum takes a photo. The toxicity of human children is discussed. The teams support their members as they race through a tunnel of poisonous fluorescent urchins. Mike and Sulley compete against each other, Sulley gets stung. Mike gets stung but they keep racing until they pass the finishing. Convinced they’ve won they begin to celebrate their victory but are dismayed when the rules state all team members must cross the line. They prepare to be out of the competition when its announced a member from another team is being disqualified and they are still in the games. The Dean tells Mike they were just lucky.
75–79: Mike puts the team into training and gives them a pep talk. They discuss their strengths and weaknesses. Sulley suggests cheating but Mike won’t agree to it. They read the riddle for the next game.
79–80: The teams try to take a flag from under the librarian’s nose without getting seen or heard. She catches a student from the opposing team.
80–81: The student flies out of the window to roars from the crowd.
81–85: Mike’s team creep towards their flag, moving in unison until Sulley breaks ranks and rushes forward. Mike’s team mates, apart from Sulley, imitate everything he says and does. Sulley goes to grab the flag but falls off the ladder crashing to the floor. The librarian is after him until the rest of the team cause a distraction. They make their escape from the library without getting caught.
85–86: The team celebrate getting their flag. Another team is eliminated. Dean shows her disapproval.
86–87: The exuberant team return to the house, on the way back they’re invited to a party because they’re now top scarers.
87–88: They arrive at the party nervous at not fitting in.
88–91: The party is in full swing. They enter to adulation from the party-goers. They join in with the dancing. Sulley is reluctant to participate but eventually gives in. Mike wanders off alone to look at game trophies. A frat leader addresses the party, congratulating all the participants on still being in the games. Mike’s team are singled out in the crowd, splattered with paint and then sprayed with glitter and various other things.
91–93: Mike’s team’s picture of them covered in glitter makes the front page of the school newspaper. The humiliating photo is reproduced in various formats and distributed about the campus. Frat leader, Jonny, tells them they’ll never be real scarers and to go get a job in the mail room. Sulley tells Mike they need to give in. The rest of the team follow Sulley as he walks away. Mike has an idea.
93: Mike tells the team members they’re going on a day trip.
94: They take a car ride. They ask where they are and Mike shows them the Monster Inc factory. They break in to the factory through the fence.
95–98: They climb onto the roof of the building and look down into a working scare floor. Mike points out all the scarers are different. They watch various monsters go about their duties. Sulley is impressed at Mike’s train of thought. Mike and Sulley find common ground in their habit of collecting score cards. Sulley apologises for being a jerk. They get caught by security.
98–99: They race across the rooftops pursued by the guards. As they run out of breath, Sulley picks them up until he’s carrying all the team.
99–100: They dive back into the car and escape just in time.
101–102: Don’s mum makes them team shirts. Mike and Sulley get up early. Mike puts the team in training.
102–103: Mike reads out the riddle for the latest game. Trains the team some more.
103–105: The Don’t Scare a Teenager maze. A scarer fails the test. Mike’s team makes it though the maze before their opponents and win the game.
105: Mike and his team gather in the quad to read the next riddle. They hide. Mike points out their hiding places.
105–106: Mike and Sulley practice scares in his room. Mike teaches Don how to use his tentacles.
106–107: Sulley gets out of bed first and tells Mike its time to go to work. They share the space of the room for the first time without a problem.
107–110: The hide and seek event begins. A referee searches for hidden monsters. He eliminates several and carries on searching. He misses Mike’s team members who are adept at hiding. Mike’s team becomes one of the two remaining in the competition and begin to enjoy their new found popularity. Sulley speaks to the Dean about being readmitted to the scare program. She accuses Mike of not being scary.
110–113: Mike and Sulley discuss winning the tournament and getting their lives back on track. Sulley wants to help Mike and throws the text book out the window. He tries to teach Mike to use his inner strength and initiative rather than stick to the rules.
113–124: The final day of the scare games begins. They’re matched, monster against monster, in the scare simulators. Mike takes up the final position.
The team goes through the simulators. But the opposing team collect more scares and Mike’s team begins to fall behind until Sulley roars so load his opponent falls off the wall and they gain points bringing them back into the game. Confident from his success, Sulley gives Mike a pep talk. Mike scares his kid so much he fills the scare can, winning them the game. They begin to celebrate their victory.
124–128: The celebration continues as they hold the trophy aloft in the quad. Mike stays behind, staring into the simulator, amazed at what he’s achieved. He re-enters the simulator and discovers the controls have been tampered with. Mike realises Sulley adjusted the controls before the game began. Mike is devastated that Sulley doesn’t consider him scary then he becomes angry. Sulley digests the consequences of his cheating.
128: Mike hides out alone and away from the team.
128–129: Sulley walks across campus with the trophy ignoring the adulation of the other students. Sulley is congratulated by P.Knight on his re-entering the scare school. The ROR’s give Sulley is jacket back and accept him back into the group but he returns it and gives them the trophy too.
129: Mike enters the door laboratory.
129–130: Sulley confesses his misdeeds to the Dean and the Prof. As they prepare to expel him an alarm sounds. Security rush past saying the door lab has been broken into.
130–131: Mike prepares himself to enter a door. The guards shout out for him to desist because of the dangers.
131–132: Mike enters into the human world. He roars at a child but the child isn’t afraid. Its revealed he’s gone into a cabin full of bunk-beds. All the kids think Mike is adorable.
132–134: Security restrain students in the lab. Don attempts to cause a distraction but is arrested. Sulley goes through the door.
134–135: Sulley looks for Mike in the cabin. The kids tell the rangers about a visit from an alien. Sulley climbs out the cabin window and carries on searching for Mike.
135–138: Sulley is caught in the beam of the ranger’s flashlights. He runs away to escape them. He finds Mike staring at his reflection in a lake. Sulley sympathises with Mike about his lack of scariness. Sulley admits to being terrified most of the time. The ranger’s find them and Sulley runs away in panic getting trapped against an embankment. Mike drags him to safety with a tree branch and they go back to the cabin.
138: The rangers surround the cabin. Mike and Sulley get through them and enter the cabin.
138: Sulley and Mike try to get back to the monster world but find the cupboard is full of camping stuff.
138–139: The power to the door has been switched off. The Dean controls the power button and insists they wait until the authorities arrive. The misfits panic knowing Sulley and Mike can’t survive that long in the human world. The Dean orders the room to be cleared.
139–142: Mike and Sulley are in a state of panic at not being able to pass into the monster world. A group of rangers arrives outside the cabin. Sulley is desperate to escape but Mike plans on scaring them to power the door into opening. The rangers enter the cabin. Mike and Sulley undertake a strategically planned scare. The rangers are terrified.
142: The dean is surprised by creams and the door light changing colour.
142–143: The door in the cabin begins to glow. Sulley is afraid but drops in front of the rangers and growls. They scream.
143: The lab glows with the energy from Sulley’s roar shocking the Dean.
143: The cabin door glows brighter as the rangers scream louder. Scream cans in the lab explode.
144: Mike and Sulley head for the cabin door.
144: The Dean moves away from the door before Mike and Sulley burst back into the lab. The door is destroyed. The CDA burst into the lab as the Dean questions Mike and Sulley how they produced the screams. Sulley says it was Mike’s doing. Mike and Sulley are escorted out by the CDA.
145–147: Mike and Sulley deliver the news of their expulsion to the misfits. The misfits express their confusion at being readmitted to the scare school.
147: Mike and Sulley have their suitcases ready. The all bid farewell and hug.
148–149: Mike and Sulley walk off campus. Sulley questions Mike about his plans. Mike gets on the bus. Sulley watches him drive away but then goes and grabs him off the bus.
149–151: Mike and Sulley stand on the street. Sulley exponentiates on Mike’s brilliance and they relive some memories. The Dean appears behind them carrying a copy of the school paper. She wishes them good luck. The see the advertisement for the mail room at Monsters Inc.
151: Mike and Sulley work in the mailroom as a team.
152–153: A montage of shots as Mike and Sulley work their way through the ranks until they finally make it to scarers. Both working on the scare floor.
153: The slug arrives in class to find it all over.
Writing Exercise: I encourage you to read the script, but short of that, if you’ve seen the movie, go through this scene-by-scene breakdown. What stands out to you about it from a structural standpoint?
If you’d like a PDF of the Monsters University script, go here.
Major kudos to Liz Correal for doing today’s breakdown.
I am looking for volunteers to read a script and provide a scene-by-scene breakdown for it to be used as part of our weekly series. What do you get? Beyond your name being noted here, my thanks, and some creative juju, hopefully you will learn something about story structure and develop another skill set which is super helpful in learning and practicing the craft.
The latest volunteers:
12 Years a Slave — Georgevine Moss
Beasts of No Nation — Jacob Holmes-Brown
Bridge of Spies — Scott Guinn
Carol — Jillienne Bee
Celeste and Jesse Forever — Ryan Canty
Diary of a Teenage Girl — Cynthia
Ex Machina — Nick Norman-Butler
Frozen — Doc Kane
Gone Girl — Ashley Lara
Inside Out — Katha
Legend — Olivia
Leviathan — Piotr Ryczko
Locke — Megaen Kelly
Macbeth — Trung
Man Up — Kristy Brooks
Monsters University — Liz Correal
Mud — Kevin
Nightcrawler — DJ Summit
Pawn Sacrifice — Michael Waters
Steve Jobs — Angie Soliman
Still Alice — Audrey McKenzie
Straight Outta Compton — Timm Higgins
The End of the Tour — Steve F
The Iron Lady — Leslie
The Way Way Back — The Deuce
Trainwreck — Joni Brainerd
Wreck It Ralph — Kenny Crowe
Thanks, all!
To see examples of scene-by-scene breakdowns, go here. Part of the goal is to create a library of breakdowns for writers to have at their disposal for research and learning.
You may see the scripts we can use for the series — free and legal — by going here.
To date, we have analyzed 53 movie scripts, a great resource for screenwriters. To see those analyses, go here.
Thanks to any of you who will rise to the occasion and take on a scene-by-scene breakdown.
And for those of you who have volunteered, please send me your scene-by-scene breakdown as soon as possible!
Circling back to where we started, reading scripts is hugely important. Analyzing them even more so. If you want to work in Hollywood as a writer, you need to develop your critical analytical skills. This is one way to do that.
So seize this opportunity and join in the conversation!
I hope to see you in comments about today’s script: Monsters University.