Script To Screen: “You Can Count On Me”
A key scene from the excellent 2000 drama You Can Count On Me, written and directed by Kenneth Lonergan.
Plot Summary: A single mother’s life is thrown into turmoil after her struggling, rarely-seen younger brother returns to town.
In the scene: The younger brother Terry and his nephew Rudy.
INT. TERRY'S ROOM. NIGHTTerry is packing his bag. Rudy is watching.RUDY
Where are you going?TERRY
I don't know. I just want to get out
of this town. And if you've got any
sense when you get old enough you'll
get out of here too. Your Mom's gonna
live in this town for the rest of
her life, and you know why? Because
she thinks she has to. Don't ask me
why, but that's the truth. She thinks
there's all these things she has to
do, but you want to know one thing
about your Mom? She's a bigger fuck-
up than I ever was. I mean, I know I
messed up. You think I enjoy getting
thrown in jail because I wanted you
to face that prick your Dad like a
little man and see what kind of a
guy he is? I know I got a little
carried away, and I lost my temper
just a little bit -- which is not
the end of the world either, by the
way, just for future reference --And
now she's kickin' me out of my own
house because -- you know, because I
fucked up a little bit. Which I
totally admit. I was like -- totally
ready to admit that.He is finished stuffing his clothes into his backpack.RUDY
I could go with you.TERRY
Well, thanks, man. But I, uh, I can't
really take care of you.INT. LIVING ROOM. NIGHTSammy is flipping channels on the TV. The DOORBELL RINGS.
She is surprised. She gets up. Terry comes thundering down
the stairs, carrying his backpack.SAMMY
Is that for you?TERRY
Yeah, I'm just gonna stay at Ray's
till I take off.SAMMY
You don't have to do that.TERRY
Yeah. Well, that's what I wanna do,
so --SAMMY
Well but -- Are you gonna come back
to say good-bye?TERRY
No -- I'm just gonna take off. I'll
see you later.SAMMY
Well --Terry opens the door. RAY is there. Terry closes the door
behind him. Sammy listens to the PICKUP TRUCK DRIVE OFF. The
sound FADES.
Here is the version of the scene in the movie:
This is a good example of the type of script by a writer-director who chooses not to do much in the way of including camera shots in scene description. By my count, there are 25 cuts in this scene compared to just a handful in the script. One thing is for sure: All those cuts contribute to the frantic pace of Terry’s packing which itself is a projection of his riled up energy.
One of the single best things you can do to learn the craft of screenwriting is to read the script while watching the movie. After all a screenplay is a blueprint to make a movie and it’s that magic of what happens between printed page and final print that can inform how you approach writing scenes. That is the purpose of Script to Screen, a weekly series on GITS where we analyze a memorable movie scene and the script pages that inspired it.
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