Time to Read 2016 Movie Scripts

One of the best ways to learn the craft: Read scripts!

With the ongoing release of 2016 movie scripts as part of the studios annual For Your Consideration campaigns, it’s a great time to resume our Go Into The Story Script Reading and Analysis Series. To date, we have covered 59 scripts of such notable movies as Argo, Birdman, and Boyhood, all the way up to Up In The Air, Whiplash, and The Wolf of Wall Street.

Check out the list of 2016 movie scripts available to the public:

A Monster Calls (Focus Features)

Anthropoid (Bleecker Street)

Bridget Jones’s Baby (Universal)

Captain Fantastic (Bleecker Street)

Denial (Bleecker Street)

Eye in the Sky (Bleecker Street)

The Girl on the Train (Universal)

Hail, Caesar! (Universal)

The Hollars (Sony Classics)

I Saw the Light (Sony Classics)

Julieta (Sony Classics)

Kubo and the Two Strings (Focus Features)

Love & Friendship (Amazon)

Loving (Focus Features)

Maggie’s Plan (Sony Classics)

Manchester by the Sea (Amazon)

The Meddler (Sony Classics)

Miles Ahead (Sony Classics)

My Big Fat Greek Wedding 2 (Universal)

Nocturnal Animals (Focus Features)

The Secret Life of Pets (Universal)

Victor Frankenstein (David Entertainment)

Zootopia (Walt Disney)

What I propose: Let’s read and analyze one 2016 movie script per week for the weeks of November 28, December 5, and December 12.

Here’s where you come in: We need volunteers to read a script and provide a scene-by-scene breakdown as the launching point for our weekly discussions. Trust me, this will be a great learning experience for you and we can add your breakdown to the 43 we already have in archives, thereby adding to a valuable resource for the online writing community.

To download PDFs of the scene-by-scene breakdowns we have aggregated to date, go here.

For those folks who volunteer to do a scene-by-scene breakdown of a 2016 movie script, you not only get your name duly noted in a blog post and your name enshrined in archives, you also get a special dose of creative juju.

If you need additional inspiration, here is Jefferson Airplane belting out “Volunteers” from the Woodstock Festival in 1969:

Who’s up to read a 2016 movie script and do the online writing community a solid by working up a scene-by-scene breakdown?

Hit me up in comments with your preferred movie script. And my personal thanks in advance!

UPDATE: We have several volunteers, so kudos once again to the GITS community for responding!

A Monster Calls / Andrew Turner

Anthropoid / Marija Nielsen

Captain Fantastic / Despina Karintis

Denial / Gina Gomez

Eye in the Sky / Abhinav Tiwari

Hail, Caesar! / Brianne VanTuyle

Kubo and the Two Strings / Nikki Syreeta

Maggie’s Plan / Monique Mata

Manchester by the Sea / Ashley Lara

Miles Ahead / Alecia Hodges

The Secret Life of Pets / Paul Huffman

Victor Frankenstein / Lisa Gomez

Zootopia / Will King

Thanks, all!

Also note this: I expect another 20–30 movie scripts from 2016 to be released to the public over the next 2 months. Those will be available for our script read and analysis series. As you know, I post those download links as soon as the scripts go public. If you see a script go online, feel free to email me and let me know of your interest in doing a scene-by-scene breakdown for that script. First come, first serve.

Even if you do not participate in the analysis, discussion, or write up a scene-by-scene breakdown, I strongly encourage you to read these scripts. I’m going to do a follow-up post later today on the value of reading scripts.

Onward!