Screenplays I Read This Week

Screenplays that I've read this week and notes. I just want to use this to track what I'm reading and what I'm thinking. I could take more in-depth notes on each one, but for now, I only want to document my progress.

October 28th-November 3rd

• 30 Rock Script (S308) — Flu Shot. I’ve seen every 30 Rock episode a couple of times and even if I’m unsure about writing comedy, I enjoyed studying the episode. I got a good idea of writing with established characters, how to structure jokes within a screenplay and learned a bit of how to balance action and dialogue as well as setting descriptions. 
• American Horror Story Pilot — What struck me about this pilot was the strong opening & introduction to Adelaide that immediately grabs your attention. The hook is impeccable. 
• Arrested Development Pilot — Arrested Development is one of my favorite shows so I loved reading this one and finding out what the authors were thinking. I found this screenplay quite complex which intrigued me because I’ve always believed that Arrested Development was a brilliant show and I got to see the “technical” parts of why. Of course, a lot of industry experts and “pros” were involved in this show, but I loved reading it all the same as something to aspire to.
• Mad Men Pilot — This was my least favorite so far. I didn’t like the sexism, the sex scene or any of the characters. I didn’t feel quite gripped by the narrative. I just think it’s not my style. I did enjoy getting to learn more about the show as it was very popular. 
• Modern Family Pilot — What a throwback! This show is very funny but sometimes reading the jokes I realized how offensive they were. It’s amazing how my imagination of the characters from the script can sometimes be different from what the actors chose. From this script, I think I learned the impact good acting can have on a script.
• Orange Is The New Black Pilot — I found this one a bit slower than I remember it and I forgot how much the show changed from the pilot. It seems to have changed a lot and even now there were warning signs about where the show was going to end up and how it was going to get there. I forgot how unlikable Piper was at the beginning and I did always get the sense that they relied on her being a blond white woman rather than positing her as particularly likable right off the bat. This script was fun to read but served as a reminder that I tend to prefer reading screenplays where likability is established early or at least we have something or someone to root for. Additionally the OITNB conflict for the Pilot is quite weak which makes it a bit difficult for me to stay engaged with the material. Perhaps this is just indicative of different tastes. 
• Parks & Recreation Pilot — Again, this was another TV pilot that I’d seen before, and I wasn’t too fond of as a pilot, or reading it and I think that although there were some good jokes, the “hook” of the entire show wasn’t established. They want to fill in the pit. Great, who cares? I struggled to care about this one.
• Scandal Pilot — I didn’t realize how absurd Scandal was, but I love how Shonda Rhimes establishes a character and the action you’re immediately thrust into that keeps you instantly interested. This was one of the tightest and most gripping screenplays I’ve read for the week so far. I understand how Shonda’s shows are so popular now. It’s difficult to understand just how clean her writing is until you read it. I want to read as much of her work as possible. 
• Better Call Saul (1x06) — I loved this screenplay too. I’m currently watching Breaking Bad and Mike’s character — the focus of this prequel episode — fascinates me. I love the way character is built through the dialogue and actions and the gripping way this screenplay was written.
• The Handmaid’s Tale (2x01) — I’ve never seen this show but I did read Atwood’s book a long time ago. I found this one a little confusing to get into but the way the plot built on itself until the end of the screenplay taught me a big lesson. I also learned a lot about how to write quirks into the script to show that something isn’t quite right. The way the handmaids pray and their general tone and deference teaches a lot about creating a scary environment without being explicitly scary like jump scares or gore.
• The Walking Dead Pilot — There are so many cop characters that I’ve interacted with this week that I feel like I have a good idea of how to do “cop dialogue” specifically. This may also help with any kind of “tough guy” characters I write both for novels and future screenplays. I’m not a big fan of the zombie genre, but enjoyed reading this one. This script was similar to Scandal in that the tension was really tight and you were drawn form one page to the next. The horror and terrifying aspects of the script were really well done too. The character depth was lacking here compared to many of the other screenplays but I can’t deny their quality “hook” 

MOVIES

• The Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind — I’ve never seen this movie before outside of GIFS on Tumblr but heard it was “sad”. I liked the screenplay, even if I found both Clementine and Joel annoying, I understood why this was considered one of the “best” in this niche. The plot was gripping, the concept was fresh and exciting and I kept reading all the way to the end just to find out if Clementine + Joel got together. This seems like the prototype for the manic pixie dream girl character however and as a black female writer, I found that frustrating. The screenplay structure, the V.O. and off screen notes made me realize too that there must have been so many revisions of the script that contribute to the great screenplay. That’s important to note as well. It takes WORK to ensure that writing flows and that scenes will translate from page to screen. 
• Good Will Hunting — I never realized that Matt Damon/Ben Affleck wrote this script. How very “Boston” of both of them. I liked this script when I got into it but I admit that it was difficult at first. I liked the ending and the characters. I learned a lot here about writing in dialect, how to specify dialect and how to use language and dialogue to indicate regional or class distinctions. 
• Jerry Maguire — I find the characters difficult to relate to and the “sports” theme uninteresting. But I do like the extra practice. To me this script is just generic, but I’m learning the set up for a romantic comedy really well. I’m plugging through for the sake of education and accepting that I don’t have to like every screenplay I read and I don’t have to like a screenplay to learn something from it.
• Little Children — when I was about half way through this one, I went to read up on the movie itself and there were mixed reviews tilting towards negative. I loved the screenplay — found it dark and fascinating and found that it captured perfectly an emotional ennui that the characters felt. If this weren’t made in Hollywood, then I wonder if the ending would have been so “happy”. Maybe there could have been true loss for the characters as a consequence for their actions rather than the threat of it. 
• Straight Outta Compton — I loved reading this one more than I realized I would. I didn’t know the story of NWA, so that was one level to it. But the story was well written and kept you gripped almost like it was a thriller which means the tension was super taut, important for a genre like “biopic” which can easily be read as boring.