Essential Reading – Screenplays and Pilots

The strongest comedy stems from character. Sure, it's fun to write a witty joke or devise a spectacular slapstick set piece, but for half-hour comedies, the thing that keeps audiences coming back episode to episode (and season to season) are the characters. If you can get the audience to care about what happens to the fictional humans on screen, then the hardest part is over. What is a character, if not their traits? Take Only Murders in the Building (written and created by Steve Martin and John Hoffman) as an example. After a brief flashforward teaser, the story starts in earnest and wastes no time in establishing the show's core trio: semi-retired actor Charles-Haden Savage (Martin), struggling Broadway producer Oliver Putnam (Martin Short), and young artist Mabel Mora (Selena Gomez), who all share little in common, save for an obsession with the same true crime podcast. But the way the show…

Women Talking is a quiet movie. A sort of gender-flipped 12 Angry Men, writer/director Sarah Polley's film (based on Miriam Toews' novel) observes a group of Mennonite women as they debate what to do about predatory men in their community. Should they stay and forgive, stay and fight, or flee and chart their own path separate from the men? Eleven women meet in a hayloft to discuss their options and decide for the rest. Appropriately for something called Women Talking, the movie is mostly dialogue-driven to the point that it almost feels like a stage play at times. Flashbacks add an occasional cinematic flare, filling in the necessary backstory, but conversations drive the narrative. There are no action-driven set pieces or anything of the sort—just women talking—but the stakes are as high as any blockbuster, and for the women at its center, the consequences are equally as perilous. The titular women—led by a cast…

Abbott Elementary, one of the most recent sitcoms to find its place in the cultural zeitgeist, has a deceptively simple premise: It's a workplace mockumentary set in a Philadelphia public school. That's the starting point, but it's all the smaller details series creator and star Quinta Brunson adds to the premise that elevates Abbott above most other network sitcoms. The world is probably one of the most important aspects to television series, and the one in Abbott feels especially lived in. The school isn't just a regular school, but it's an underfunded, mismanaged one. From there, the show builds out its cast. They all live in and contend with the realities of that world, and many of the show's conflicts stem from the fact that they want to do what's best for the students but don't have the resources to give them everything they deserve or need. Despite all that, Brunson and…

The Banshees of Inisherin is a very funny movie. Mind you, this isn’t a zany or wacky or otherwise madcap comedy that has been the norm in the genre for some time, but this is a dark comedy, one in which the punchline is only barely removed from misery and depression. Written and directed by Martin McDonagh, Banshees fits right in with the rest of his works, all of which blend comedy and tragedy expertly. In the midst of the Irish Civil War, two friends find themselves at the pub like any other day. But unlike any other day, one friend (Colm) tells the other (Padraic), “I just don’t like you no more,” and decides to cut Padraic out of his life completely for being too dull. It’s a shocking moment for Padraic, particularly since the announcement came out of nowhere—they weren’t rowing or anything—but it sparks a feud that…

With The Matrix Resurrections now out in the world, why not go back to the film that started it all? When people talk about timeless movies, they often namecheck the cultural landmarks of cinema, things like The Wizard of Oz, North by Northwest, Raiders of the Lost Ark. Films that became the part of the zeitgeist and inspired audiences and filmmakers for decades to come. Add The Matrix to that list. Sibling writer-director team Lana and Lilly Wachowski's sophomore feature The Matrix immediately made a splash upon its release in 1999, inspiring a slew of parodies, homages, and rip-offs. Without going too much into the plot (mostly because there have been hundreds of thousands of words written about the plot elsewhere), part of The Matrix's appeal is its unique tone: The Wachowskis effortlessly blend action-packed set pieces with cerebral ideas that ask viewers to question their very reality and the meaning of existence. When writing the script,…

You may have heard that Marvel Studios’ takeover of Hollywood has official entered a new phase. They’ve now extended their ultra-successful franchise of interconnected films into the television world, and WandaVision made that leap in the most literal way. One part love letter to television comedies, one part character drama, and one part superhero movie, WandaVision imagines what domestic life could be for one of comic’s unlikeliest superhero couples, a powerful sorceress (Elizabeth Olsen’s Wanda Maximoff, the Scarlet Witch) and her android husband (Paul Bettany’s The Vision). The pilot episode starts off in an I Love Lucy and Dick Van Dyke-inspired world, complete with a classic sitcom plot and even an off-kilter neighbor (Kathryn Hahn’s pitch perfect Agnes). But this being Marvel, nothing is as it seems, and despite the script’s spot-on homage, showrunner/writer Jac Schaeffer imbues just enough off-kilter creepiness to add to the mystery of why these superheroes…

Many films have explored the drama and tragedy of diseases like dementia, but none have done so as effectively as The Father. Recipient of the Best Adapted Screenplay Oscar at this year's Academy Awards, The Father was written by Florian Zeller and Christopher Hampton from Zeller's play Le Père (which Hampton had previously translated into English from the original French). Zeller also directed the film. The Father follows Anthony (played by Anthony Hopkins in an Academy Award–winning turn) as he tries to adjust to life with dementia, and his oft-frustrated daughter Anne (Olivia Colman... mostly) who has been forced to deal with her father's worsening condition and occasional belligerent outbursts. What sets the film apart from others in the genre, though, is the film's inventive structure. Instead of a straightforward melodrama, the film behaves almost like a thriller at times, placing the viewer in Anthony's perspective. Scenes and dialogue are repeated, characters…

Oh, where to start? Well, the opening description in writer/director Emerald Fennell's screenplay for Promising Young Woman is so great that I might as well quote it verbatim: A super-depressing dancefloor on a Thursday night. 2-for-1 shots and a sticky floor. The kind of last-resort place people end up after work having accidentally nailed ten “just one” drinks. A bored DJ plays the DROELOE remix of “Boys” by Charlie XCX, while the thin and kind of tragic crowd dances. We linger on the men dancing in particular, their bodies, the sweat running down their backs as they grind and thrust. The slow-mo, the lascivious pan-up, the sort of erotic gaze normally reserved for oiled-up music-video hotties. Except we’re looking at regular dudes in chinos with absolutely no dancing ability. Wanna know how to open a script? You could do worse than that. I could dissect all the ways this is perfection—the…

Netflix (2021) Ma Rainey's Black Bottom, based on August Wilson's play, follows the titular blues legend Ma Rainey (Viola Davis) and her band, specifically trumpeter Levee (Chadwick Boseman), over the course of a single afternoon as they record her album. Writer Ruben Santiago-Hudson, who adapted the screenplay, and director George C. Wolfe mostly stuck to Wilson's work, the most notable changes being an abridged runtime (the original play clocked in at two-and-a-half hours versus the film's brisk 94-minute runtime) and a thematic gut punch of an ending appended to the story. That new ending (the last shot in the film) accomplishes what every great adaptation does: While it doesn't appear in the original, it is expands on the play's themes in a way that feels inevitable and inextricably linked to the narrative. The film and play touch on many themes including racism, violence, religion, and masculinity, most notably by exploring…

If you’ve been on Twitter the last few months, you’ve probably heard of Apple TV+’s new sitcom Ted Lasso. It seems almost everyone who’s seen the show has fallen in love. Written by Jason Sudeikis and Bill Lawrence and developed by Sudeikis, Lawrence, Joe Kelly, and Brendan Hunt, the pilot follows American football coach Ted Lasso (Sudeikis) as he takes a new job as the head coach for the London football club AFC Richmond. That is, the other football. Soccer. A sport Ted has absolutely no experience in or knowledge of. The show becomes a fish-out-of-water comedy as Ted tries to make sense of the rules of British football and his new life in London. He also clashes with the club’s owner, Rebecca Welton (an excellent Hannah Waddingham, whom you might remember ringing the shame bell in Game of Thrones), who has ulterior motives. You see—SPOILERS—she’s a recent divorcée who…

In recent years, the lines between comedy and drama have become increasingly blurred, at least in the television world. It’s not uncommon to see hourlong series that more closely resemble comedies and half-hour shows that are for all intents and purposes dramas. This current trend was kickstarted almost fifteen years ago with shows like Weeds and Desperate Housewives that, while being ostensibly comedies, often leaned more heavily toward the drama side of the coin. Demand for this type of series has only increased, and dramedy has become a surprising enduring and successful genre for female-led series. Just look at last year’s Emmy nominations -- Fleabag, The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel, and Russian Doll each straddles that line and all were met with critical acclaim. Also add Dead to Me to that list. The series, created by Liz Feldman, is a (dark) comedy about grief. Two women meet in a therapy group for…

Should we do a comedy this month? Yeah... let’s do a comedy this month. Released almost 15 years ago, The Devil Wears Prada was written by Aline Brosh McKenna and adapted from Lauren Weisberger’s novel. (We previously talked about McKenna’s work with Crazy Ex-Girlfriend.) Upon its release, the movie was met with critical acclaim and even scored Meryl Streep an Oscar nomination for Best Actress, as well as another nomination for Best Costume Design (natch). Since then, it’s become a staple of cable television and has even gotten a second life with Twitter reaction gifs. One of the things that makes The Devil Wears Prada a timeless movie is its specificity. Each character feels unique and lived-in, and they each talk in their own rhythms and languages. This is one script where each character has a clear and distinct voice. You could take almost any line out of context and…

The most basic story for any movie goes like this: A protagonist faces obstacles and conflict while trying to achieve a specific goal. Of course, that's a very reductive take on narrative storytelling, but that is the skeleton most movies are built on. However, the best movies are about more than just plot; with themes and metaphors, filmmakers hold a mirror to society and use their movies as a commentary on today's world. One of the best directors doing that today is Bong Joon-ho. Bong has made a name for himself, in his native South Korea and throughout the entire world, with strongly metaphorical satires. The genres vary greatly—the sci-fi/horror/comedy The Host, the sci-fi/action Snowpiercer, the (very) darkly comedic Barking Dogs Never Bite—but each offers some view on modern life and society in general. But the one that has gotten the most recognition (perhaps you've heard of its Cannes and Oscar wins?) is Parasite.…

For this column, we typically focus on produced screenplays and teleplays to give aspiring writers a sense of what the standard is for professional screenwriters. The scripts we choose typically have strong characters, poignant themes, and -- it should go without saying -- exceptional writing. Although a well-written screenplay is still the best calling card an aspiring writer can have, focusing solely on the script doesn’t fully reflect the reality of the film industry. It has become increasingly common for producers, managers, and especially TV execs to request a bible or pitch deck before even reading the script, and perhaps the best example in recent years is the pitch document for Stranger Things. We’ve written about Stranger Things before, and needless to say, we’re big fans of the series (as is everyone else on the internet). This pitch deck was written before the show was picked up (the original title…

Over the past few decades, Scott Alexander and Larry Karaszewski have carved a niche for themselves in Hollywood. Although they've written in other genres, they've found the most success writing biopics about off-kilter or notorious individuals. The tone of these movies combines sharp social commentary and tragicomedy to create some of the best examples of the genre. Their scripts Ed Wood, The People vs. Larry Flynt, Man on the Moon, Big Eyes, and The People v. O. J. Simpson: American Crime Story have all attracted A-list talent behind and in front of the camera because of the strength of their writing, the allure of their movies' subjects, and the relevance of their stories' themes. Most recently in this line of biopics is Dolemite Is My Name. Set in the 1970s, the film follows comedian Rudy Ray Moore (Eddie Murphy, in his best performance in years) as he sets out to find his…