I’ve always loved stories. I love reading stories, writing stories and watching stories unfold on the screen. I love when I get so absorbed into the world of a book, that after taking a break, when I’m looking to return to that world again, I have to pause and think. Because I genuinely don’t know if I had been reading a book or watching a movie. It was so surreal, I could see every detail as if I was watching it on a screen. I have always believed the highest form of escapism can only be found in the written word, and I think that’s where my new found fascination with scripts came from.

Like Bridge to Terabithia (2007) Dir. Gábor Csupó, (where Jess builds an imaginary bridge across the river connecting his mundane world to the fantastical one of Terabithia.) Scripts are these mythical objects that connect the world of the written word to the magical world of film.
Its probably a incorrect view, but I had always viewed scripts as a sort of bastardisation of a novel; not so much faithful to the telling of the story, as to doubling as an instruction manual to translate the story to film. Stanley Kubrick, co-writer and director of The Shining (1980) agreed with this school of thought. He said: “A screen play isn’t meant to be read, it’s to be realized on film.” This reinforced my misconception that scripts were purposely dry and not descriptive; they’re meant to be used to just make films, right? The details and description of setting and character must lie at feet of the director, right? Scripts are just for dialog right? Right!?

I discovered this wasn’t the case.
(so so so far from it. Basically I’m an idiot.)
The screenplay of Frozen River, (2008), written and directed by Courtney Hunt, was amazing. I really enjoyed reading it. It was a bit of a game changer.
Frozen River was super descriptive, effectively established the world, and consequently, the tone and logic of the world quite early on with no/limited dialog. Additionally, the screenplay, as evident by the film, was also a highly effective ‘instruction manual’.

It certainly schooled me for forming seemingly airtight options on scripts without reading any examples. Oops.

Side note: I didn’t like the film. I thought it didn’t do the script justice, admittedly, probably due to budget. None the less, the Frozen River screenplay deserved better. Maybe one day pal.

From here came the question of application:
All the scripts I’ve ever written (grand total: 1) were for myself. I already knew what I wanted. If I were to write a script now and release it out into the world, I would want to equipment it best I could to ensure if someone else picked it up, it would be made as close to my image as possible.

How I was to go about this troubled me, I don’t really know how. But since Frozen River could, I felt a little reassured. After rereading and rereading the script, and really thinking about what aspects helped best create the ‘World’ of North Country, Upstate New York, I realised the answer lies structurally, in the big text.

Using just the big text from the screenplay, Courtney Hunt was able to communicate a heck load.
For example:

From here we can answer questions such as:

1. How does the world affect the tone of what we see?
Caravan park, rusted playing set, set in winter > low socio-economic standing, serious, survival mode > bleak tone.

2. Internal logic: how does the world operate?
Lack of money> got to hustle> do illegal shit
Discovering new rules and logics > take shoes away to keep them from running, how much it costs to smuggle people

I plan on referring back to this script as a structural example of scriptwriting for my own final project, for sure.

Side note: I know we quickly touched on in class the danger of over description, and going forward I would be conscience of that, but the realisation that script can be more then ‘he said, she said’ well… Is really exciting.

I can’t wait to try this out with my final project!