Recent Scripts

The first script I want to bring up is Forrest Gump. I know it's not that recent, but to me, it's recent enough.

There are a couple of different camps when it comes to this movie. Some people dig Zemeckis's work, others don't. I think the man is much better at telling a story then Spielberg is (his later stuff, not his early work), and I think this movie proves that, in spades.

Winning a slew of awards, adapted from the novel of the same name by Winston Groom, and written with great skill by Eric Roth, I'm not sure how I would catagorize this script. Certainly, if you're interested in writing a film with great scope, this is one you can learn from... but also, I think one of the finer things about this film is the use of history and sentimentality.

Gump is one of those films that was hyped to death... and over the years I've been able to tone down the ability of advertisers and marketing agencies who are trying to get me into the theater... but I was dead set on seeing this film, from the get-go. I don't even remember the trailer, all I remember were those posters in the subway of Hanks sitting on a bench with that tagline "The world will never be the same once you've seen it through the eyes of Forrest Gump."

Roth did not have much success in his early career... though having a screenwriting career at all is successful to most people. One of his first hits happened 11 years after his first script was produced. In 1981, Wolfen came out, which helped his career somewhat. It would be six years until his next produced work... and seven years after that, when he would win the Academy Award for Gump. From there, Roth pretty much had his way with what he wrote. The Postman (shudder), The Horse Whisperer and The Insider... all big budget films... the two latter films successes in their own right.

In 1996, one of a huge line of independent blockbuster films came out, written by Jon Favreau, who also starred in and produced the film, called Swingers. It's a very smart film, well written through the eyes of a struggling actor... which Favreau was at the time, having only had bit roles in mainstream films like Rudy, PCU and Batman Forever (???).

This is a direct example of "Write what you know". I don't think it gets any more direct than this.

Favreau is now in the process of finishing another film in which he wrote and directed called Made, along with Swingers co-star Vince Vaughn.

We now move into the year 2000 with, what came out to be one of the more surprising money makers of the year, Frequency. This is a fun movie to watch, and has a lot of psuedo-science fiction in it, along with action, suspense and drama. It also handles dialog and transitions very, very well. Written and produced by Toby Emmerich, I was very pleased with the entire film, and impressed in its production, directing and acting. This would make a good one to read, if your looking for difficult transitions in your script.

Cast Away was one of those films that, if you haven't watched the supplementals on the DVD, you wondered "Where the hell did this story come from? And what about Wilson?"

Well, William Broyles set out to make a realistic stranded island story, by doing the research himself. He hired a group of men to take him into the wilderness, to teach him to fend for himself... and the majority of the details in Cast Away are as real as they seem... all life experiences of Broyles... which makes the script that much more impressive.

Broyles has given us a fairly good range of films, from Apollo 13 to Entrapment, Planet of the Apes and, later this year, Unfaithful with Richard Gere, directed by Adrian Lyne. Sounds like another Fatal Attraction, but we shall see.

There's not much I can say about this next script, Traffic, that hasn't been detailed on the DVD or in the review I posted. I enjoyed this film a lot, and one gets a sense of the masterful dialog set down by Stephen Gaghan, who won the oscar last year. Gaghan has three films being produced for next year. Black Hawk Down, directed by Ridley Scott, Havok, which will be directed by Geoffrey Wright, and Abandon, which Gaghan will direct himself. He was also responsible for Rules of Engagement in 2000.

Wonder Boys was by far my favorite film of 2000. I recently finished the book by Michael Chabon, and I was very impressed with Steven Kloves work in trimming the novel down, and creating different plot points, all in an attempt to convey such a fantastic story. I have a review of this movie, here.

Kloves, after almost winning the academy award (being beaten out by Gaghan) wrote the script for the soon to be released Harry Potter film. We shall see.

This is another spectacular film that came out in 2000, Quills. Written by Doug Wright, and taken from his play of the same name, this is one of the smartest and well crafted scripts I've ever seen produced. The dialog and the characters are incredibly smart. I was very impressed with this film, and for those of you interested in writing period pieces, this would make a wonderful learning tool. I also have this film reviewed.

Unbreakable. I thouroughly enjoyed this film, from start to finish. I think it reads well, with great characters and some great dialog... though I wasn't crazy about some of the philosophies of comic book villians and heroes. I really liked this one, and I think it stands out and apart from The Sixth Sense.

Finally, last but not least, this years cult hit, Memento.

I'm lame, I know it, but I did not get a chance to see this film. Ticket prices in Manhattan are just toooooo expensive.

Taken from the short story by Jonathen Nolan (which is also included in the script, at the end), and written/directed by (I suppose) brother Christopher Nolan, this film has garnered acclaim all across the country as one of the best of the year. For a balls to the wall suspense film with a clever narration and storytelling, this script will certainly be in the running come oscar time.

All of the scripts are in PDF format - Enjoy them. They are not for sale, they are for educational purposes ONLY.

John Painz