Good Screenplays to Read

J

John M

Active member
People tell me that one thing that helps you become a better screenplay writer is to read some good screenplays. My question to you folks is what screenplays do you consider a necessary read for the aspiring writer?

Personally I would think that Aliens would be a good one. I've also read Halloween by John Carpenter and Debra Hill. The Godfather would be a good one too I imagine.

Also, while I'm at it, what thoughts do you folks have on Robert McKee's "Story". I've never read it and the only guy I know that has told me, "It's a good thing to read, but don't read it when you're actually writing something because it can sort of inhibit your creativity".

Any thoughts would be greatly appreciated. Thank you.
 
The Shawshank Redemption is an excellent script that also reads really well. Some scripts aren't great reading experiences but that one is.
 
Fast read screenplays, well written, in a genre that you aspire to write, would be good scripts to read I should think. I found Alien and The Cave to be very fast reads. Casablanca was fun. I also liked Dark Water, The House of Sand and Fog, American Beauty.

McKee's book Story is good, but deep, sometimes overwhelming, a little bit of paralysis by analysis at times, and I really do not like his use of "value charges" he talks of all the time. But it should be read I think, kept on a reference shelf. And/or buy it as an audiobook, abridged, nice to listen to while out walking or on a road trip.
 
John M said:
Personally I would think that Aliens would be a good one. I've also read Halloween by John Carpenter and Debra Hill. The Godfather would be a good one too I imagine.
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Not only is Aliens one of my favorite films, but it is also one of the best scripts I've read as well. Seriously, if I had a nickel for all the times I've watched Aliens, well I'd be featured in Forbes. So after having seen the film over and over through the years, when I finally got around to reading the script, it sucked me in and wouldn't let me go.

Also, if you like John Carpenter films, then I'd also recommend reading the script for The Thing (best Carpenter flick of all time IMO).
 
To Randall - Cool thoughts on Story. The guy I know who read it is (unfortunately) sort of obsessed on the whole "Value Charge" thing. I've given him my work on occasion and he's replied to me with things like, "Uh John, you can't really have a negative scene followed by another negative scene. Unless you're trying to make a double negative, in which case you would need two positives to balance it out." I'm not totally sure, but I think he's talking about "value charges" in that case.

To Nektonic - Aliens was one of those films that I saw at a young age and in typical "kid" fashion it was my go to movie for two or three years. Also, I love "The Thing". I was privileged to see a 35mm print of it two months ago at a special screening in my town. I recommend the short story that was the source material for the film. It's called "Who Goes There?". You can probably find it on the web.

To Batutta - Shawshank Redemption did not even cross my mind until you mentioned it. Good call. I really enjoyed the Novella when I read it all those years ago.

Also, does anyone out there know if "The Annotated Godfather: The Complete Screenplay" is any good?

http://www.amazon.com/Annotated-Godfather-Complete-Screenplay/dp/1579127398/ref=pd_sim_b_3

There is a link to the product.
 
Story is useful for people who like a mathematical, diagrammatic approach to things...which isn't most creative people. The most useful stuff I got out of that book are his ideas on theme, and how to figure out the theme of your story and the themes of other movies.
 
Blood Simple was a pretty sweet movie. The only Coen Brothers script that I've gotten near is Barton Fink and I only made it half way through that one because university exams put a stop to my leisure time.

Batutta - Thanks for the thoughts on Story. From what everyone is saying it seems that it's worth a read but not to be taken too seriously.
 
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I like "Story" very much.
"Story is useful for people who like a mathematical, diagrammatic approach to things...which isn't most creative people."
Never thought of it that way but you could be right.
Its nice to pull it out before your going to watch a film that referenced in the book and reread the related sections.
 
Thanks for the suggestions folks. Once exams are done at least I`ll have some good reading material.
 
So far on the list there is:

China Town
Body Heat
Aliens
Shawshank Redemption
Alien
The Cave
Casablanca
Dark Water
The House of Sand and Fog
American Beauty
The Thing
Platoon
Salvador
Blood Simple
Sunset Blvd.
 
As a kid when I actually saw the Matrix it was much too confusing for me and it made me dislike it for a very long time until I actually grew up a little bit and started to get it.

In other news there are a ton of un-produced Alien 3 scripts kicking around. I started reading one a long time ago where Ripley spends much of the movie in a Coma and Newt and Hicks are the main characters. Also, the Aliens are really more of a virus or something, and human beings physically turn into the alien after a gestation period (much like the human beings would have actually turned into the alien eggs in the first Alien had the scene not been cut.)

Anyone read anything that sound something like that?
 
Randall_Oelerich said:
But only if you believe there actually is a screenplay to read. 'There is no spoon.' :)
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A lot of people feel that in terms of The Matrix Reloaded and Revolutions... "there is no script".

John M said:
In other news there are a ton of un-produced Alien 3 scripts kicking around. I started reading one a long time ago where Ripley spends much of the movie in a Coma and Newt and Hicks are the main characters. Also, the Aliens are really more of a virus or something, and human beings physically turn into the alien after a gestation period (much like the human beings would have actually turned into the alien eggs in the first Alien had the scene not been cut.)

Anyone read anything that sound something like that?
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Sounds like that's the one that cyberpunk author William Gibson wrote. Its been awhile, but I remember the spore stuff and some interesting action set pieces with Hicks fighting aliens out on the surface of the big space station they went to after Aliens. Gibson's script is certainly not a perfect sequel to Aliens, but I think with some polish and getting Ripley involved more (I guess Sigourney wasn't sure if she wanted to do much with another Alien flick at the time) it would've been the sequel that the majority of the fans of the first two films would've wanted to see, instead of what they got with Alien 3.

If they took the basic concepts, Gibson's Alien III script could now be mined for an Aliens-branded video game. Just change the characters and update some stuff (I remember it involving Soviets and other Cold War era stuff).
 
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John M said:
So far on the list there is:

China Town
Body Heat
Aliens
Shawshank Redemption
Alien
The Cave
Casablanca
Dark Water
The House of Sand and Fog
American Beauty
The Thing
Platoon
Salvador
Blood Simple
Sunset Blvd.
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That's a pretty good list so far.

Here's some others you might add:

The Sixth Sense
The Terminator
Witness
Memento
Pixar films -- Wall E, The Incredibles, etc.
Die Hard
Jurassic Park
 
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