“For screenwriters hungry for an even deeper education, reading the actual scripts is about as good as it gets.”
John Jarrell
Why single out just five screenplays to read? Because it’s more doable than climbing WGA’s mountain of 101 Greatest Screenplays. I bet you can track the five screenplays below online and read them by the end of this weekend. (Bird by Bird to borrow Anne Lamott’s phrase.)
The list below is gleaned from screenwriter John Jarrell in his book Tough Love Screenwriting: The Real Deal From A Twenty-Year Pro and his Scriptshadow interview. He didn’t call them Five Must Read Screenplays, but what follows in bold are his insights.
Paddy Chayefsky’s Network — Pretty much the Holy Grail for screenwriting as far as I’m concerned.
Oliver Stone’s Scarface — Damn-near EVERY LINE in the film is right there on the page as Stone intended it. As badass a screenplay as you’ll ever read.
Hampton Fancher’s early draft of Blade Runner — For pure writing’s sake, I much prefer this to the Peoples’ rewrite. It’s just more textural and evocative to me, with some slight differences that I really enjoy. A magical script in my opinion.
Kevin Walker’s Seven — The greatest serial killer movie ever written, and one that’ll never be equaled.
David Ayer’s tour de force Training Day offers us a world-class example of plotting… From Page One/Line One, there’s a jaw-dropping level of screenplay awesomeness taking place here. Exactly what makes Mr. Ayer’s script so outstanding?
—The world is thrilling, fresh and unique.
—The villain is exceptional.
—The plotting is wicked sharp.
If for some ridiculous reason you haven’t seen or read Training Day, put this book down RIGHT NOW and go do it.
Have a good weekend.
P.S. If you’re in L.A. and would like to take a screenwriting class with Jarrell, check out his website howtoscreenplay.com.
Update: Ambrose Chapel just made your search for those five screenplays easier by posting all five scripts at this ScriptDrive link. (Though you have to signup to be able to download scripts.)
Related posts:
‘Tough Love Screenwriting’
‘Learn from the very best’
‘Network’ Notes by Paddy Chayefsky
Writing Good Bad Guys
‘What it means to be a screenwriter’ —Robin Swicord
No argument. These are examples of great badass scripts with outstanding roles for male actors. But when I recommend them to my screenwriters group I will be asked — How about coming up with the top scripts written by women with a comparable female lead character?
I love the screenplay for Erin Brockovich. http://www.dailyscript.com/scripts/erin-brockovich_early.html