[Quick Summary: An anthology of stories from the old West, with a twist of dark drama and humor.]
TWO THINGS THAT THIS SCRIPT DOES WELL:
1) FABLES. I did not enjoy reading this anthology.
I found it hard to grasp what it was trying to do.
However, I did like that these stories are like Aesop's Fables, with the moral of the story left up to the reader. One story with very little dialogue still haunts me.
2) CLEAR GEOGRAPHY. I liked how easy it was to follow the action.
I also like that the script assumes that you know a little about Westerns.
For example, the scene below assumes you know that bank "teller's bars" go up to the ceiling.
Also, the description of how the cowboy/robber moves is very easy to follow:
He moves down the counter --> on top of the counter --> up the bars --> drops off.
ex. "INT. BANK - DAY
The cowboy enters.
The one-room structure is empty except for a trapper with white hair and mustache behind the teller's bars, hands planted on the counter. He wears a black eyeshade and black sleevegarters.
....
The unmistakable clack of a shotgun-prime.
The cowboy's eyes widen. He takes a nimbly evasive step down the counter as --
ROAR! --wood from the base of the counter splinters outward where he'd just been standing.
ROAR!--another explosion further along.
The cowboy grabs the bars at one end of the counter and hoists himself. He stands perched on the counter lip, hugging the bars. The shotgun continues to roar.
He scales the bars and drops to the counter's far side."
WHAT I'VE LEARNED: Don't over-explain geography (and don't under-explain either).
The Ballad of Buster Scruggs (2018)
by Joel Cohen and Ethan Cohen
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