[Quick Summary: In 1943, two competitive sisters try out for the first women's baseball league.]
The only thing I knew about this script was what I'd seen in the movie trailers.
I'm glad that I did not know too much, and was pleasantly surprised by:
1) The team manager character. In the trailer, he is exasperated but lovable. In the script, he is depressed that this is the only job he can get and is more layered.
2) The sisters dynamic. These are sisters who love each other but need their own space. It's refreshing to see they don't hate each other, just need different things.
I really like how the writers do not shy away from this tension, even though it is a bittersweet thing.
The scene below is from early in the script (p. 11). The sisters have just played a game for fun. Mitch Swaley has just asked Kit out. They are walking home.
Notice the up & down tension of "She's-my-sister-and-my-competitor."
ex. "EXT. FARM - LATE AFTERNOON
...DOTTIE: You were really gonna go with him?
KIT: Hey, all the good guys are gone. We can't all be lucky enough to have married Private Bob. America's secret weapon...I'm sorry. That last pitch was right down the middle. If I'd have swung at that I'd have been the hero. But you got me so crazy. [Jealousy]
DOTTIE: All I said was "Lay off the high ones."[Defensive]
KIT (dumb voice): "Good thing your sister bailed you out Kit, why don't you get your sister to teach you how to hit?" "Hey, Kit how come you're not beautiful like your sister?" [Comparison]
DOTTIE: What idiot said that?
KIT: No one, but I know they're thinking it. [Low self-esteem]
DOTTIE: They are not. [My sister the defender]
KIT: No? you ever hear Mom or Dad introduce us to people. This is our daughter Dottie. This is our other daughter -- Dottie's sister. They should've just had you and bought a dog. [Comparison]
DOTTIE (teasing): Mitch Swaley likes you. [Cheerleader]
KIT: Mitch Swaley's one step up from dating pigs. [Acknowledges she is right]
DOTTIE (laughs): But an important step. [Acknowledges she is right]
Kit's walking fast
DOTTIE (CONT'D): Why are you walking so fast? [Competitive]
KIT: Why are you? [Competitive]
DOTTIE: Cause you are." [Competitive]
WHAT I'VE LEARNED: I was surprised that I was ok that the sisters aren't totally best friends by the end of the story.
I think it is because I know that these are two very different people, even on p. 11.
A League of Their Own (1992)(final shooting script, 6/7/91, w/revisions)
by Lowell Ganz & Babaloo Mandel
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