TODAY'S NUGGET: Life with Father (1947) - How to Show Cupid's Arrow Has Landed (Setup-Payoff)

[Quick Summary: In the 1880s, Father rules the roost (not really) with a clever wife and four red-headed boys.]

A colleague recommended this film to me, though I'd not heard of it.

Once I saw the line up of talent,* I knew I had to find the script.

Comedy is often based on reversals. The unexpected and ironic makes us laugh, especially when Cupid is involved.  So how can those arrows land with a big laugh?

FIRST: Set up the status quo.  

ex. Prior to the scene below, we see 18 y.o. Clarence told to practice his violin, which he does not like.  Also he is irritated he has to give his room up to visiting guests.

SECOND: Create conflict or a change.

ex. In the scene below, he meets one of the guests (Mary).

THIRD: Show change(s) in behavior that directly contradict previous behavior.

ex. In the scene below, he is playing violin and happy to have given up his room.

FULL SHOT  TOP OF STAIRS

Vinnie and Cora exit into the bedroom. Mary looks down the stairs to Clarence at the foot of the stairs.  Clarence with his violin starts toward the parlor.

MARY: Cora didn't tell me about you. I never met a Yale man before.

Clarence turns, almost smiling.

MARY: Oh, you play the violin.

CLARENCE: I fool with it a little.

MARY: You're just being modest.

CLARENCE: No, really --

MARY: I play the piano -- not awfully well, but --

CLARENCE: Now you're being modest.

MARY: Do you play duets?

CLARENCE: I haven't up to now.

MARY: Neither have I -- up to now.

She gives him a devastating smile, turns and hurries up stairs. At the far end of the hall John enters carrying the bags. He notices Clarence staring ecstatically up after Mary.

JOHN: What happened to you?

CLARENCE (dazedly): Nothing -- I feel fine.

Clarence lifts his violin and starts to play "Sweet Genevieve" passionately as John continues up the stairs with the bags looking back at Clarence with amazement.

WHAT I'VE LEARNED: I really liked that there's no talk of love or falling in love.  The character doesn't even know what hit him!  Yet all there in his odd behavior.

Life with Father (1947)(2/6/46 final draft)
by Donal Ogden Stewart and Robert Buckner
From the play by Howard Lindsay and Russel Crouse

*First, I'll read anything written by Donald Ogden Stewart (Philadelphia Story). Second, I'll see anything directed by Michael Curtiz (Casablanca) at least once.  Then there's one of my favorite actors William Powell (Thin Man), the talented comedy heroine Irene Dunne (Awful Truth), and a young Elizabeth Taylor.   

Also, each one of the above is an Oscar winner or nominee.

TODAY'S NUGGET: Little White Lies (unproduced) - In a Rom-Com, Pain + Truth = Funny (& Intimacy)

[Quick Summary: After Lisa meets Paul at a Fourth of July party, she refuses to see him except on holidays.]

As you may know, I generally don't post unproduced scripts...unless there's merit.

This is a really good rom-com, which is scarcer than hens' teeth.*

One of the keys to a good rom-com is nailing the intimacy between the two leads. 

But how do you create that, especially in this age of social media oversharing?

According to my gold standard reference on the rom-com, Writing the Romantic Comedy (2020, 20th Anniversary ed.) by Billy Mernit

Pain + truth = funny.

...no matter how excruciating their public exposure may have been, the experience has somehow brought them a little closer together.  

This special kind of earned intimacy is typical of romantic comedy relationships.  Both man and woman have been exposed. But instead of alienating them, being in this nightmare together puts them on equal footing and even creates a tacit bond:  they're the special ones who've shared a little hell and lived to tell about it.  (Ch. 9: The Art of Funny)

In p. 1-3 of the script (below):
- We see how the writer immediately puts the couple in a nightmarish situation, which leads to an equal footing. 
- Note also the incredible vulnerability, which required alcohol to get to the truth.

LISA: Happy Fourth of July.

PAUL: Happy Fourth of July.

LISA: I had to have four drinks before I had the courage to come out here and talk to you. [Vulnerability]

PAUL: I didn't mean to frighten you.

LISA (takes another drink; then): You look like a man of the world. [Vulnerability]

PAUL: Within reason.

LISA: The kind of man a woman can be terribly honest with.

PAUL: Am I that obvious?

LISA: The sort of man with whom a woman can share her most intimate thoughts.

PAUL: It's like you've known me all my life.

LISA: I know you're mature enough to handle what I'm about to tell you.

PAUL: I'll do my best.

LISA:  Ready?

PAUL: Ready.

LISA: Your fly's open.  [Vulnerability, especially for well brought up Lisa]

Paul looks, and indeed the zipper on his pants is down. As he pulls the zipper up with one hand, he is very cool about it.

LISA (continuing): I had to tell you. You looked so vulnerable walking around that. [Truth]

PAUL: I appreciate it. There's nothing worse at a party than not really knowing why people keep smiling at you. [Pain + Truth]

LISA: For a minute I thought you were a flasher. Then I said to myself, "That man has too much on the ball to be a flasher. If he was one, he'd be flashing all the way." [Pain + Truth]

PAUL: I appreciate your vote of confidence. [Truth + Bond is forming]

LISA: I liked you the minute I saw you. Do you know how I knew?

PAUL: How?

LISA:  You're wearing blue underwear. I could never get close to a man who wears basic white. [Pain + Truth]

PAUL: I haven't any secrets left. [Hinting at the theme of white lies]

LISA: Secrets are for children. (then) Are you married? [Echoing theme]

WHAT I'VE LEARNED: Your lead characters will only feel something if there's vulnerability, intimacy, i.e., create scenes where they share an exposing experience.

Little White Lies (unproduced)(undated; perhaps 1980s?)
by Stanley Shapiro

*It was written by veteran rom-com writer Stanley Shapiro who had an amazing run in the 1960s: Pillow Talk; Operation Petticoat; Lover Come Back; Oscar winning That Touch of Mink; Dirty Rotten Scoundrels.

TODAY'S NUGGET: Copycat (1995) - Invisible (Yet Clear) Transitions During Rising Conflict

[Quick Summary: An agoraphobic psychologist must overcome fear to work with a homicide detective hunting a copycat serial killer.] 

I am always interested in reading scripts by Frank Pierson (Dog Day Afternoon, Cool Hand Luke) or Jay Presson Allen (Prince of the City, Cabaret).*

So I was surprised to stumble across this script with them both listed.**

Both of them have put in a lot of hours in the salt mines, which I think it shows best in how they craft the transitions.  

One way I like to judge transitions is whether the script can direct the mind's eye crisply from shot to shot, or into and out of a scene (good flow), without confusion.

I give extra bonus points for the fewest amount of words (economy).

Here is a great example below.  Notice the clarity of rising conflict and flow (people on shore --> body in water --> boats --> doc --> cop). 

EXT. BAYSIDE RESTAURANT - BELVEDERE OR SAUSALITO - DAY

A BRIGHT LOVELY DAY, PEOPLE DINING AND DRINKING IN THE SUN, on a deck that faces the Bay and San Francisco's towers beyond. Young people, drinks in hand, dressed to go to a summer wedding, mingle and laugh and chatter. A young woman stands leaning back against the wooden rail, her back to the Bay. A young man faces her, talking, laughing. HE LEANS CLOSE TO WHISPER IN HER EAR AND SHE LEANS BACK, DRAWING HIM CLOSER TO HER - SEXY! AS HE WHISPERS HE CAN SEE OVER HER SHOULDER INTO THE WATER BELOW.

REVERSE, CLOSE: YOUNG MAN - His face registering horror at what he sees: he shops speaking, and the GIRL turns to look down to see what it is he's looking at, and begins to SCREAM...

THEIR P.O.V.

Below, floating in the water is ANDY, wearing his bright jacket, except it's not all of Andy. HIS HEAD IS MISSING.

                                                                                            CUT TO:

REVERSE: (TIME HAS PASSED). FROM WHAT WOULD BE ANDY'S P.O.V. - FACES LOOKING DOWN   M.J., QUINN, SAKS AND CORONER'S MEN...

THEIR P.O.V.     NOW RUBBER BOATS HAVE BEEN TIED IN A RING AROUND THE BODY. DOC IS DOING HIS WORK, PREPARATORY TO LIFTING THE BODY OUT OF THE WATER...

HE PULLS A WALLET OUT OF THE POCKET AND HOLDS IT UP TO THE PEOPLE ABOVE.

M.J. TAKES IT. BEGINS TO LOOK THROUGH IT...    SHE IS NUMB WITH EXHAUSTION AND SORROW.

                                                                                         CUT TO:

WHAT I'VE LEARNED: I was really impressed that I didn't notice the transitions at all.  Somehow it was one less barrier to experiencing the characters' P.O.V.

Copycat (1995)(3rd draft, dated 7/4/94)
by Frank Pierson and Ann Biderman and Jay Presson Allen

* For further reading, these are excellent interviews: Pierson, Allen.

**They're not formally credited, so I presume this was a re-write job.

TODAY'S NUGGET: The French Dispatch (2021) - Contrast of food (comfort) + Emergency (anxiety) = Funny

[Quick Summary: Anthology of 3 stories from the French outpost of a fictional magazine (artist in prison, student revolt, kidnapped son of police commissaire).]

In this film, Bill Murray plays the recently deceased editor-in-chief of The French Dispatch.  His writers have gathered to write his obituary. 

However, most of the film is about three write ups for the magazine. 

I particularly thought the kidnapping one was vastly creative, character driven, and pushed the heights of fun farce and ridiculousness.

Roebuck Wright is the food writer who is sent to interview a famous chef.  He oddly chooses Nescaffier, the Commissaire's chef, who is adept at food-on-the-run.

A crime syndicate kidnaps the Commissaire's son in exchange for an imprisoned accountant.  But hurrah! A hint and the Commissaire roars into action!

I really liked the split screen of the Commissaire eating while working on site.  The contrast of food (comfort) + emergency (anxiety) = funny.  

Here is a partial sample:

MONTAGE:

Split-screen: on the right, the Commissaire, seated at the workbench table in the locksmith shop, speaks excitedly to the Chou-fleur while eating continuously with his left hand only; on the left, a small, speckled, boiled egg split open to reveal layers of whipped yolk  mousse.

    ROEBUCK WRIGHT (V.O.)                        COMMISSAIRE
To start: deviled eggs of the                   Send a commando unit to secure
precinct, canary served in                      all access points to the south
shells of its own meringue.                    and west.

On the right, the Commissaire, seated at the workbench table in the locksmith shop, speaks excitedly to Maman while eating continuously with his left hand only; on the left: a saucer of gibiers and fruits des bois.

    ROEBUCK WRIGHT (V.O.)                        COMMISSAIRE
Next: kidneys poached with                  Send a guerrilla detachment to
plums from the mayor's rooftop           block all egress routes to the
arbor.                                                          east and north.

On the right, the Commissaire illustrates (using arrows and X's) his scheme/strategy on one of the building floor plan maps; on the left, small boulettes shaped and packaged like a bowl of candies.

     ROEBUCK WRIGHT (V.O.)                        COMMISSAIRE
Then: minced lamb bon-bons in         Drill tunnels (circumference:
pastry wrappers.                                     75 mm) through the partition
                                                                    walls of all three adjacent
                                                                    buildings.

On the right, teenage boys and girls in shooting costumes perch among high chimney tops; on the left. another thermos.

     ROEBUCK WRIGHT (V.O.)                        COMMISSAIRE
Blase oyster soup.                                 On the rooftops: amateur
                                                                  snipers from the local hunting
                                                                  club.

WHAT I'VE LEARNED: Don't be afraid to go split screen and show contrast for an existential laugh. 

ex. Roebuck Wright is reporting on the food in rapturous detail (extravagant lifestyle channel) while the Commissaire plots a rescue (true crime channel).

The French Dispatch (2021)
by Wes Anderson
Story by West Anderson & Roman Coppola & Hugo Guinness & Jason Schwartzman