TODAY'S NUGGET: Only When I Laugh (1981) - Showing Disappointment with Non-Verbals

[Quick Summary: An actress, newly out of rehab, struggles to manage her sobriety, her daughter, and seeking a new job.]

I think the genius of Neil Simon scripts is that it looks simple on the surface.

However, the structure and conflict has great depth and complexity.

For example, the scene below is about:
- a long standing disappointment
- the external and internal conflicts that one feels
- use of non-verbals

First, note that each character has his or her own INTERNAL conflict:
- For Georgia, who has just fallen off the wagon: disappointment in herself.
- For her friend Jimmy: feeling let down by his faith in her temporary sobriety.

Then, note that there is also another layer of EXTERNAL conflict between them:
- For Georgia: guilt, needing reassurance from someone that she's offended.
- For Jimmy: irritation at her repeated offenses and love

Finally, the audience understands all of this through one character not looking at the other character, silence, a hand squeeze. 

ex. "INT. TAXI - NIGHT

Jimmy and Georgia sitting on opposite sides, looking out opposite windows, wordlessly.

GEORGIA: ...I think I fucked up, didn't I?

Jimmy doesn't say a word. She looks toward him.

GEORGIA: Give me your hand...Jimmy? Give me your hand... I'm cold.

He doesn't look at her but reaches over and puts his hand on top of hers and gently squeezes it."

WHAT I'VE LEARNED: I was impressed that so much disappointment could be conveyed by Jimmy's non-verbals.

Only When I Laugh (1981)(3rd draft (July, 1980))
by Neil Simon
Based on his play, "The Gingerbread Lady"

TODAY'S NUGGET: California Suite (1978) - Setting Up a Screwball Comedy in the 1st Two Pages

[Quick Summary: Parallel stories of five couples arriving at the Beverly Hills Hotel.]

This was the best FIRST TWO PAGES that I've enjoyed in a very long time. 

The script sets us up for a good screwball comedy because its structure lends itself to great conflict:

1) The characters are opposites, and
2) Diana does the unexpected thing.

ex. "INT. PLANE

At the controls is an hysterical YOUNG MAN. He is screaming at the top of his lungs. Next to him, looking cool and radiant, is DIANA BARRIE, quite English and quite collected. In fact, she is powdering her nose. [Afraid vs. calm]

YOUNG MAN (screaming): ...Where's the airport?... There's no airport!! Look for an airport. [Afraid]

DIANA (coolly): Oh, don't make such a fuss. Just put it down among the cacti. [Calm. It is not the expected response.]

YOUNG MAN (shouting, barely able to control it): What do you mean, just put it down? I'm lucky I can keep it up. I told you I never flew before. [Panicking]

DIANA: Don't shout at me. I'm a first class passenger. [Offended. Leads us to believe that she knows little about planes.]

YOUNG MAN: You're a first class Lunatic!...It's all over, Wendy. Our relationship has about a quarter of a gallon to go.  [Funny line about relationships.]

DIANA: Yes, but you do love me, Harold? I know it's an awkward time to bring it up, but I must know...for our future. [An important question at an inappropriate time.]

EXT. PLANE

The plane suddenly goes into a dive. Harold SCREAMS. [Afraid still]

POV OF EARTH SPINNING

HAROLD (O.S.): If you like short romances, yes... I love you!!! [No longer emotionally afraid]

EXT. PLANE

suddenly the plane pulls out of its dive. 

INT. PLANE (PROCESS)

Diana is handling the controls...

DIANA: I'm so glad. Unrequited love is such a bore. [She pulls a rabbit out of a hat and confounds our expectations.]

He looks at her in utter amazement.

HAROLD: You -- you can fly?

DIANA: Well, it's not all that difficult. It's like making love...You just have to know what to touch! [She gets the punch line too.]

She lowers her lids and smiles at him and banks the plane.

EXT. PLANE - CREDITS

The plane banks into the horizon and flies off...into the sunset.

INT. 747 CABIN

We PULL BACK AND DISCOVER we have just been watching a film on the screen in the cabin of a superjet... The credits of the film we just saw start to come up as the window shades are raised in the cabin and the bright California sunlight shoots through. We SEE the final starring credits...James Coburn and Diana Barrie starred." [Another surprise: This was all a movie.]

WHAT I'VE LEARNED:  Since screwball comedy leans heavily on conflict, it is important to choose the right one, preferably one that cannot be resolved too quickly.

California Suite (1978)(final draft, revisions (Mar., 1978))
by Neil Simon
Adapted from his play

TODAY'S NUGGET: Goodbye Girl (1977) - The Two Step Wrap Up in Act 3

[Quick Summary: When her boyfriend sublets their apartment without a word, a dancer and her daughter are forced to live with the sublessor, an eccentric actor.]

*****NOTE: SPOILERS AHEAD*****************

When the protagonist has a flaw in Act 1, he/she usually faces it in Act 3 --> Then the story wraps up on an up or down note.

This script is a comedy (maybe a rom-com?), and I expected it to end on an up note.

The protagonist does face her flaw in Act 3, but it was on a bittersweet note.

I still felt left in the lurch, and wondered, "Is this how it's going to end? She essentially says, 'I love you,' but we never know what he says.  Does he ever say it back?!"

To my relief, there was a TWO STEP wrap up instead of the more typical one step.

A little background:
- Paula has been been dumped hard by two other actors who have left her for paying work elsewhere.
- She fears that anyone that she falls for will leave her.
- Elliot moves in. They fight, then fall in love
- In Act 3, Elliot gets an acting job in Seattle. 

STEP 1:  Paula faces her fear of being left. This is her "I love you."

ex. "INT. BEDROOM

...ELLIOT (controlling himself): Okay...Okay, I get the point...Forget it. I'm not going. It's not worth it. Not if I have to put you through four weeks of hell wondering whether I'm coming back or not...If I got this picture, I can get another one...I'm not going, okay?

PAULA: Okay.

ELLIOT: The hell I'm not. That's crazy! Why should I do a dumb stupid thing because you don't trust me? I'm going. You're just gonna have to trust me...Are you gonna trust me, Paula?

PAULA: I'll plan my days around it.

ELLIOT: Dammit!!...Dammit-to-hell!!...I hate those two guys who walked out of here. I'm the only one who's coming back and I'm getting all the blame.

PAULA: No...You go, Elliot...I want you to go...If you come back, fine. I'll be right here putting up my wallpaper. And if not, that's okay too...I'll miss you but I'll survive, Elliot, because I've grown up these last two months. Look at me. I'm all grown up. It was better than spending a summer at camp. I have never felt better or stronger in my life. Somebody is actually walking out that door and I'm not crumbling into a million pieces...Oh, Jesus, it feels good...Goodbye, Elliot. make a nice move...Have a wonderful career and if you're ever up for an Academy Award, I swear to God I'll keep my fingers crossed for you...."

STEP 2: Elliot does return that same night.  This is his "I love you" back.

ex. "THE PHONE BOOTH ON THE CORNER - NIGHT

It is the same one Elliot originally called from. He is very wet. A cab is waiting on the curb.

ELLIOT: Get dressed.

PAULA: What?

(THE PHONE SEQUENCES SHOULD BE INTERCUT AS DESIRED)

ELLIOT: Get dressed, you're coming with me.

PAULA: Where are you?

ELLIOT: On the corner, in my old leaky phone booth...The plane has engine trouble. We're delayed two hours. I cashed in first class for two economy's....

PAULA: I thought you said I couldn't come with you.

ELLIOT: I'll tell them you're my analyst. Actors are known to be very high strung.

PAULA: And you really want me to come?

ELLIOT: Jesus God, you sure love a love scene, don't you? Yes. YES! I want you to com!

PAULA (teary): ...Then it's okay. I don't have to...Just as long as you asked.

ELLIOT: Paula, don't play games with me. My socks are under water."

WHAT I'VE LEARNED: When the protagonist gets over her fear and does say "I love you," make sure there is a response from the other side, even if it takes 2 steps.

Otherwise, I'm left hanging because the emotional cycle is incomplete.

Goodbye Girl (1977)(rev. dated 12/15/76)
by Neil Simon

TODAY'S NUGGET: Odd Couple 2 (1998) - D.O.A. of a Good Sequel

[Quick Summary: Thirty years later, Felix and Oscar reunite for a road trip to their children's wedding.]

Neil Simon had a huge hit with The Odd Couple play in 1965.

But then came:

- A huge movie (1968)
- A popular tv series (1970-75)
- A cartoon (1975)
- A sitcom (1982-83)
- A reunion tv movie (1993)

If you were Simon in 1998, would you write a sequel 30 years after the original?

I am glad he did because this is a good sequel script.

It keeps enough of what made the original special, and continues to develop the characters with new challenges

Unfortunately, the timing sucked.

Generations grew up with other Odd Couples.  Matthau/Lemon had moved on to the similar Grumpy Old Men (1993).

Neil Simon said it best:

"If this were 1967 instead of 1999, The Odd Couple [2] would have made a perfect sequel on the heels of the first one....[It] would have had the same energy as the first one." *

WHAT I'VE LEARNED: Sometimes a good sequel can be dead on arrival.

* Preface of The Odd Couple 1 &2.


The Odd Couple 2 (1998)
by Neil Simon

TODAY'S NUGGET: The Odd Couple I (1968) - Show Me a Slob

[Quick Summary: When slobby Oscar and neat freak Felix become temporary roommates, chaos ensues.]

Here's how Neil Simon SHOWS (and not TELLS) us that Oscar is a slob:

"INT. REFRIGERATOR

It is an unholy mess. [Oscar's surroundings = Oscar himself.]

Most of the things are uncovered, a half-eaten lamb chop, bottles without caps, melting ice cream in a dish, etc. [Oscar is unorganized.]

Oscar's hand reaches in to get a bottle of Coke and he knocks over a jar of syrup that drips onto the next shelf, getting the lamb chop.  [Syrup + lamb = Messy.]

It's too horrible to describe. Oscar gets the Coke out." [Oscar is unaffected.]

WHAT I'VE LEARNED: One prop can show so much about a character's inner state.

The Odd Couple (1968)
by Neil Simon (based on his play)