TODAY'S NUGGET: State of Play (2009) - Multiple Causes of Urgency Within a Scene

[Quick Summary: A journalist (whose college friend is now a current Congressman) investigates the suspicious death of the Congressman's mistress.]

Continual threats to life and limb gets exhausting after awhile in thrillers. 

Thus, I was interested to see what else today's script would do differently. It's not a perfect script,* but I liked that there was creative use of urgency.

For example, the scene below has layers.  It's not just about Cal escaping the elevator, but that he's found the killer and needs to let someone know.

Just prior to this scene:
- Cal has a photo of the killer, Bingham, and traces it back to the latter's apartment.
- Cal recognizes Bingham at the door and they briefly exchange pleasantries. 
- Cal backs off and gets in the elevator.
- Also note: This is a turning point scene that occurs on p. 79 of 125, not earlier at the midpoint, nor later at the climax.

INT. COMPLEX ELEVATOR -- NIGHT

CAL with the phone. Doors closing and...Signal loss. 

CAL: Shit!

CAL descending. 5...4...3...  Chunk.

It has stopped. Everything suddenly black. then, a moment later, an emergency light powers on. But the car isn't moving.

CAL trapped. Coincidence? Can't be. Fuck...

Pulling his phone -- saving it around the car -- searching for a signal -- there, up by the ceiling, a flicker.

CAL (PHONE)(CONT'D): Jimmy. Cal McAffrey...just tell Bell I've found the killer. Five-sixty-six, Jasper Avenue. Five-six-six Jasper! I need cops. I need cops here immediately!

CAL perched on the railing -- wedged near the ceiling -- bent like a contortionist to hang with the signal and --

THE ELEVATOR jolts! -- power on -- CAL falling hard to the floor -- barely catching his breath as the elevator drops a few feet before stopping suddenly and -- 

THE DOORS OPEN TO

INT. COMPLEX LOBBY -- DAY

An empty lobby. CAL steps out cautiously. Did Bingham take the stairs? 

WHAT I'VE LEARNED: I liked that this wasn't the run-of-the-mill "I must escape" type of urgency.  There's a different purpose and consequences if Cal fails. 

State of Play (2009)(11/1/07 draft with revisions)
by Matthew Michael Carnahan
Revisions by Tony Gilroy, Peter Morgan, Billy Ray
Based on the BBC miniseries created by Paul Abbott

* I was confused by the ending on the page. I think it was trying to connect a lot of dots in a short period of time.  I note that this film was an adaptation of a BBC tv mini-series that ran 6 episodes, so perhaps it was trying to condense too much into a 2 hr. film?

2023 OSCARS: Women Talking (2022) - Unexpected Arrival --> An Unusual Inter-generational Sense of Urgency

[Quick Summary: After women of a insular religious colony have been secretly drugged and raped by men in their colony, they must decide whether to stay or go.]

The protagonists here have the odds stacked against them, and it's great for tension.

They cannot read, write, or own anything.  They do not even know where they live on a map.  They've been secretly drugged and raped for the last two years.

But the film is essentially the group weighing their options the barn.  How would the writer would keep the tension up in Act 2? 

First, there is a ticking clock.  The men are in the city to post bail for the suspects and will only be gone a couple of days. The script moves along at a certain rhythm.

Then the rhythm is interrupted and the clock is sped up by the unexpected return of one man, Klaas. This immediately ups the tension and urgency for all.

However, I was particularly impressed by how this one arrival caused three different reactions in the women from his family (see notes below).

In the scene below:
- There has been a moment of laughter in the previous scene.
- Greta is the mother of Mariche. Mariche is married to Klaas.  Their daughter is Autje.
- Greta's beloved horses are Ruth and Cheryl.
- Notice the emotional effect of Klaas' unexpected return on an inter-generational level:  He is coming back to take his mother-in-law's horses.  His wife is afraid of him personally. His daughter must be too, to side with her mom.

INT. HAYLOFT - LATE AFTERNOON

...When it dies down, Autje, looks around at all of the women, her face serious.

AUTJE: Excuse me. Excuse me. The Census taker just told us that one of our men is planning to return late tonight. He is coming to get some old horses to auction.

GRETA: Ruth and Cheryl!

NEITJE: They need more bail money for the attackers.

Greta lifts her arms into the air. She stumbles back to her seat. Agata sharpens her gaze. They all clamber hastily back to their seats for the meeting. Autje climbs back up into the hayloft and takes her seat as well.

MARICHE: Tonight?

Autje nods.

MARICHE (CONT'D): Which man?

AUTJE: Father.

NEITJE: Your Klaas.

Mariche makes the smallest of small sounds.

MARICHE (quietly, trying to absorb this): Oh.

AGATA: So. Time is of the essence. Everyone get back to your seats.

WHAT I'VE LEARNED: I've seen an unexpected arrival cause an added sense of urgency before, but not three different reactions in one family like the scene above.

Women Talking (2022)(4/12/21 production draft)
by Sarah Polley
Based upon the book by Miriam Toews

TODAY'S NUGGET: #56 WGA Script of All Time - Back to the Future (1985)

[Quick Summary: When a teenager accidentally gets sent back to the past & meets his parents, he must ensure they fall in love, or he'll cease to exist.]
                                                                                                                            
I was really worried for Marty McFly. There are real, urgent consequences to his situation.

If he doesn't get his dad to the dance, his parents won't meet, & he'll cease to exist.

If he doesn't push his mom toward his dad, they won't fall in love, & he'll cease to exist.

If he doesn't find Doc, he's stuck in the past without any help.

If he doesn't get to Main Street at the exact time, he will miss his one chance to get home.

If Marty fails, the world won't end, but the consequences are important TO HIM.  And that's why I really worried.

WHAT I'VE LEARNED: Tell me what is so urgent.  I need to know why the character MUST succeed.

Back to the Future (1985)
by Robert Zemeckis & Bob Gale