Script Analysis: “After the Wedding” — Part 2: Plot
Read and analyze the script for the acclaimed drama mystery starring Michelle Williams, Julianne Moore, and Billy Crudup.
Reading scripts. Absolutely critical to learn the craft of screenwriting. The focus of this bi-weekly series is a deep structural and thematic analysis of each script we read. Our daily schedule:
Monday: Scene-By-Scene Breakdown
Tuesday: Plot
Wednesday: Characters
Thursday: Themes
Friday: Dialogue
Saturday: Takeaways
Today: Plot.
In every scene, something happens. A plot point is a scene or group of scenes in which something major happens, an event that impacts the narrative causing it to turn in a new direction.
A relevant anecdote. Years ago, I was on the phone with a writer discussing a script project. My son Will, who was about four years old at the time, must have been listening to me talking about “plot points” during the conversation because after I hung up, he asked, “Daddy, what’s a plop point?”
That’s in effect what a plot point is. It’s an event that ‘plops’ into the narrative and changes its course. So when you think Plot Point, think Plop Point!
The value of this exercise:
- To identify the backbone of the story structure.
- To examine each major plot point and see how it is effective as an individual event.
- To analyze the major plot points in aggregate to determine why they work together as the central plot.
This week: After the Wedding. You can download the script here.
Written by Bart Freundlich.
Plot Summary: A manager of an orphanage in Kolkata travels to New York to meet a benefactor. A mystery unfolds as secrets are revealed.
Major kudos to Nikhil Kamkolkar or doing this week’s scene-by-scene breakdown.
For Part 1, to read the Scene-By-Scene Breakdown discussion, go here.
To download a PDF of the breakdown for After the Wedding, click here.
To access over 80 analyses of previous movie scripts we have read and discussed at Go Into The Story, go here.
I hope to see you in the RESPONSE section about this week’s script: After the Wedding.
