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checklist, FARGO, GOOD WILL HUNTING, JUNO, LITTLE MISS SUNSHINE, SPOTLIGHT, THE CRYING GAME, THE USUAL SUSPECTS, Unorthodox - August 26, 2020

The Unorthodox Great Screenplay Checklist

Studying screenplays is a worthy practice, but can sometimes lead to cookie-cutter scripts, without the spark of originality that defines truly great films - with that in mind, here’s the ScriptArsenal “Unorthodox Great Screenplay Checklist”. Does your screenplay fit the bill? To compile this list, ScriptArsenal found commonalities in eight of the greatest screenplays of all time (all won Best Original Screenplay at the Oscars), FARGO, LITTLE MISS SUNSHINE, JUNO, WITNESS, GOOD WILL HUNTING, SPOTLIGHT, THE USUAL SUSPECTS, and THE CRYING GAME. The protagonist is dead wrong about the most important thing in their own lives. In GOOD WILL HUNTING,...

One Great Scene: SPOTLIGHT

In this series of articles, we’re going to do a deep-dive on one knockout scene from a great movie. Today’s movie is SPOTLIGHT. The scene is when Michael Keaton and Rachel McAdams speak to representatives of a school Keaton’s character went to, which may have had abusive priests and abuse victims. Here’s a link to the scene as a refresher (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ogW6YDmEb1M). The scene is really about the essential theme of the movie, which is that everyone knew this was going on, and willfully chose to ignore it, because it was easier. Rachel McAdams’ character opens the scene asking if it’s...

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