One of my favorite scripts is “Erin Brockovich,” because I love the writing. It is abundantly clear, sparsely written, and dense with meaning. This script captures worlds of information with just a few simple, extremely well chosen words. To my mind, that is excellence in screenwriting. <\/p>\n

Please read this excerpt of the opening of the script to see how much we learn about this protagonist and her world in just the first 2-3 pages. <\/p>\n

“Erin Brockovich,” by SUSANNAH GRANT; Revisions by RICHARD LAGRAVENESE<\/p>\n

NOTE: This excerpt is intended for educational purposes only.
\n<\/em>
\n INT. DR. JAFFE’S OFFICE – DAY<\/p>\n

A successful-looking doctor sits behind a desk in a well-
\n appointed office. He’s looking at someone off-camera.<\/p>\n

DR. JAFFE
\n Uh, but you have no actual medical
\n training?<\/p>\n

ERIN
\n (off)
\n No. I have kids. Learned a lot right
\n there. I’ve seen nurses give my son a
\n throat culture. I mean what is it – you
\n stick a giant Q-tip down their throat and
\n wait. Or a urine analysis, with that
\n dipstick that tells you whether or not
\n the white count is high…<\/p>\n

DR. JAFFE
\n Yes, I understand.<\/p>\n

ERIN
\n (off)
\n And, I mean, I’m great with people. Of
\n course, you’d have to observe me to know
\n for sure, but trust me on that one. I’m
\n extremely fast learner. I mean, you show
\n me what to do in a lab once, and I’ve got
\n it down.<\/p>\n

He nods. Now we see who he is talking to: ERIN BROCKOVICH.
\n How to describe her? A beauty queen would come to mind –
\n which, in fact, she was. Tall in a mini skirt, legs crossed,
\n tight top, beautiful – but clearly from a social class and
\n geographic orientation whose standards for displaying beauty
\n are not based on subtlety.<\/p>\n

ERIN (CONT’D)
\n …for instance, at one point I wanted to
\n be an engineer, so I was working at
\n Fleuer Engineers and Constructors in
\n Irvine. I fell madly in love with
\n geology.<\/p>\n

DR. JAFFE
\n Geology?<\/p>\n

ERIN
\n I learned how to read maps. I love maps.
\n Did you know our present system for map-
\n making dates back to the ancient Greeks
\n in like the third century B.C.?<\/p>\n

DR. JAFFE
\n No.<\/p>\n

ERIN
\n Anyway, I was at the company and – this
\n is interesting, actually – I helped
\n Ramish Ginatra design, as an assistant,
\n part of the Alaskan pipeline…<\/p>\n

DR. JAFFE
\n Uh-huh.<\/p>\n

ERIN
\n ..But I lost that job because my son came
\n down with the Chicken Pox and 104
\n temperature and my ex-husband was
\n useless, so..ya know…But what I want to
\n tell you is I, uh .. I had always wanted
\n to go to medical school. That was my
\n first interest really…but then I, you
\n know, got married..had a kid too young
\n and..that kind of blew it for me..<\/p>\n

Jaffe stares at her.<\/p>\n

DR. JAFFE
\n Uh-huh.<\/p>\n

ERIN
\n (beat, looks
\n around)
\n This is a really nice office.<\/p>\n

Jaffe looks down at her resume, trying to figure a polite
\n route.<\/p>\n

DR. JAFFE
\n Thanks.
\n (looks up at
\n her)
\n Look….<\/p>\n

Beat. By Erin’s expression, she knows what’s coming.<\/p>\n

EXT. DR. JAFFE’S OFFICE\/ SO. CALIFORNIA SUBURB – MAIN DRAG – DAY<\/p>\n

A side street. No pedestrians, just parked cars.<\/p>\n

Erin is finishing a cigarette. Her face has fallen — the
\n enthusiasm and spirit she showed in the interview are now
\n replaced by a desperate type of concern. She takes a final
\n puff, puts the cigarette out and walks to her car.<\/p>\n

A PARKING TICKET flaps under the wiper of an old Hyundai.<\/p>\n

ERIN
\n Fuck.<\/p>\n

Even when she talks dirty, there’s a heartland goodness to
\n her voice. Like Kansas corn fields swaying in the breeze.<\/p>\n

As she grabs the ticket from the windshield, her sunglasses
\n accidentally CLATTER to the ground.<\/p>\n

ERIN (CONT’D)
\n Shit.<\/p>\n

When she picks them up, a fingernail snags on the pavement.<\/p>\n

ERIN (CONT’D)
\n God damn it.<\/p>\n

She tends to the nail as she opens her car door and gets in.<\/p>\n

WIDER ON THE STREET<\/p>\n

The Hyundai starts it up, signals. Then, just as it pulls
\n slowly out into the street, a JAGUAR barrels around the
\n corner, accelerating out of the turn, and SLAMS into the side
\n of Erin’s car, sending it CAREENING into the median. It
\n SMASHES into a foot-thick lightpost. And stops.<\/p>\n

For more on Character, read Introduce Your Character to the Reader<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

One of my favorite scripts is “Erin Brockovich,” because I love the writing. It is abundantly clear, sparsely written, and dense with meaning. This script captures worlds of information with just a few simple, extremely well chosen words. To my mind, that is excellence in screenwriting. Please read this excerpt of the opening of the […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[9,8,12,10,82,6,50,42,44,1],"tags":[118,98],"class_list":["post-728","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-character","category-formatting","category-location","category-logical-world","category-screenwriting-resources","category-story","category-subject-matter","category-theme","category-tone","category-uncategorized","tag-character","tag-erin-brockovich"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.screenwriter-to-screenwriter.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/728","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.screenwriter-to-screenwriter.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.screenwriter-to-screenwriter.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.screenwriter-to-screenwriter.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.screenwriter-to-screenwriter.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=728"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"http:\/\/www.screenwriter-to-screenwriter.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/728\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":748,"href":"http:\/\/www.screenwriter-to-screenwriter.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/728\/revisions\/748"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.screenwriter-to-screenwriter.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=728"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.screenwriter-to-screenwriter.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=728"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.screenwriter-to-screenwriter.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=728"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}