The Language of Film is Universal

My best friend Angela and I have a terrible habit and we worry about ourselves sometimes; not only can – and do - we quote lines if not vast tracts from movies, we find more and more that we use these phrases and lines of dialogue to answer each other. Me: Bad day at work? Angela: (Jeremy Irons accent) You have no idea. Movies have been so much a part of our lives that they have in some sense become our shorthand. I couldn’t count the number of times I have asked her: …’t hell’s going on Bob?

As writers, we often worry so much about premise, structure, the “universal and resonant resolution” and so on. But we forget, sometimes, that we are writing scripts so that they may become movies. And movies are entertainment. Meant to be enjoyed. But more than that, movies are a collective cultural experience which tells us a lot about who we are as a society. Movies are maps and relics; treasured gems and warm comfort.

Take a few moments and think of the movies you love. Now think of the scenes in those movies you will never forget. Debra Winger’s deathbed scene in TERMS OF ENDEARMENT. Timothy Hutton’s break-through moment with his therapist in ORDINARY PEOPLE. Jack Nicholson’s iconic “Here’s Johnny!” in THE SHINING. Often what we are visualizing in our favorite scenes or moments is stellar acting. But don’t forget – someone wrote that scene. Yes, yes, yes you know this.

But here’s my point. As you are writing your script, get those memorable dialogue, moments and set pieces down on paper. Aim high. Not for just one golden moment in your script – many. Give an actor a role they might just win an Oscar for. Write a sequence that a director and cinematographer will be totally excited to shoot. Write lines of dialogue that audiences will never forget. I’m not talking, necessarily, about high-brow dialogue either. How often have you said Groovy, baby! Come on, be honest…more than you’d care to admit.

View every sequence and every scene within that sequence as an opportunity not only to move the story forward and develop character but to write dialogue that will be quoted by movie-goers into perpetuity. Go above and beyond merely servicing your story. Because more than the whole of your narrative, it is the memorable moments that audiences will share with each other sadly, laughingly or disbelievingly for months if not years - not your particularly clever second act break. Great movie moments lift, inspire and ultimately become part of us. Don’t be intimidated that you’re not Alan Ball, William Goldman, Shane Black or Billy Wilder. The door is wide open; new writers are creating memorable moments every day – and so can you.

Most days, life is decidedly pedestrian. So we go to the movies, settle down in our seats and wait for a movie to tell us the spectacular, hysterical, terrifying truth about who we are - if only for a couple of precious hours.

Here is only a fraction of this cinefile’s quotable movie lexicon. I invite readers to contribute their own as well!

…t’ hell’s going on Bob?
DOWN BY LAW

And your little dog, too!
THE WIZARD OF OZ

You have no idea.
REVERSAL OF FORTUNE

We’ve got a piper down!
SO I MARRIED AN AX MURDERER

Go ahead, cry yourself to sleep on your huuuuge pillah!
SO I MARRIED AN AX MURDERER

I always get the fuzzy end of the lollypop.
SOME LIKE IT HOT

Would you look at that? It’s like jello on springs!
SOME LIKE IT HOT

Give her the goddamned camera!
ORDINARY PEOPLE

I AM crazy!
BARFLY

Put. The Candle. Back.
YOUNG FRANKENSTEIN

More?!
OLIVER

And that, folks, is why I won’t do two shows a night. I won’t do it.
BEETLEJUICE

You think I’m too dumb to know what a eugoology is?
ZOOLANDER

That’s all.
THE DEVIL WEARS PRADA

What do you think I am, dumb or somethin’?
SINGIN’ IN THE RAIN

Well if it isn’t Ethel Barrymore!
SINGIN’ IN THE RAIN

What have the Romans ever done for us?
THE LIFE OF BRIAN

We-wease Wog-ah.
THE LIFE OF BRIAN

S-u-r-r-e-n-d-e-r- D-o-r-o-t-h-y
THE WIZARD OF OZ

Yippy ki-yay motherfucker.
DIE HARD

Welcome to Mindhead.
BOWFINGER

I wrestled with reality for 35 years, doctor, and I’m happy. I finally won out over it.
HARVEY

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