[RESOURCE] A Quiet Place Screenplay by Scott Beck and Bryan Woods
drive.google.com/open?id=1G0EOAOs_FVjq2kJahft...Posted Apr 3, 2018, 1:23 AM UTC
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drive.google.com
OMG!!! Do you know how many rules this script breaks?!? Somebody call the screenplay police before it's too late!
Seriously -- thanks for the upload!
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Yap, one to 2 words to a page, images, bold, underline, etc. When you have ability to get it produced, you can do anything apparently.
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They wrote this on spec and shopped it around. A lot of people rejected it. They were not established film makers by any means when they wrote this. So it’s not necessarily the case that there are two sets of “rules” for insiders and everybody else
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David Lynch only actually had a fourteen page blueprint/outline packet for Eraserhead that had full set designs and very basic imagery and took seven years to make and Kubrick at one point called it his favorite picture of all time. Whatever works https://i.imgur.com/MlTHhXF.jpg
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I fucking LOVE IT. I just got done watching a video on it. https://youtu.be/T-s81-Wl2v0 and my god that looks beautiful!
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I came to find it after watching that video too. Looks like a fun read because it's thinking of the reader more than a conventional screenplay does.
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Hero
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Just doing the Lord’s work
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Btw, this spec got the duo a blind deal with paramount to write and direct a feature.
Edit: pretty sure they’re repped by ICM now. If so, they must’ve moved from WME before selling this.
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Watched this last night. Solid film that benefits greatly from John Krasinki draft/re-write. He also did a solid job directing.
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Do I read the script before seeing the film???
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Each to their own. I usually watch movie then read script to see the changes. The changes, in this case, made by the director were spot on for me. Don’t want to put in spoilers but for example - the opening scene to the film isn’t in the script. In the script they are wearing shoe covers. In the film they are barefoot.
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Like the barefoot addition.
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I honestly felt this was a pretty mediocre screenplay with a great idea that was dramatically improved pre-production.
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It benefitted massively from the re-write/ changes. Again, for the better as you say.
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You are fucking awesome! Been looking for this for a while Thanks!
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Thank you!
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You’re very welcome!
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Good stuff. Would've liked some more information on the societal collapse, though. That and I've never understood the recent obsession with aliens that seem completely incapable of using the technology they have. Why on earth would this thing be piloting a spaceship?
Loved the plot and tone, not so much the inconsistent sci-fi.
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Re: "I've never understood the recent obsession with aliens that seem completely incapable of using the technology they have. Why on earth would this thing be piloting a spaceship?"
Why does everyone assume that the aliens that leave the spaceships are the ones piloting them? This is the same non-plot-hole that people talk about in 'Signs'.
Many Pacific islanders learned about arrival of Europeans because rats suddenly appeared and ate out their food supply. Clearly rats came from the European ships - but nobody felt that it was a 'plot hole' because rats couldn't pilot a ship.
So these creatures might be just a nuisance to the original pilots.
Or perhaps instead they are a convenient biological weapon - like sending pigs or rabid dogs to tear through a village before you turn up. Nothing carefully designed - just a convenient barely-sentient creature that will cause plenty of damage for you ahead of time. Like dumping carrion beetles onto a pile of bone and flesh to do a lot of the pre-cleaning for you.
Or they could be more like rabbits where the space-faring creatures didn't really consider (or perhaps care) what damage they would do.
Or they could be an earlier larval form of the aliens - like a caterpillar is to a butterfly.
Or they could be the equivalent of drunk frat kids tearing around a new island paradise instead of stopping and studying the new life.
So many options ....
-- Mac
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Then why was that not shown? Maybe it's the sci-fi nerd in me, but when I see something like that, I want an explanation. Everything you brought up would make an interesting element/good explanation, I just wish it was, you know, in the script. Just not my cup of tea. Still can't wait to see it.
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Re: "Then why was that not shown?"
A movie can leave room for the imagination. Gaps that you are invited to fill in.
I know that it's a common audience want - the desire to have plot elements spoon fed to them ... but I like having a bit of room for our own interpretation.
And it's more accurate. A common 'chimp shares 96% of their DNA with us. That's 96% the same DNA.and even raised on the same planet. And yet our motivations and logic is totally not understandable to them.
As a human, I share 90% of my DNA with my cat. We live in exactly the same environment. And yet there is no 'story' of what I do and my motivations that would make any sense to him. It would just leave him more confused. Hell - I can't understand his actions either. (Seriously puss ... you don't use toilet paper. Instead you lick your own butthole to clean yourself afterwards. Yet you refuse to eat the cheap brand of catfood? How does that make any sense? Does Audi catfood really taste that bad?)
Why should I expect an alien's actions and motivations make any more sense to us than my actions would make sense to my cat?
he idea that alien behaviour would make sense to us is kinda egotistical. A realistic explanation wouldn't be very satisfying because we wouldn't make sense of it.
-- Mac
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I think there's a gap between an acceptable amount of intrigue and outright not explaining what needs to be said.
Is there only one of these things? Why can't they be killed? Why does this one stay near the farmhouse? What reason would what appears to be a primitive super predator have for space-age tech? Why was this decided on as the best weapon if it is one? Surely robots would do just as well? Or a plague? Or anything else?
As it is, the scenario is just implausible without further explanation. I'm assuming that's part of what they've changed since this was the working script.
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I'm with you on this point. The idea that the "bad aliens" are simply stowaways doesn't quite pan out because one would expect to see at least hints of the more intelligent aliens. (i.e. Obviously, rats did not pilot the ships that carried them, and if they're weapons, then where are the intelligent aliens to complete the conquest.)
In contrast, the original "Alien" movie is an example where the bio-weapon/stowaway explanation completely makes sense since we see glimpses of the original pilots.
(Yes, I am also a sci-fi nerd.)
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Thank god, someone else. I'm not a fan of the recent trend of throwing explanation to the wind in modern science fiction films. Even district 9, which I fucking loved, made no effort to explain the Prawns' origins.
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It could also be as simple as...
We are humans. Humans can be pilots. Humans can also be completely inept to operating any kind of heavy machinery. I, for instance, would be that alien that would probably crash the aircraft trying to get back home.
If you gave me the keys to some massive modern airplane, I don't know if I'd know what was what to even turn the thing on much less rip it off a runway and into the skies.
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True, but would you be in the airplane in the first place if you had no idea how to fly it? If you're from a civilization advanced enough to build a FTL spaceship, I believe your course of action upon crash landing on an alien planet would not be to hide in the woods and kill every native possible.
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Re: " Would you be in the airplane in the first place if you had no idea how to fly it?"
Sure. In 15 years time .. do you believe that in every self driving car there will be someone who knows how to drive it?
Re: "I believe your course of action upon crash landing on an alien planet would not be to hide in the woods and kill every native possible"
Imagine you are stuck on a desert island. You set off the distress beacon and wait for rescue. You know that one of the local animals (perhaps a nasty spider) had caused you pain in the past. So you kill any of them that you find in your area. Is that implausible?
You use the term 'native' as if we and they are somehow on similar levels.
To them - we may just be pretty bower birds that organise their environment and build pretty places to live. But if one of those bower birds was to attack you ... you'd be sure to clear the local area of the pest.
Don't believe me? Go to any store and look at the pest control isle.
Poisons. Traps. Not a single product aimed at 'Use this to peacefully co-exist with the uninvited creatures in your new home'. Just plenty of pretty packages that boast how fast they kill the other creatures that share your new home. Doesn't matter if the mice, termites, ants and spiders were in that area first. We'll kill them rather than share a home with them.
-- Mac
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Love the conversation. Yes, I’d like more thoughts about how and why. Is this the only alien on earth? Crows ate everything and one alien ship crashed here? Or was that military head line suggesting world wide attack and there are more aliens in France? Even with this, great read. Thanks for sharing. I look forward to to seeing it. Congrats to John K. I wonder if he’ll go back to his cubicle job after this.
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I don't want to spoil it but the movie mildly addresses some of these anxieties. If you're open to interpret the motivations for aliens, then pretty strong inferences as to what the scenario is like can be made. I agree with a comment above; some people just can't attend a movie without being spoonfed.
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Damn already? Movie hadn't come out yet.
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Dumbest reason for a downvote but ok.
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I saw it last Friday. There's been preview screenings.
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Thanks for this!
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Thanks for sharing this script.
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Thank you for sharing!
Was hoping to get my hands on a copy after reading this: http://www.indiewire.com/2018/04/a-quiet-place-screenwriters-emily-blunt-john-krasinski-bryan-woods-scott-beck-1201948205/
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Krasinski's rewrite made a lot of huuuuuge changes it seems
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spoilers
If something as trivial as a RadioShack frequency emitter can instantly kill the creatures that can TEAR THROUGH STEEL PLATING, Im gonna have to assume these creatures are not the invasion force.
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Just read it. Like everyone else said, he breaks all the rules in screenwriting. I guess it doesn't matter when you have clout.
Images, pictures, bold and underline, one to 2 words to a page, etc. Wowza.
PS I knew the poor dog was gonna get it.
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Thanks for this! I just got back after seeing the movie I'm very curious to read the script before Krasinski's input. Great movie.
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Thanks for sharing this! I was really curious to see what this looked like on the page. Hopefully, we'll get to read the production draft at some point with Krasinski's revisions.
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Damn, 68 pages. I guess that makes sense when you consider the plot of the movie, haha.
I remember the All Is Lost screenplay was just 32 pages.
Goes to show how much clout JC Chandor already had. I can't imagine submitting a 32 page script to someone and expecting them to take me seriously.
It's shorter than most scripts because it's mostly action and barely any dialogue which would make it more pages.