MJB SCRIPT REVIEW | MEN IN BLACK

This weeks read; MEN IN BLACK.

Plot in a nutshell: James Edwards, a New York cop, is offered a once in a lifetime opportunity; to join the super secret Men In Black, a peacekeeping force tasked with policing alien life on planet earth. Unfortunately, a particularly nasty bug has arrived at the same time, making J's first day on the job a really STEEP learning curve...

Do you ever get that deja vu feeling when reading a script that it feels like it has been written after the film has been made? You’re reading it and the film follows the script so perfectly, you can’t help but think this was edited afterwards? Definitely got that feeling with this draft, but that’s neither here nor there, as I don’t concentrate on the film anymore. Just the script. So…

What a corker it is! Story rolls along at a fantastic pace, never losing a beat. Very little in the script has been changed or missed out for the film, which goes to show how effortlessly efficient the script is. All the characters are well rounded, the dialogue is spot-on (though interestingly, alternative dialogue to the script has been used here and there in the final cut of the film which one suspects was probably improvised at the time), but the star of the show here for budding writers…are the action directions. There is a real masterclass here in using the combination of description, flow and appropriate wording to get the images across to the reader, as well as the production staff. I have as yet to read action written as well and will be looking to this script for referencing when writing good standard action ADs in future.

So what did I learn from MEN IN BLACK?

Write, rewrite and then rewrite again your action directions. Go over them, analyse them, take out anything that doesn’t feel right or takes away from the flow. Use your thesaurus, use your dictionary, read...hell, anything to add more language to your lexicon for helping to describe things. Really take on board how description can add to not only action and movement, but filling the mind with the images that you really want to convey. Action directions really deserve the time when they are used well. They are often seen to some as a challenge or a chore, but I promise you, in this script, they are nothing but a joy and really help the story to move. So that was the lesson for me. 

I was really surprised at how great that this script was, and highly recommended as a read. Truly, a great lesson in efficient, yet effective writing.



Link to the script;

https://thescriptsavant.com/movies/Men_In_Black.pdf