During the consultation of our projects to Brian last week, since I’m focusing on scripting and dialogues, he suggested to do an exercise on de-scripting movies. This means I’ll be turning a scene into a script. He also suggested to do on movies that might be relevant to my work.
Thus, what’s better movie to deconstruct than the iconic John Hughes’ “The Breakfast Club”? The movie is packed with clever and honest dialogues and so I decided to go with the scene where the group opens up to one another at the end of the movie.
It was a pretty long scene, but I managed to deconstruct the scene into a script.
INT. LIBRARY – DAY
BRIAN
Um, I was just thinking, I mean…. I know it’s kind of a weird time, but I was just wondering, um, what is gonna happen to us on Monday? When we’re all together again? I mean I consider you guys my friends. I’m not wrong, am I?
ANDREW
(hesitation) No…
BRIAN
So, so on Monday…what happens?
CLAIRE
Are we still friends, you mean?
If we’re friends now, that is?
BRIAN
Yeah…
CLAIRE
Do you want the truth?
BRIAN
Yeah, I want the truth…
CLAIRE
I don’t think so.
ALLISON
Well, do you mean all of us or just
John?
CLAIRE
With all of you…
ANDREW
That’s a real nice attitude, Claire!
CLAIRE
Oh, be honest, Andy…if Brian came walking up to you in the hall on
Monday, what would you do? I mean picture this, you’re there with all
the sports. I know exactly what you’d do, you’d say hi to him and
when he left you’d cut him all up so your friends wouldn’t think you
really liked him!
ANDREW
No way!
ALLISON
Kay, what if I came up to you?
CLAIRE
Same exact thing!
BENDER
(furious and screaming at Claire)
You are a bitch!
CLAIRE
Why? Cause I’m telling the truth,
that makes me a bitch?
BENDER
No! ‘Cause you know how shitty that is to do to someone! And you don’t
got the balls to stand up to your
friends and tell ’em that you’re
gonna like who you wanna like!
CLAIRE
(half sobbing and shouting) Okay, what about you, you hypocrite!
Why don’t you take Allison to one of your heavy metal vomit parties? Or
take Brian out to the parking lot at lunch to get high? What about Andy
for that matter, what about me?
What would your friends say if we were walking down the hall together.
They’d laugh their asses off and you’d probably tell them you were doing it with me so they’d forgive you for being seen with me.
BENDER
(even more furious)
Don’t you ever talk about my friends! You don’t know any of my
friends, you don’t look at any of my friends and you certainly wouldn’t
condescend to speak to any of my friends so you just stick to the
things you know, shopping, nail polish, your father’s BMW and your
poor-rich-drunk mother in the Carribean!
CLAIRE
(furious and sobbing)
Shut up!
BENDER
And as far as being concerned about what’s gonna happen when you and I
walk down the hallways at school, you can forget it! Cause it’s never
gonna happen! Just bury your head in the sand…and wait for your fuckin prom!
CLAIRE
I hate you!
BENDER
Yeah? Good!
A moment of silence before Brian speaks.
BRIAN
Then I assume Allison and I are better people than you guys, huh?
Us weirdos… (looking at Allison)
Do you, would you do that to me?
ALLISON
I don’t have any friends…
BRIAN
Well if you did?
ALLISON
No…I don’t think the kind of friends I’d have would mind…
BRIAN
I just wanna tell…each of you, that I wouldn’t do that. I wouldn’t
and I will not. (a short pause) ‘Cause I think that’s real shitty.
CLAIRE
Your friends wouldn’t mind because they look up to us.
Brian laughs at her.
BRIAN
You’re so conceited, Claire. You’re so conceited. You’re so, like, full
of yourself, why are you like that?
CLAIRE
(crying)
I’m not saying that to be conceited!
I hate it! I hate having to go along with everything my friends say!
BRIAN
Well then why do you do it?
CLAIRE
I don’t know, I don’t…you don’t understand..you don’t…You’re not
friends with the same kind of people that Andy and I are friends with!
You know, you just don’t understand the pressure that they can put on you.
BRIAN
I don’t understand what? You think I don’t understand pressure, Claire?
Well fuck you! Fuck you!
Brian cries while hiding his head in his arms.
BRIAN
Know why I’m here today? Do you?
I’m here…because.. Mr. Ryan found a gun in the locker…
ANDREW
Why’d you have a gun in your locker?
BRIAN
I tried. You pull the fuckin’ trunk on it and the light’s supposed to go
on…and it didn’t go on, I mean, I…
ANDREW
What’s the gun for Brian?
BRIAN
Just forget it.
ANDREW
You brought it up, man!
BRIAN
I can’t have an F, I can’t have it and I know my parents can’t have it!
Even if I aced the rest of the semester, I’m still only a B. And everything’s ruined or me!
CLAIRE
Oh Brian…
Brian punches the chair beside him.
BRIAN
(speaking softly)
Considered my options, you know?
CLAIRE
No, killing yourself is not an option!
BRIAN
Well I didn’t do it, did I? No, I
don’t think so!
ALLISON
It was a hand gun?
BRIAN
No, it was a flare gun, went off in my locker.
ANDREW
Really?
Andrew starts to laugh and tries to hold himself back.
BRIAN
It’s not funny…
Everyone start to laugh, including Brian.
BRIAN
Yes it is… Fuckin elephant was destroyed.
ALLISON
You wanna know what I did to get inhere? Nothing…I didn’t have anything better to do.
Everyone laughs.
ALLISON
You’re laughing at me…
ANDREW
No!
Allison starts to laugh too.
ALLISON
Yeah you are!
It was a bit hard to write this as some of the lines weren’t as clear and it did take some time to write all this. Although this scene doesn’t have much “action” and are mainly dialogues, it was still a good script writing practice.