The hottest movie of the year (so far) is the love triangle tennis drama Challengers, which feels like it was launched off the racket of a pro, and aimed directly for our groins. It’s an exciting movie about a trio of budding tennis stars dealing with the intermingling of their affection for one another.
Over the weekend, while the movie was lighting theaters ablaze, the screenplay went viral on Twitter for a first page that just sings when you look at it.
Let’s dig into the page below and examine why it went viral.
The ‘Challengers’ Screenplay
I’m typically a big proponent of white space but page 1 of Justin Kuritzkes’ incredible CHALLENGERS script proves yet again that you can literally do whatever you want if the writing is compelling.
Over the weekend, the screenplay for Challengers by Justin Kuritzkes went absolutely viral on Screenwriting Twitter. People were astonished at the number of “unfilmables” on the first page of the script.
Typically, newer screenwriters are told that they should only put on the page the things they can show on the screen, and not to tell your reader any extras.
But the thing I have said many times over on this website is that there are no screenwriting rules. Your job is to create the blueprint for the story.
And on the first page here, we have some incredible writing that builds tension.
We immediately know the stakes in this movie and can feel the ripple of intensity that’s pulsating throughout everyone on the screen.
Here’s the thing, if you read past page one, this script falls back into a more natural storytelling techniques, and it weaves an amazing story. But page one is where you need to grab your readers.
If you just saw two people playing tennis, you wouldn’t understand the context or what’s at stake.
This script does a great job putting context into the character descriptions, making them attractive for the cast ereading as well as executives who may think about stars.
Also, it really sets the stage for the setting, so we fully understand these two are kind of slumming it here. And it plants a lot of questions as to why they are here, what their relationship is with each other, and with the woman watching them.
Screenwriting “rules” do not exist.
And if you can write as well as this first page shows Kuritzkes can, you can get away with anything you want.
Listen to our interview with Challengers writer Justin Kuritzkes
Read and download the Challengers screenplay here, for educational purposes only.
Let me know what you think about the comments.
Author: Jason Hellerman
This article comes from No Film School and can be read on the original site.
