To write and format three (3) pages of an existing movie in screenwriting software.

  

ASSIGNMENT:  To write and format three (3) pages of an existing movie in screenwriting software such as Final Draft, Celtx or Adobe with scene headings, action, character, dialogue.  

“Mike’s New Car”

By

Pixar Films

Transcribed by

Duba Leibell

EXT. BROWNSTONE – BROOKLYN – DAY

A door knob turns.

The door flies open, revealing SULLY, a giant, lumbering

blue-haired apelike monster with wimpy horns. He covers his

eyes with one hand, expectant, like a kid about to get a

Christmas present.

MIKE, a super hyper, fast-talking, green-haired midget of a

monster with a giant cycloptic eye, leads Sully out.

MIKE

Okay, come on. Follow the sultry

sound of my voice… no peeking.

SULLY

Miiiike!

MIKE

And… open up!

ON THE SIDEWALK

Mike shows off his shiny, new, snazzy, expensive yellow

sports car.

MIKE

Ta da! Whaddya think?

SULLY

What was wrong with your old car?

MIKE

Three little words, Sully. Six

wheel drive. Come on, get in! Get

in! Get in!

Mike hums gaily, opens the car door. Sully lumbers in. Mike

hops into the driver’s side.

In the passenger side, Sully’s head hits the ceiling as his

neck crooks at a right angle.

MIKE

It’s adjustable!

BZZZZ… Sully “adjusts” the seat, sinks down, down, waaaaay

down. He peeks over the dashboard, then buzzes back up,

side-to-side, back and forth, up and down, side-to-side — a

kid with a new toy. Mike’s patience fizzles.

(CONTINUED)

CONTINUED: 2.

MIKE

Will you cut it out!

Sully stops. Mike turns the car key. VROOM! VROOM! The sound

is sexy cool.

MIKE

It’s like we’ve released a panther.

VROOM! Then, a small interruption: DING! DING!

MIKE

What? What? Oh.

Mike laughs — just the belt. Sully fastens his belt easily.

Mike tugs and tugs, wrestles and fidgets with the belt until

SNAP! The car door careens open, and he’s booted out.

Sully watches as Mike bobs up and down, a frantic bouncy

ball.

MIKE

Push the button!

Sully views an aerospace panel of complicated buttons,

hmmm… which one? He pushes. Oops. Wrong one. The hood

flies open.

Outside, Mike rounds to the front of the car. BZZZ! The

engine grinds and chugs. Mike the midget hops up and down,

trying to snatch the hood. Sully leans out the window.

SULLY

I’ll get it!

Sully manually slams it down — on Mike’s hand. Mike

SCREAMS.

SULLY

Sorry! Sorry!

The hood flies open, Mike still attached. He lets go, falls

onto the GRINDING engine.

Like deli meat, he’s sliced and diced. SLAM! The hood comes

down. Trapped!

RING! RING! Sully answers his cell.

MIKE (V.O.)

Push the button!

Sully pushes. The hood flies open. Mike jumps out, black and

blue, catches his breath. He marches angrily back…

(CONTINUED)

CONTINUED: 3.

To the car.

Glares at Sully. Sully politely opens the manual lock. Mike

gets in. Slams the door. DING! DING! Mike groans.

MIKE

Don’t-touch-anything. I’ll do it.

Mike pushes “the right” button. Suddenly SALSA MUSIC blares!

Windshield wipers flick! The hood slams open and closed!

From down the street, it looks as though the sports car is

possessed. A neighborhood BYSTANDER runs off, terrified.

Back in the car, Sully and Mike are whipped around the car

blender. SPLAT! SQUISH! Until Mike flings the key out of the

ignition.

They sit stunned in silence… After a moment, Sully

“adjusts” the rear view mirror. SQUEAK.

It falls

off.

SULLY

Oops.

MIKE

Get out of the car please. GET OUT!

Out of my car! OUT!

He pushes Sully out. Mike starts the car. VROOM! VROOM! The

panther is back in action!

Sully watches from the sidewalk as Mike zooms off — until

he hears — CRASH! Wheels, springs, screws fly past.

SULLY

That’s weird. The airbag didn’t go

off.

POP! Mike flies through the air. Sully catches him like an

expert baseball player.

MIKE

(weary and beaten)

I miss my old car… you know with

the voom, voom and the clank,

clank… and the bang, bang… oy.

SULLY

You, uh, wanna walk?

(CONTINUED)

CONTINUED: 4.

MIKE

Yes…

Mike sighs heavily.

FADE OUT.

CMP 126Y – Online Introduction to Screenwriting

Assignment #1

Script Formatting

ASSIGNMENT: To write and format three (3) pages of an existing movie in screenwriting software such as Final Draft, Celtx or Adobe with scene headings, action, character, dialogue.

This is an exercise in SCRIPT FORMATTING using SCREENWRITING SOFTWARE. The purpose of this assignment is to learn to use screenwriting software (like Final Draft) and become familiar with basic script formatting rules. You won’t be graded on creativity – only the correctness of your formatting.
So refer to the formatting textbook, The Hollywood Standard, often, and pay attention to formatting rules!

1. Watch any movie you love. (English language please!). You can also format short animated films on Youtube, such as Pixar’s “For the Birds”.

2. Imagine you’re the screenwriter for the movie you’re watching. WRITE/FORMAT three (3) pages of the script, or about three minutes of the movie, based on what you’ve watched, including the dialogue. You can go to the Course Documents section on Blackboard and read my imaginary script rendering of Pixar’s short film “Mike’s New Car” as an example. Spelling counts! Errors beyond TWO will be points off for bad spelling!

3.
USE ONLY SCREENWRITING SOFTWARE.
You may download a FREE DEMO of Final Draft on FinalDraft.com or purchase it. Celtx and Adobe Story are both free screenwriting software online. However,
you must convert Celtx and Adobe Story to PDF
before handing posting assignments on Blackboard, as the instructor does not have Celtx or Adobe software.

4. Upload your assignment to your Blackboard Discussion Board forum. Each one of you has a forum for assignments. Any assignments that are late will have points deducted.