Genre: Dramedy
Premise: After receiving the news that her show is being canceled, a prickly female talk show host goes back into the writer’s room for the first time in years, where she finds inspiration from a young female comic who’s just joined the staff.
About: Sundance! Which means lots of movie sales. This film just debuted at the festival, fetching one of the biggest sales ever – Amazon bought it for $13 million dollars. I confess that I’ve never understood what these sale prices mean. The movie itself probably costs $13 million to make. So does that mean they’ve simply broken even? Cause I’m assuming once Amazon buys it, they take all the profits. Who knows. Anyway, the movie stars Mindy Kaling and Emma Thompson. It will likely be marketed similarly to Amazon’s The Big Sick. The script originally appeared on the 2016 Black List.
Writer: Mindy Kaling
Details: 131 pages! Yikes!
The fact that I liked today’s script says a lot. Because I don’t like Mindy Kaling’s comedy. In fact, to demonstrate how little I like her comedy, I’ve been watching old Office reruns on Netflix and every time she comes on, I fast-forward, even though it takes more time to go through the process of fast-forwarding than had I just let her say her joke. It goes to show that if you write something good, you can overcome anyone’s bias. Cause my bias was strong on this one. Strong like bear.
Ice Queen British import Katherine Newbury is a staple of late night American talk shows. At one point, she was the best in the business. However, things have gone astray. Katherine is so on auto-pilot that she doesn’t even know the names of her writing staff. In fact, when she comes down to talk to the staff in one of the script’s early scenes, she asks where John is. “John died in 2012” someone informs her. Yeah, it’s that bad.
Meanwhile, 30-something Molly Chaterjee is attempting to move out of her boring chemical managerial job into comedy. It just so happens that Katherine is trying to spice up her all-male writing staff and so informs her producer to hire a woman. Molly lucks out in that she’s the first interview and gets hired basically because the producer is too lazy to interview anyone else.
As this is happening, Katherine gets word from corporate that this will be her last year on the show. Her ratings have been in decline for awhile now. But, more importantly, her heart hasn’t been in it. All of a sudden, Katherine realizes how much she needs this job and sets out on a course to win it back at all costs. She does this by doing unheard of things such as being present in the writer’s room. This is where she runs into Molly, who clearly has no business being here. She has no experience and no understanding of how even the most basic aspects of joke-writing work.
However, Katherine soon realizes that her all male staff is pitching the same jokes that they’ve always pitched, which are the same jokes that the all-male staffs from all the other late night shows pitch to their bosses. Molly, meanwhile, is encouraging Katherine to start talking about her personal life. When she talks about things she cares about, she shines. Katherine listens, gives the advice a shot, and, all of a sudden, her show becomes hot again.
Unfortunately, just when it seems like her career is saved, one of Katherine’s adversaries leaks something to the press that’s been rumored forever. Katherine has spent the last two decades sleeping around, cheating on her husband. Realizing she’s toast, Katherine prepares to hang it up. That is until Molly challenges Katherine to address the scandal in a monologue. If she’s open, honest, and finally lets her guard down, she just might be able to save her career, and the show.
I have a theory about this script. I think Katherine was originally a male character. It seems unlikely that you would conceive of an older female British talk show host in the U.S. We don’t have any precedent for that here. And this was obviously inspired by the David Letterman cheating scandal. So I believe the character was originally a man and, at some point, Kaling changed it to a woman.
I don’t know why she did this. But it was a critical change. It turned what would’ve been an okay story into something great. Just the scandal element alone is more complicated when the character is a woman as opposed to a man. It was such a successful choice, in fact, it should act as a reminder to writers to always challenge their original conceptions of a character. Not just whether they’re a man or a woman. It could be gay or straight. It could be aggressive or passive. It could be fun or serious. That one change could be the thing that ignites the character and turns them into something special. And there’s a reason for that. Our minds think logically. We set characters up the way they’ve always been set up. A late night male talk show host. Of course. That’s how they all are. It’s only when you go against the norm that the character becomes unique.
Moving on with the rest of the script, Kaling is attempting to do something tricky here, which is to craft a two-hander. There isn’t one protagonist in this movie. There are two. And despite how easy she makes it look, I warn writers to tread these waters carefully. Everything about the structure of your screenplay becomes more complicated when you go the two-headed protagonist route. For example, the inciting incident of this script happens on page 30. That’s when Katherine is told she’s losing the show. Why does it come on page 30 instead of page 15, where it traditionally shows up? Because Kaling has to set up two main characters instead of one. So it takes twice as long.
Now Kaling is a good enough writer where we don’t feel that extra time. But most amateur writers don’t yet have the skills to keep us invested for that long before a major plot point shows up. Kaling starts us with with a strong opening scene where an underdog female comic does standup for a tough crowd. The suspense and build-up to her routine was perfectly executed. We wanted to stick around to see how she was going to do. If you’re good at writing suspenseful scenes and setting up characters in compelling ways, then maybe you can pull this off. But I’d still recommend nailing a single-protagonist screenplay first. That’s hard enough.
This is a good one, guys. If you’re struggling with character, I would read this script pronto. It’s very character-driven. We’ve got characters with flaws (Katherine refuses to open up), with backstory (Molly comes from an unexpected background), and, most importantly, the characters are trying to figure themselves out. It’s not just about getting to the next plot point. It’s about battling inner obstacles that keep us from being what we want to be. When you explore humanity that honestly, your screenplay will rise above the typical fare that dominates this town. Very impressed with this.
[ ] What the hell did I just read?
[ ] wasn’t for me
[ ] worth the read
[x] impressive
[ ] genius
What I learned: Plot Points vs. Character Points. Screenwriters are often slaves to their plot. All they care about is getting to the next plot point. “I have to get to the part where they fire her! That’s what keeps the plot moving.” This is a good mentality to have. But don’t forget to add character points as well. A character point is something that happens to your character that isn’t necessarily tied to the plot, but it adds depth to both your character and the story. For example, after Katherine learns that she’s getting fired, she comes home to her elderly wheelchair-bound husband’s daughter, who demands that they get home care for him. It’s the last thing she wants to deal with right now but the fact that this “real life moment” is happening tricks us into believing this is a real person experiencing a real life. When you’re a slave to plot points and never introduce these character moments, your script feels thin and empty. I know this because I read those scripts all the time.
