What I Learned Reading THE THING Screenplay
John Carpenter said it’s the best screenplay he’d ever read for Bill Lanchester’s version of “The Thing”. And he made “ a game-changer that cannot be matched, a Holy Grail” with it.
Before Fade In, there are two pages; one the cast, and second the locations. It gives you the idea. There is a line there which I really like.
MAC READY — 35. Helicopter pilot. Likes chess. Hates the cold. The pay is good.
Name: MAC READY, age 35. He is a helicopter pilot. This makes him go to the Norwegian compound.
Likes chess. This gives us an idea about him. And we see him play chess time to time.
Hates the cold. We see this when they lock him out.
The pay is good, is the best part I think. It gives us a hint about what kind of man he is.
After Fade In,
Around page 35, the doggy unleashes the Thing on to the other dogs and everybody in the compound see this. Until that point, screenplay builds characters, sets the scenes up.
When they actually see the Thing, the screenplay quickly explains what the thing is and it also explains how to kill it. We got everything we need before the page 50.
Inciting incident is when the dog reaches the U.S Compound.
The first act ends when the doggy unleashes the Thing.
Second act ends with MacReady’s test. When they are sure that they can trust each other.
And the third act ends with MacReady killing the Thing.
Classic structure with setup, confrontation and resolution. What’s interesting to me is how they executed the second act. The confrontation act easily could be the men versus the beast, like Alien but it’s not.
They confront the idea that any one of them can be the Thing. This is the idea behind the story. It’s not about the alien coming to Earth and killing these guys. It’s about the Thing that can imitate real people, and any one of them.
The men don’t trust each other, even our protagonist, MacReady is questioned when they find his clothes. And later he kills Clark who then revealed to be a human. Does it make him a murderer? No, he’s a survivor, the script answers.
The screenplay chooses to explain everything then deal with the aftermath. Because the aftermath is where this story’s true strength lies in this case. The thrill and suspense are better when you left to guess who is the thing or not.
I can go on about The Thing forever. It’s one of my favorite horror films. But I decided to turn this weekly posts to quick takeaway posts. I was struggling hard to make it into an in depth analysis but at the same time trying to keep up with it weekly. I want to work on my screenplays as well. And I really want to do long in depth essays. I will do them but one in two to three weeks when I could find time.
I recommend reading the screenplay and watching it again.
THE THING Screenplay [PDF] by Bill Lanchester from the story Who Goes There? by Don A. Stuart — for educational and research purposes only.
