Unveiling the Dark Secrets of “Nightmare Alley”: A Scene-by-Scene Script Breakdown That Will Leave You Breathless

Here is my take on this exercise from a previous series of posts — How To Read A Screenplay:

After a first pass, it’s time to crack open the script for a deeper analysis and you can do that by creating a scene-by-scene breakdown. It is precisely what it sounds like: A list of all the scenes in the script accompanied by a brief description of the events that transpire.

For purposes of this exercise, I have a slightly different take on scene. Here I am looking not just for individual scenes per se, but a scene or set of scenes that comprise one event or a continuous piece of action. Admittedly this is subjective and there is no right or wrong, the point is simply to break down the script into a series of parts which you then can use dig into the script’s structure and themes.

The value of this exercise:

• We pare down the story to its most constituent parts: Scenes.
• By doing this, we consciously explore the structure of the narrative.
• A scene-by-scene breakdown creates a foundation for even deeper analysis of the story.

This week: Nightmare Alley (2021). Download the screenplay here.

Screenplay by Guillermo del Toro & Kim Morgan, novel by William Lindsay Gresham

Plot summary: A grifter working his way up from low-ranking carnival worker to lauded psychic medium matches wits with a psychiatrist bent on exposing him.

Nightmare Alley
Scene-By-Scene Breakdown
By Valerie Kalfrin
GoIntoTheStory.com

PP. 1: Thirtysomething Stan Carlisle drags a corpse into a grave in the floorboards of a country house, then sets the house on fire. He catches a bus, checks his watch, and falls asleep. At the last stop, Stan sees a diminutive man, The Major, exit a café with a takeout bag. Stan follows him into the woods where he hears calliope music and encounters a carnival.

PP. 2–4: Stan takes in the sights, including Molly, “The Amazing Electrical Girl,” and Bruno, a protective, aging strongman. The barker, Clem, lures people into a tent with an excavated pit, where the “Geek,” a ragged, grimy man who appears barely human, bites the head off a chicken. The crowd cheers.