Unveiling the Hidden Genius: A Scene-by-Scene Dissection of “The Big Short” Script That Changed Hollywood Forever

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.

Today: The Big Short (2015). You may download the script here.

Screenplay by Charles Randolph & Adam McKay, based on a book by Michael Lewis

IMDb plot summary: In 2006–2007, a group of investors bet against the United States mortgage market. In their research, they discover how flawed and corrupt the market is.

The Big Short
Scene by Scene Breakdown
By Richard Koman
GoIntoTheStory.com

The Big Short, winner for best adapted screenplay in 2015, is an incredibly ambitious work. It’s adapted from the nonfiction book by Michael Lewis. Obviously, in a nonfiction book, the author has plenty of time to explain complex concepts like collateralized debt obligations, let dozens of characters speak, perhaps only as character witnesses (people who knew Mark Baum in the past, for instance.) In a screenplay, all this has to be made entertaining, moving, exciting.

So this screenplay is filled with pyrotechnic dazzle: characters breaking the fourth wall and addressing the camera, celebrity cameos explaining CDOs and the like, the use of a minor…