Unveiling the Mind-Bending Secrets Behind Every Scene of “Everything Everywhere All At Once”
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: Everything Everywhere All At Once (2022). You may read the script here.
Written by Daniel Kwan & Daniel Scheinert.
Plot summary: A universe-jumping laundromat manager takes on the mission of ridding all possible universes of the ultimate evil, which has taken possession of her twenty-something daughter. Along the way she finishes her taxes and saves her marriage.
Everything Everywhere All at Once
Scene by Scene Breakdown
By Judith Sears
GoIntoTheStory.comp. 1. We watch through a hazy mirror as the Wang family, WAYMOND, EVELYN AND JOY, does an awkward karaoke version of “Barbie Girl” by Aqua.
p. 1- 4. In their apartment upstairs over the laundromat a frazzled Evelyn sorts through tax documents in preparation for an audit, gives Waymond instructions for painting and decorating the laundromat for the party and for preparing dinner. Waymond remarks that she wants everything to be perfect for her elderly father, GONG GONG, who is visiting. Evelyn waves off Waymond’s request that they make time to…
