April 3, 2025 is the 50th anniversary of the movie Monty Python on the Holy Grail’s release. This prompted me to remember the power of scripts in my personal writing journey and as a craft resource.
I had the best high school English teacher, and I can prove it. Linda McCord read Beowulf in the olde English and made us laugh, sounding more like the Swedish chef from The Muppets than a stuffy academic. She made reading and writing fun, and, best of all, she let us explore our interests. This manifested itself for me when she not only encouraged, but facilitated a paper I wrote titled, “Lancelot as Portrayed in Le Mort d'Arthur, The Once and Future King and Monty Python and The Holy Grail.” She special-ordered the script book for me. You couldn’t buy it in stores. Yes, I still have the book. See the beat up cover above.
LAUNCELOT
It’s just that when I’m in this genre, I tend to get over-excited and start to leap around and wave my sword about … and …
If you want to strengthen your dialog and tighten your prose, scripts provide fantastic instruction. We often struggle with communicating backstory without an info dump, laying in humor and showing intent with nuance. Behold the magic of well written dialog.
You don’t have to special order any more. Here are some sites with tons of scripts to download:
TV Writing - old and new TV shows, both UK and US based
The Blklst’s Go Into the Story - lots of recent movies
And if you’re still looking for more, The New York Film Academy has a longer list of script sites to explore.