How bout this one I even forgot was in there? http://youtu.be/y6kq15NBTzI

Hard to choose one, as this is one of my favorite movies/screenplays of all time. But if I had to go with just one, it would be the park bench scene. The one where Sean delivers his great monologue letting Will know that all the book knowledge in the world is no match for life experience. Afterwards, Will just sits there, stunned and speechless. It had the same effect on me as a viewer. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jqeagzT01Gk P.S. I think Robin Williams won his Oscar with this scene.

It doesn't get any better than this. You can put this script up against the best of all time. So original. So much to say. What an epic achievement in the craft of screenwriting.

I loved seeing this and reading the script. Can you clarify for me how the writing of dialogue works here? I mean, I've read many times not to write directions for the actors, but this scene is full of "glances at..." etc. Is the difference because those exchanges of glances are meaningful, also communicate to us and between the characters an otherwise unwritten message of connection (in this case). I'd love to find online (here?) where someone has gone thru a good script and really done a close reading of it. Why this works, how pace and timing are DONE, what this technique or that accomplishes. I read a lot about being visual, and a lot no's, but would LOVE to really go into the script, lol, and really hear how they're analyzed, so i can learn from that. If you have an links, pls guide me. thanks so much!

Adina, the first thing we need to understand is there is a difference between a selling script and a shooting script. The latter is what a film crew uses to make a movie. And it can have all sorts of stuff in it including camera shots and directions to actors that are considered no-no's per contemporary screenwriting style. The former is what we write to sell a script or get a project going. There the goal is - nowadays - to make it as movie production light as possible. Or to put it another way, make it as literary as possible. We want to do everything we can to suck a reader into our story universe, so they forget they're reading a script. Taken in that light, any time we include a camera shot or a particular stage-y direction to the actor or most parentheticals, we remind the reader, "Hey, I'm reading a script." Also, too, things have changed considerably since Good Will Hunting came out. I strongly recommend you read spec scripts that have sold in the last 3-5 years, and a lot of them, to see what current approaches by various writers is to screenplay style in selling scripts. By and large, they are clean and stripped of nearly any production lingo [there are always exceptions, I'm speaking generally]. So don't look at a shooting script, especially one from over 10 years ago, and think this is the style for today. It's not. Read current selling spec scripts to see how professional screenwriters are handling style nowadays.

Ah, yes, I am familiar with those differences, but I missed that this was a shooting script. So this: "Clark looks to see if the girls are impressed. They are not. When Clark looks back to Chuckie, Skylar turns to Lydia and rolls her [own] eyes. They laugh. Will sees this and smiles." --- is not in the spec script? got it. I will take your advice and enjoy reading scripts altho i've posted on the blackboard a question about where to find close readings of scripts. I have a degree in lit (from a long time ago) and reading gobs is surely the bulk of the work, as one just develops and ear but close readings helped us learn how a particular element, aspect is accomplished. But expressing that ear, explaining WHY something works from those who know it does, well, I'd love to find that. I'd so appreciate having that insight. If you know of any...:P

agreed!