Hi, I’m Michael.
This is Lessons from the Screenplay.
One of the most difficult parts of a script is the beginning.
If you can't find a way to set up your story in a way that is both efficient and engaging,
an audience may quickly lose interest.
And as author Syd Field writes in his book Screenplay:
“Everything is related in a screenplay,
so it becomes essential to introduce your story components from the beginning.
You’ve got ten pages to grab or hook your reader,
so you’ve got to set up your story immediately.”
The Devil Wears Prada does a fantastic job of setting up its story immediately.
So today I want to go on a tour of the first ten pages of the screenplay...
...to explore the various techniques used to establish character and convey exposition...
...and examine how each page draws us deeper and deeper into the world of the story.
“That’s all.”
Let’s take a look at The Devil Wears Prada.
The screenplay for The Devil Wears Prada wastes no time in introducing us to the main character.
The screenplay begins:
“Fade in.
Steam on a mirror.
Wiped off by ANDY SACHS, 20’s, pretty but not glamorous,
smart but green, hair up in a towel, brushing her teeth.“
But rather than simply following Andy's morning routine,
the script does something more interesting.
“We intercut ANDY getting ready and...
we see three or four other GIRLS getting ready too.
A drawer filled with about forty lipsticks slides into frame...
One of the girls carefully applies shiny lip gloss with a brush...
Andy puts on cherry Chapstick…”
The first page uses comparison to concisely establish who our protagonist is
by showing us who she isn’t.
While all these other women are meticulously choosing their wardrobe,
Andy is simply grabbing what is comfortable and practical, because her focus is elsewhere.
“Andy straightens a pile of newspaper clips from the Daily Northwestern
with the byline ANDREA SACHS
and proudly tucks them into her hideous college-graduation-present briefcase…”
In just three-quarters of a page,
screenwriter Aline Brosh McKenna establishes everything we need to know
about our protagonist right now:
she isn’t interested in fashion, and she studied to be a journalist.
As we get to the bottom of the first page,
there is a moment where Andy arrives at an office building but has made a mistake.
“What floor is Elias-Clarke? Human Resources.”
“Honey, you want West 49th.”
This demonstrates how inexperienced Andy is.
It’s an illustration of her character description in the script: ”smart but green.”
But there will be plenty more examples of this in the coming pages,
and this scene interrupts the momentum of the sequence...
which is probably why it is missing in the final film.
In fact, almost the entirety of the second page of the screenplay was cut.
Instead, the film jumps right to the moment when Andy enters the Runway reception area,
where we’re given the dramatic question, exposition, and stakes.
Page three is where Andy meets the first important supporting character.
“Andrea Sachs?"
"Yes?"
"Great.
Human resources certainly has an odd sense of humor.”
“This is EMILY.
She looks the part of the sleek fashionista,
but is propelled by a core of barely tamped down anxiety.”
Throughout the film, Emily will be a foil to Andy—
someone who cares a lot about fashion, but lacks Andy’s confidence.
In these first few pages, however,
she serves as our tour guide to the world of Runway Magazine,
and thus, the world of the story.
Emily begins her tour by explaining why they are looking for a new assistant.
“Well I am trying. Miranda sacked the last two girls after only a few weeks.
We need to find someone who can survive here. Do you understand?”
Here, Emily voices the dramatic question of this sequence:
Will Andy get the job as the assistant to Miranda?
Which then begs the question:
“Who’s Miranda?”
“Oh my God, I will pretend you did not just ask me that.
She’s the editor in chief of Runway.
Not to mention a legend.
Work a year for her and you can get a job at any magazine you want.
A million girls would kill for this job.”
With these lines, Emily shares exposition about Miranda while also establishing stakes:
this job is valuable.
Emily’s tour ends at the bottom of page four.
In four pages we’ve learned about the characters,
the dramatic situation, and the world of the story...
...so that on page five, we’re finally ready to establish the power of the antagonist.
There are many ways to establish the raw power of the antagonist.
In The Devil Wears Prada,
Miranda is imbued with power through the reactions of other characters.
“Oh my God. no.
No, no, no.”
When Miranda arrives to work early, chaos erupts inside.
“Assistants frantically push clothing rails out of the way.
Editors race into their office.
Andy peers in.
One of the editors changes from kitten heels to sky-high stilettos...
Interior Elias-Clarke lobby, day.
We watch Miranda walking through the lobby.
We see people react to her—
Guards, assistants and secretaries cower,
distinguished executives bow their heads in respectful greeting.”
Amidst the panic,
we meet another important supporting character who will become Andy’s mentor—Nigel.
"She's not supposed to be here until nine."
Here, comparison is used once again to show character.
Everyone else is freaking out at Miranda's arrival,
while Nigel remains calm and in control.
“All right, everyone. Gird your loins!”
All this build up climaxes as the antagonist finally enters the office,
and we meet Miranda.
Through the panic that we just witnessed,
we understand that people are afraid of Miranda, but we don’t yet know why.
That all changes as soon as Miranda speaks.
“I don’t understand why it’s so difficult to confirm an appointment.”
“I’m so sorry, Miranda.
I did confirm last night, but—“
“The details of your incompetence do not interest me.”
Miranda begins a monologue full of overwhelming requests
that lasts for a page and a half.
From her arrival on page five through her monologue ending on page eight,
the script makes it very clear that Miranda is the fashion expert
and is impossible to impress.
This set up is important because we already know that Andy,
who doesn't care about fashion is going to have to impress her to get the job.
So by the top of page nine the impending conflict is clear,
and we finally arrive at the showdown.
“She wants to see you.
Move!”
Given everything we know about the characters,
the interview begins as well as we'd expect.
"So you don't read Runway?"
“No.”
“And you have no style or sense of fashion.”
“I think that depends on what your—"
“No no. That wasn’t a question.”
Andy, expecting to be judged on her journalistic merits,
is instead dismissed due to her ignorance of fashion.
"I also won a national competition for college journalists with my series on the janitor’s union—“
“That’s all.”
But it's this same ignorance of fashion—established on the very first page—
that makes Andy unafraid to talk back to Miranda.
“Okay, you’re right.
I don’t fit in here…
I don't know that much about fashion.
But I’m smart, I learn fast and I will work very hard.”
This scene is essentially a miniature version of the entire film.
Andy attempting to please Miranda,
Miranda being abusive,
and Andy ultimately sticking up for herself—
which as we’re about to see leads to success, as at the top of page eleven,
almost exactly at the ten minute mark, the dramatic question is answered.
“Andrea!”
"Hm?"
On page one we met our protagonist,
and through comparison learned that this is a story about people who care about fashion,
and people who don't.
By the end of page four we knew the dramatic question,
had received all the necessary exposition, and understood the stakes.
And by page nine we had met important supporting characters
and through their reactions learned the power of the antagonist...
...providing the proper build-up to the first of many battles our hero will face.
In just ten pages,
screenwriter Aline Brosh McKenna has set the stage for the entire story
of The Devil Wears Prada.
With the holidays approaching,
I will be making my annual round trip from Los Angeles to Northern California
to visit my parents.
If you’re unfamiliar with it, that is a six hour drive that can get a bit boring.
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Thanks to Audible for sponsoring this video.
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