ESCALETA: GOOD WILL HUNTING

BY BEN AFFLECK AND MATT DAMON

1, 2, 3) INT. BAR / Will + friends

Theyve known each other since forever. All from Bostons working class. INTRODUCING MC: Will
4) INT. WILLS BEDROOM/ Will
Bedrooms impersonal. Pile of 20 library books. Wills a fast reader. INTRODUCING MC: Will
5, 6) EXT. CAR/ Will + Chuckie
Go to the MIT campus. INTRODUCING MC: Will
7) INT. MIT CLASSROOM/ Lambeau + students >> CATALYST
Lambeau defies class to solve theorem. INTRODUCING DYNAMIC: Lambeau
8) INT. INDOOR FUN PARK/ Will + friends
Theyre hanging around, kind of bored, making plans for the night. Someone suggests going to a Harvard bar.
They dont like the rich kids.
9) EXT. SEANS ROOFTOP/ Sean
Sean stares blankly at the landscape. Hes got a class reunion invitation on his lap. INTRODUCING
ANTAGONIST: Sean
10) EXT. MIT LAWN PARTY/ Lambeau + students
Student tells Lambeau everyones waiting to discover who was the one who proved the theorem. He doesnt
know either.
11) EXT. PARK/ Will + friends
Hanging out in the park. Will catches sight of an OLD BULLY of his.
12) INT. MIT CLASSROOM/ Lambeau + students >> CATALYST
Lambeaus unable to discover who solved the theorem. He puts an even more difficult theorem on this board
this time.
13, 14, 15) INT. CHUCKIES CAR CUT TO EXT. SIDEWALK/ Will + friends
They again spot Wills old bully. Will gets out of the car and starts a fight with him. The bullys friends react
in his defense. Wills friends come help him out.
16, 17) EXT. SIDEWALK/ Will + bully
Police arrives and witnesses. Will hitting the bully hard. Wills arrested, but leads it playfully as if hes
already used to it.
18, 19) EXT. SEANS ROOFTOP/ Sean
Sean stares blankly ahead.
20) EXT. COURTHOUSE/ Will + Chuckie
Chuckie gives Will a ride out of the courthouse. Will says trial will take place in the following week.
EXPOSITION
21, 22) INT. MIT CLASSROOM/ Lambeau + students >> CATALYST
Classroom is fuller than ever. Students are anxious to know who solved the new theorem. Lambeau again
doesnt manage to identify the responsible. He announces hell put an even more difficult theorem on the
board.
23) MIT corridor/ Lambeau + Will >> CATALYST
Lambeau spots Will writing on the theorem board. Assuming Wills vandalizing it, he accuses the janitor.
Offended, Will leaves. When Lambeau looks at the board, he realizes the Will was the one to solve the
theorems.

24, 25) EXT. HARVARD PUB LINE/ Will + friends

Will lies about having lost his janitor job at MIT. DOUBT
26) INT. HARVARD PUB/ Will + friends + Harvard student + Skylar
Chuckie hits on two Harvard girls saying that he was in a class with one of them. Harvard student comes by
and tries to impress the girl by exposing Chuckie as obviously non-educated. Will intervenes on behalf of
Chuckie, and intellectually humiliates Harvard student. INTRODUCING ROMANTIC INTEREST:
Skylar
27) INT. HARVARD PUB/ Will + friends + Skylar
Skylar comes to Wills table and, stating to have gotten interested in Will, gives him her number. Will asks
Skylar out. INTRODUCING ROMANTIC INTEREST: Skylar
28, 29, 30, 31, 32) EXT. RESTAURANT WINDOW/ Will + friends + Harvard
student
Will spots Harvard student through a restaurant window. He exhibits Skylars number through the class,
mocking the guy.
33) INT. MITS OFFICE/ LAMBEAU + OFFICER
Lambeau asks the officer whos the janitor who solved the theorem. He discovers Will is from the parole
unemployment program.
34) INT. COUTROOM/ WILL + JUDGE + LAMBEAU
Will tries to defend himself in the trial with obscure law references. Looking through Wills long criminal
record, the judge doesnt buy his defense. Lambeau interrupts and asks to speak to the judge.
35, 36) INT. JAIL/ WILL + SKYLAR
Wills got one call before being arrested. He calls Skylar and asks her on a date.
st

37) INT. JAIL/ WILL + LAMBEAU >> 1

TURNING POINT
Lambeau offers Will to get out of jail if he accepts to work with him in the MIT and to go see a psychiatrist.
1st turning point

OUTLINE: GOOD WILL HUNTING

1) COMMON WORLD: Wills a 25-year-old troublemaker who
works as a janitor in the MIT and, in his leisure time,
fools around with his gang, all of them part of the
Boston working class. Will, however, is an unsuspected
genius.
Scenes 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6
2) CATALYST: Professor Lambeau in the MIT proposes a math
challenge to his incoming class. The theorem will be on
the board outside of the classroom and whoever solves it
will be considered a genius. Will solves the theorem
but, ignorant of the context, doesnt claim
responsibility for it. As the identity of the theoremsolver remains obscure, the students start to fuss about
it. Lambeau proposes more and more difficult challenges,
all of which are mysteriously solved.
Scenes 7, 10, 12
3) Lambeau spots Will writing on the board outside of the
MIT classroom. Assuming Wills vandalizing it, the
professor accuses him. Deeply offended, Will leaves.
Lambeau realizes it was the janitor the responsible for
solving the theorems.
Scene 23
4) Will gets involved in a street fight and gets arrested.
Scenes 11, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17
5) Lambeau finds out about the janitors identity.
Scene 33
6) INTRODUCING Romantic Interest: Will goes to a Harvard pub
with his friends. He goes on to defend one of his
friends whos being humiliated by a Harvard snob and
meets Skylar, a Harvard girl who gets impressed by his
intellectual wit. She gives him his number and he asks
her on a date.
Scenes 26, 27, 28, 29, 30, 31, 32, 35
7) 1st TURNING POINT: Wills trial. He tries to defend
himself, but the judge convicts him. Lambeau intervenes
and proposes a deal to Will: if he agrees to work with
him and to go see a psychiatrist, he can get out of
jail.
Scenes 34, 37