Writing the Scene

Case Study: Breaking Scene in TOOTSIE

Now, let me break the scene, which by the way it runs a little long. Larry Gelbart, he can

afford to write a long. It's something I talked about earlier, which is the mapping prior to the

scene. You should go back and watch the movie.

When you do, you'll see that Michael is running down the hall and Margaret, George's

assistant just outside his office tries to stop him but Michael blows in. So, that scene is a great

way of building into this cause Michael literally and figuratively opens this scene or comes into

the scene with a full head of steam.

I think the protagonist is pretty obvious, it's Michael and what does he want? Well, he

wants to be set up for a part in "Iceman Cometh." It gets a little convoluted, but that's what

he's come in for. He's right up front about it. He lays it out. "Terry Bishop is doing 'Iceman

Cometh.’ Why didn't you send me up for that part, George? You're my agent too." Then we

get into the conflict, which is really fantastic conflict.

Again, we've got two formidable individuals. If you think about this for a second, one way

that this could be played and it wouldn't work at all is if the actor was subservient. If the actor

was less than formidable, if he was less than demanding, it would diminish the conflict of the

scene. If he came in, there's probably a way to do it and Dustin Hoffman, God knows, could

probably do it.
 But the scene is powerful because we've got these two people who are both demanding

both powerful characters. And one is saying, this is what I want. And by the way, the conflict is

there because George says, "No, I will not send you out for that and in fact, I can't send you

out for anything." It goes higher and higher and higher but the conflict is there. It's beautifully

drawn because the pacing is so fast. This scene is really moving.

Finally, I think the midpoint is when George says, "I can't send you out for anything." So

that's hit the brakes full stop.

Michael has come in with the objective, "I wanna be sent out to audition for the 'Iceman

Cometh.'"

He says, "No."

They have a conversation, "Why not? Why doesn't this work? Terry Bishop is in that."

And then he says, "Michael, no one wants to work with you." So now, as you can see, the

scene is escalating. The conflict is escalating.

"What are you talking about?"

"Played a tomato. They went over time because you wouldn't sit down. You're impossible.

No one in Hollywood wants to hear—" At all times the conflict is rising, rising, rising until

George reiterates, "No one will hire you."

And Michael says, "Oh yeah?"

 You know, I'm a stickler for conflict." The scenes has conflict. It's fantastic. It escalates. And

when Michael leaves, we know he's not done. We know, in fact, he's just getting started. I think

the scene works really well. The movie by the way, works really well.

One quick anecdote about the movie, Sydney Pollack, who by the way, who plays George.

Sidney Pollack directing the film, they were close to it. They knew they had a fantastic script

and they gave it to Elaine May, who was a great writer, in her own right. And they said, "Can

you take a look at this? We think maybe there's something that's not quite right."

Elaine May looked at the film, looked at the script and said, "Michael needs a best friend /

roommate."

They said, "Why is that?"

And she said, "There's too much going on internally with Michael and we need to be able

to hear it. With a best friend, we'll be able to hear what he's thinking."

She did a pass, which was uncredited. She did a pass introducing a best friend who has

brilliantly played by Bill Murray. He's Michael's best friend and when you see the film, you see

that the mentor slash best friend play by Bill Murray is fantastic and you can't quite imagine the

movie without it because it's exactly that purpose. Every time that Michael is trying to figure

out which dress to wear, he consults with Bill Murray. So it's not interior, it gets to be

articulated and gets to be audio. So we hear what he's thinking. Brilliant choice by Elaine May,

brilliant movie. And again, the scene works because it does not shy away from conflict.