2 Best Holiday Movie Scripts of All Time
by Jaden
If you are looking to cash in on writing a holiday movie, watch How the Grinch Stole Christmas! and A Christmas Story.
Writers and filmmakers have endeavored through the decades to entertain us during the holidays, but none have touched our hearts like the movies that came from these two simple and yet masterful scripts.
Watch closely how the stories unfold and what key story points change the main characters. Using these story arches, story-telling styles, and character developments as guides, you can change the holiday to meet your cultural and personal holiday preferences to write a timeless script with characters to which we can all relate.
How the Grinch Stole Christmas! (1966)
This is my all time favorite Christmas movie.
Any good script will have character development wherein the character starts off with some less than desirable personality traits and through the course of some life lessons (story plot points, obstacles, and conflicts), the character changes and becomes a better individual. Our greedy green monster shall learn something from a darling little girl.
Animated characters with their larger-than-life facial expressions and body language are able to deliver emotional cues in a profound way that is relatable by all race, gender, and ages.
The original story was written by Dr. Seuss and further worked by Irv Spector and Bob Ogle; directed by Chuck Jones and co-directed by Ben Washam.
A Christmas Story (1983)
Overplayed in the U.S. and running incessantly through the holidays, most Americans have seen A Christmas Story countless times. Next time you watch it, contemplate why it is such an excellent family holiday movie script?
With moments everyone will forever remember, Peter Billingsley (as child actor playing Ralphie) gives a perfect performance and Jean Shepherd (as the voice of adult Ralphie and Narrator) tattoos the script words to the back of our brains.
Famous movie quotes:
[Ralphie is visiting Santa at the department store, only he can't remember what he wanted]
Santa Claus: How about a nice football?
Ralphie as Adult: [narrating] Football? Football? What’s a football? With unconscious will my voice squeaked out ‘football’.
Santa Claus: Okay, get him out of here.
Ralphie as Adult: [narrating] A football? Oh no, what was I doing? Wake up, Stupid! Wake up!
Ralphie: [Ralphie is shoved down the slide, but he stops himself and climbs back up] No! No! I want an Official Red Ryder Carbine-Action Two-Hundred-Shot Range Model Air Rifle!
Santa Claus: You’ll shoot your eye out, kid.
Later in the movie…
Ralphie as Adult: [narrating, after BB gun shot bounces off target and hits his face] Oh my god, I shot my eye out!
A Christmas Story is written by Jean Shepherd (novel “In God We Trust, All Others Pay Cash”) with further writing on the screenplay by Leigh Brown and director Bob Clark.
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5 Responses to “2 Best Holiday Movie Scripts of All Time”
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My favorite scene is the department store Santa terrorizing the kids and sending them screaming down the slide. And when it’s Ralphs’ turn, Santa gently kicks him in the face, sending him on his way (and the camera shows it to you you Ralph’s point of view).
And I also like the Dad losing his temper fixing the furnace. You never hear him actually say anything bad, but you know ihe’s cursing a real blue streak..
I love that movie. I can never it enough. :-D
Yeah, I love mean Santa too! :-)
I can understand why A Christmas Story is a classic, and indeed it is for so many people. Such a quotable movie, memerable characters, etc. But I think for me, and even my family, it never really “clicked.” I think in my youth, it felt like I was peer pressured into liking it since all my friends loved it and they would show it every year in school (besides on TV at home), so I kinda feel the same way for this movie as I do for “Jingle Bells.”
The Grinch, on the other hand, I’ve had much fonder memories about. The original book, the cartoon, the song, the recording of the book, and even the live action movie. I once heard that Ron Howard memorized the story line for line, and I’ve been working on it too. I’m not very close but my favorite scene is of course the ending climatic scene when the Grinch learns that Christmas is much more than material things. THAT part I have memorized up until his heart grows. And I love how Jim Carrey plays that scene and when he starts to feel.
t.sterling — Thanks for sharing your experiences with these movies. I have only seen bits and pieces of the Jim Carrey version; Grinch looks pretty creepy in live action.
My mom made us watch A Christmas Story again this year. Even though it was playing 24 hours a day, she recorded it for us, just to be safe. The movie was good, again! My aunt hadn’t seen it, so this was her first time.