The Parent Trap by Nancy Meyers and Charles Shyer

The Parent Trap is a classic that was made and then re-made. Outline and lessons learned on the next page. 

Script if we need it. 

Parent Trap Outline

1. Intro, establishing - buses arriving at camp
2. Meet Hallie, as she tries to recover her duffle bag from a huge pile. Also we intro her bunk mates. Learn that Hallie lives at a vineyard, and seems outdoorsy and tomboy-ish. Hallie gets bunk assignment.
3. Meet Annie, who arrives in a limo with a butler and a bunch of her luggage. She’s British, high maintenance, wearing a pants suit. She gets her bunk assignment.
4. Mess hall, dinner. All the girls are gathered. Near meeting between Hallie and Annie, but goofy camp director thwarts them.
5. In the showers. Another near meeting. The girls both wear matching lockets. They touch hands, feel a connection, but do not see each other. NOTE: Very much like a romantic meet cute.
6. A fencing match. Two masked girls fencing, one is winning handily. Hallie is the winner. Does anyone challenge her? Annie steps forward. They fence, Annie knocks Hallie into a water trough. Hallie is a sore loser and pulls Annie in along side her. Then, the counselor makes them shake hands and for the first time they see each other. Hallie tries to deny the resemblance and insults Annie. They definitely don’t get along at first and their friends reassure them, it’s just a weird coincidence.
7. Annie plays poker with her bunk mates (we learned earlier that Hallie is also a poker shark). Then Hallie shows up... she’s the last challenger willing to play Annie. Hallie wins after a hard fought game... And bets Annie that the loser swims naked in the lake.
8. Annie swims naked, the other girls steal her clothes. She decides that “it’s on.”
9. Hallie and her friends trudge home after a camp activity. She sees that all of the cots from her bunk are now on the roof.
10. Night. Hallie and friends return the act of sabotage by sneaking into Annie’s bunk and covering it in oil, honey, string, and shaving cream. Annie wakes up and declares that she hates Hallie. The directors show up to do a surprise inspection, but all the girls freak out — no one wants to get in trouble. Then the director gets chocolate sauce dumped all over her by accident.
11. Hallie and Annie get in trouble and are sentenced to bunk in isolation.
12. Montage-y series of scenes where Hallie and Annie hate each other.
13. A storm. Hallie and Annie are trapped in their room and realize they have the same mom and dad and therefore must be twins. They also have a lot of random weird stuff in common.
14. Hallie and Annie discuss who their parents are and what they’re like over dinner.
15. Hallie bolts upright in the middle of the night with a brilliant plan. The twins should switch places!
16. Now we have a montage-y sequence of them teaching each other how to behave/ how to be each other.
17. Hallie also has to cut Annie’s hair and pierce her ears.
18. Hallie flies to London, hoping her “mom” will like her.
19. Hallie meets Martin. He buys that she is Annie, and she even knows the secret handshake that Martin and Annie have.
20. Hallie soaks up London like a tourist.
21. She wants to stop at Buckingham — playing it off like she’s been away for so long she missed England so much. She meets the queen and says the wrong name!
22. Hallie arrives at the town house where Annie and her mother live. She meets her grandfather for the first time. NOTE: much of the comedy here comes from Hallie experiencing these things for the first time and trying to play it off.
23. Hallie then meets her mother for the first time ever. It’s a really tender and sweet moment.
24. the butler finds hallie’s stuffed animal in Annie’s suitcase. Hallie plays it off like it’s someone else’s bear but she wants to keep him. Hallie weirdly like, smells all of her mom’s stuff.
25. Elizebeth (Hallie’s mom) takes Hallie to her wedding dress studio. Hallie’s enthralled.
26. Elizabeth coolly handles a crisis during a photoshoot. Hallie peppers Elizabeth with questions about her dad. Elizabeth tells Hallie how they met. CUT TO THE DAD and ANNIE.
27. In Napa. Annie sees her dad for the first time. Dad senses something’s different but he doesn’t know what. Annie uses british vocab and keeps saying “dad.” Plays off like she missed him at camp.
28. Annie sees the house for the first time. Like Hallie, she has memorized all the people she needs to know. The dog barks at her though. The dog totally KNOWS.
29. Then, uh-oh! We learn that Annie/ Hallie’s dad has a new GIRLFRIEND! Meredith. Annie suspects she’s a goldigger.
30. Annie goes to meet Meredith. Meredith and Nick seem to be hiding something. Annie is suspicious. Mer lies to someone on the phone and Annie doesn’t like it. Annie lies to Meredith and makes it seem like Nick’s a huge player.
31. Annie calls Hallie. Annie wants Hallie’s help breaking up Nick and Meredith, but Hallie isn’t ready to leave her mom and fakes bad reception.
32. Hallie’s cook (Chessy) starts to suspect that Annie is not Hallie.
33. Nick tries to tell Annie something. But they run into Meredith in the stables and Meredith coldly tells her assistant that she wants to ship “Hallie” off to boarding school.
34. Chessy realizes Annie is Annie. Annie confesses.
35. Nick says he wants to marry Meredith. Annie is panicked and starts speaking french. She doesn’t want nick to get married.
36. Meredith tries to talk to annie. Annie hates Meredith. Meredith threatens Annie.
37. Hallie enjoys a sip of wine in London... she knows a ton about merlot. She gets a 911 fax from Annie and rushes out to make a collect call.
38. Annie tells Hallie that nick is getting married. Grandfather learns that Hallie is Hallie.
39. Hallie confesses to Elizabeth that she is not Annie. It’s really sweet. Elizabeth agrees to take Hallie back to california and pretends she’s fine with seeing nick again.
40. But actually Elizabeth is a mess. She can’t handle it. Hallie lies about Nick expecting Elizabeth.
41. Four seasons in SF. Meredith is there, introducing her parents to Nick. Nick brings Annie and Chessy and the dog too.
42. Elizabeth arrives with Martin and Hallie. She is crazy drunk.
43. A few near run-ins that are unintentional. Then, Nick spots Elizabeth. He can’t believe it.
44. Elizabeth confronts the twins. They lied to her about Nick knowing she was coming. Martin and Chessy meet and have clear chemistry. Elizabeth realizes she is being set up and that the twins want her to break up Nick’s engagement.
45. Nick is with Meredith, clearly having second thoughts. He leaves her to clear his head.
46. Hallie and Annie both run into Nick as he looks for Elizabeth. Then, Hallie runs into Meredith who she has never seen before. It’s weird.
47. Elizabeth meets Meredith. Meredith wants a wedding dress from E’s line.
48. Then finally, Nick realizes what’s up (after falling in a pool while chasing Elizabeth) and the twins confess everything to him.
49. Nick and Liz talk. She tends to his wound, clearly they are great together. Meredith shows up. She’s confused. Tells Nick Liz is making her gown. Meredith learns that there are twins and she is clearly horrified.
50. The twins trick their parents into having dinner together.
51. At first, the dinner seems romantic (it’s on a boat, recreating the circumstances under which Liz and Nick originally met) but then Nick and Liz can’t get over their past problems, so they part ways early.
52. Liz is planning to return to London, but Hallie and Annie dress identically and refuse to separate or reveal their true identities unless they all four go on Nick and Hallie’s annual camping trip — together.
53. Last minute, Liz bails on the trip and sends horrible Meredith in her place.
54. Meredith hates camping. She can’t hike, plus the girls keep sabotaging her — filling her bag with rocks and putting a lizard on her water bottle, then on her head. Finally, they carry her out to the middle of the lake on her air mattress while she’s sleeping.
55. In the morning, a furious Meredith swims to shore, and gives Nick an ultimatum. It’s me or them, she says, and he swiftly chooses THEM.
56. Back at home, with no Meredith, Liz and Nick have another chance at reunion. He reveals that he bought all the bottles in the world of the wine they drank at their wedding, and she is taken. Obviously, still they love each other. But when Chessy and Martin arrive unexpectedly early from their trip to LA, Nick and Liz’s attempts to rekindle romance are again thwarted.
57. The next day, Liz and Annie leave, planning to reunite for the holidays. Everyone is somber.
58. Back in London, it turns out that Hallie and Nick have taken a quicker flight and arrived before Liz and Annie to surprise them. Nick could not have let her go twice.
59. In the hallway, Hallie exclaims how fun it’s gonna be for them all to live in California, while Annie is like, oh no, we’re living in London. Thus, things are not tied up quite as neatly as they seem...

Lessons:

1. Nothing is too complex. The kids are just regular kids with a couple of funny quirks (funny details like enjoying anchovies on pizza or eating Oreos with peanut butter). And the adults are usually just a few steps behind.
2. Meredith is 100% horrible. The annoying adults don’t have to be nuanced if they are just there to play a part. Also, it’s good to have the adults being affected by the kids’ actions like, on the same level. Not trying to act like adults, just being immature.
3. Comedy comes from misunderstandings or the kids trying to excuse the weirdness of their actions A LOT. Because they’ve switched places, it’s funny to see them try to offer explanations when they’re being strange... We can have that with Libby trying to hide her apps.
4. The movie has a really solid emotional core, which is these girls wanting to know each other and their respective parents. It’s really simple and sweet and the emotional moments are usually pretty raw and up front. I think we can steal that... no need to be coy about what these kids are feeling usually.
5. A few times, questions are dismissed really simply. Like, “how have these girls never asked about their parents?” Both girls have scenes where that question is basically addressed with a line — “I knew this would come up someday” (mom says) and “What you don’t still buy the story that a stork dropped you off at my door?” (Dad asks) Economical reasons for how these girls know so little about their other halves. I think we should keep in mind that economy and efficiency for explaining phone stuff, and not be afraid to just like, answer the question and move the eff on immediately.