The Truman Show - Outline and Thoughts

Great script. Coming up on next page...

​- TRUMAN introduced to us through a two way mirror. 

- Meryl gives Truman sweatpants. He’s just OK with them. 

- A light falls into the street. Everyone hides. Truman picks it up. 

- Truman goes to work. We meet Seahaven Island Township. 

- Truman remembers the time his dad freaked out when he got close to the wter

- Truman remembers being told he can never be an explorer

- Truman steals a models nose from a newspaper 

- Truman works in insurance. he is truly NOT an explorer.

- Truman picks up his standard order at the deli. he is pained by his own predictability. 

- Boss bullies Truman into going out of the way to try to sell insurance

- Truman can’t bring himself to get on the ferry. People nearby bet on it. He lies to his boss bout why he can’t go. 

Note: there are many questions here. Lots the audience doesn’t know but wants to know. Every single scene, actually. And a lot of the work is done in the action writing. 

- Truman fails to break up a fight. After he’s gone we see the people in the fight stop fighting. Complain that he never interferes in stuff like that. 

- Truman mows lawn. Wife MERYL points out  a spot he missed. He pretends like he’s going to mow it but then doesn’t. 

- Truman tells his friend he’s thinking of getting out of work, this town etc. 

- CUT TO:  a news type guy alarmed by Truman. It’s a quick cut. 

- Friend sees light in Truman’s car. Says its’ from an airliner. 

- Truman is pensive by a lighthouse. 

- Flashback where Truman’s dad dies. 

- Quick cut  where it seems women are watching him on TV. 

- Truman goes home. Meryl wants a baby. He wants to see the world. 

- Quick cut to random guys talking about Truman and Meryl. 

- Sun comes up in a too-perfect way 

- Truman on way to work. Sees homeless man he thinks is DAD. World conspires to keep him from getting close. 

- Truman tells his MOM he saw dad. She acts old but is in good shape. It’s odd. She shuts him down. 

- Meryl also shuts Truman down on the dad stuff.

- QUICK CUT of viewers talking about Truman’s life. 

 - Flashback. Truman meets Lauren who leads him to the water. Says her name is Sylvia. She tells him he’s in a show. She gets taken away. 

- QUICK CUT to viewers. They say “he married Meryl on the rebound.” This is a great way to communicate exposition. 

- That night we see Truman using the magazine cut outs to try to create Sylvia’s face

- QUICK CUT we see Sylvia in an apartment somewhere 

- Truman accidentally picks up the show frequency on his car radio. Sees people reacting etc. 

- Truman busts into an elementary school. IT’s empty. Kid voices are recordings. 

Note: interesting that they let Truman in on the truth during the fun and games. This is a movie about someone who KNOWS they are in a show, not someone who finds out…

- Truman explores around, trying to see what’s up. Spots a jogger who was handicapped just the other day…

- Truman spots “extras” near a fake elevator in an office building. 

- Truman takes friend MARLON to show the fake school with fake kids. But there are real kids in there now. 

- Truman discovers Meryl had her fingers crossed when they got married. 

- Truman gets burned. His “nurse” wife Meryl doesn’t know what to do for it…

- Follows Meryl to work

Note: this all FEELS like second half of act two stuff because the catalyst is “I think this is off,” which is such a great way to make this movie interesting in this section. How can we do this too? 

- Truman leaves a message at Meryl’s work: I’m going to Fiji and I’ll be back whenever. 

- Truman goes to travel agent to try to go to Fiji. Doesn’t work. He says he’ll make other arrangements. 

- Truman gets on a bus. Wants to go to Chicago. Doesn’t. 

- Truman with Meryl. He can predict every car that’s coming. 

- Truman forces Meryl into the car. Tries to drive. There’s traffic. Says he’ll drive ANYWHERE.  Truman proves that the traffic just follows him around! 

Note: Bad guys close in is Truman realizing the depth of the deception by testing the limits of society. 

- Truman comes upon a closed road. A cop knows his name. He jumps out of the car.

Note: there have been lots of quick cuts back to “viewers” since mentioned last. Just assume they are happening. Will bring them up again if they really matter in the story down the line. 

- Truman doesn’t see it, but they are building a FIJI near where he lives. 

- Truman freaks out at home. Thinks Meryl is talking to “someone.” Getting so he seems a bit dangerous. Marlon shows up. Takes the peeler away from Truman. 

- Truman and Marlon at their “unfinished bridge” spot. 

Great Action Writing: Truman is slowly coming around - Marlon's speech from the
 heart soothing away his pain.

- Marlon has a good speech trying to bring Truman around. Convince Truman Truman is just feeling like too much of life has slipped by. 

- QUICK CUT we see some producer is feeding Marlon the lines. 

- BACK TO SCENE Marlon presents Truman’s father to Truman. 

- IN THE DIRECTOR ROOM We see the guy directing the whole cut of Truman reuniting with his dad. We see a flash of guilt on Marlon’s face. 

- IN A BEDROOM: Sylvia watches Truman on TV, “a look of profound sadness on her face.”

- TITLE SEQUENCE of the Truman show reveals the dome he’s living in and everything. 

- PRODUCER INTERVIEWED about the Truman show. We learn Truman has almost learned the truth before but the intruders have been captured. 

- SYLVIA CALLS INTO THE SHOW and says Truman is a prisoner.

- MORNING AT TRUMAN’S HOUSE He might be looking at the camera in the mirror. He might be totally fine and back to his normal life. Who knows? 

- We see Truman living his normal life. He even cuts the patch of grass he usually refuses. Giving the impression he’sfully resigned to this life. 

- PRODUCER AND CAST MEETING discuss that Meryl is leaving the show. replaced with someone who will entice truman to cheat. there is a plan for an on air conception and a second channel for truman’s baby. 

- CHRISTOF COMES IN and detects that something is off. Truman seems like he’s sleeping in the basement now that Meryl left him. But the body is not rising and falling with the breath. 

Note: for our movie, the “studio” should never shut the kid down. they need to WANT and NEED this the whole time, so the “villain” is present from beginning until end. 

Note: we were not privy to Truman’s planning. We are learning something is up just as everyone else is on the producer team. That is essential. .

- THEY REALIZE Truman escaped the bed but not the basement yet. He is still in the room. 

- MARLON gets there. Discovers that Truman has escaped from a tunnel. Says “he’s gone,” breaking the fourth wall. 

- CHRISTOF THE PRODUCER shuts down the production cutting to a technical fault sign.

- QUICK CUTS to stunned viewers. They have never seen this happen before. 

- THERE’S A MAN HUNT in Truman’s town

- WE SEE Truman is hiding as a derelict. Then we see he’s part of the man hunt crew, hiding in plain sight. 

- CHRISTOF cues the sun even though it’s early. 

- TRUMAN comes face to face with Marlon. Marlon could give him up. But he doesn’t. He just keeps “searching.” 

- TRANSMISSION COMES BACK. Truman is at the wheel of a sailboat. 

- SIGNS WARN TRUMAN that the water is dangerous. 

Note: message here about overcoming your fears and being brave enough to live the life you want even when the whole world seems to be transpiring against you. 

- CHRISTOF cues a storm to derail Truman. Hurricane. Truman yells you’re gonna have to kill me. 

- Truman discovers the fake painted sky with a door in it. 

- CHRISTOF talks to Truman through an intercom. Learns he was on a show. Decides to go through the door. 

WHAT MADE THIS WORK? 
The structure was the most brilliant part.
Fun and games was Truman figuring it out. 
Midpoint was Truman realizing.
Bad guys close in was Truman trying to escape.
Then the interview where we learn just how diabolical all this is.
Then the plan to have his wife leave him and get a woman pregnant on camera.
Dark night is thinking Truman accepted his fate and would mow the patch of grass.
Break into 3 is Truman is gone (so it was kind of a fake dark night where he knew all along what was happening — but the moment with the photo and the chest was still a catalyst for his third act)
Act 3 was the big escape
the man hunt
the door in the sky