The Shawshank Redemption

Frank Darabont has often compared The Shawshank Redemption to a Rorschach test. Written and executed with exceptional skill, it possesses a power that allows viewers to effortlessly empathize with the characters and attribute the feelings and attitudes on screen to their own experiences. It is, perhaps, the metaphor of imprisonment that resonates within us the hardest. We all have things that hold us captive, whether physical, psychological, social, or economical. Shawshank is about hope. If Andy can escape and come out the other side free, so can we. Get busy living or get busy dying. That’s goddamn right.

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Shawshank Redemption Screenplay: The History

In 1980, Frank Darabont, a twenty year old kid with zero experience as a filmmaker, wrote a letter to Stephen King, asking permission to adapt one of his short stories, The Woman in the Room (from Night Shift), into a short film. Much to his surprise, he received a letter back from King with permission to adapt the work for just one dollar. According to King:

I will grant any student filmmaker the right to make a movie out of any short story I have written (not the novels, that would be ridiculous), so long as the film rights are still mine to assign. I ask them to sign a paper promising that no resulting film will be exhibited commercially without approval, and that they send me a videotape of the finished work. For this one-time right I ask a dollar. ¹

It would take him three years, but Darabont managed to acquire enough money to finish the short. King was a fan, calling it, “clearly the best of the short films made from my stuff.” The young writer/director earned King’s confidence. So, when Darabont asked for the film rights to Rita Hayworth and Shawshank Redemption back in 1986, King said yes.

Shawshank‘s screenplay found a home with Castle Rock Entertainment, where Darabont was approached to hand over the director’s reigns to one of Castle Rock’s founders, Rob Reiner, for $2.5 million. As King had initially written Red as an Irishman, Reiner envisioned Harrison Ford in the role, with Tom Cruise as Andy. In the end, Darabont decided the money wasn’t worth giving up the opportunity to do something great, and much to both Reiner and Castle Rock’s credit, they gave him the chance to do so.

That’s an amazing group of people at that company. Bless their hearts, because the level of trust a filmmaker experiences there is almost unique in this business. If I’d had standard studio interference and meddling on that movie, if I’d spent my time battling to defend my film against executives who wanted everything different, Lord knows how that movie would have turned out. Probably not so well. It would have been some crappy prison movie long forgotten by now. But I had Castle Rock, and they were just the best. ~Frank Darabont ²

Released in 1994, The Shawshank Redemption was nominated for seven Academy Awards (Best Picture, Best Actor—Morgan Freeman, Best Adapted Screenplay, Best Cinematography, Best Editing, Best Original Score, and Best Sound Mixing) and ultimately lost in every category, thanks in large part to Forrest Gump.

Shawshank Redemption Screenplay: The Novella

Darabont knew what to leave in, what to leave out, what to add, and what to alter. There are the little things, like Red being Irish, or Andy being a small man who wore gold-rimmed spectacles, or Andy sneaking five hundred dollars cash in small bills up his ass into the prison (how did you think he was able to buy all that stuff from Red?). Then there are the big things, like Andy being a World War II veteran. Did you ever notice the film chooses to not reveal Red’s crime? Stephen King lets us know on page one:

I came to Shawshank when I was just twenty, and I am one of the few people in our happy little family who is willing to own up to what he did. I committed murder. I put a large insurance policy on my wife, who was three years older than I was, and then I fixed the brakes of the Chevrolet coupe her father had given us as a wedding present. It worked out exactly as I had planned, except I hadn’t planned on her stopping to pick up the neighbour woman and the neighbour woman’s infant son on the way down Castle Hill and into town. The brakes let go and the car crashed through the bushes at the edge of the town common, gathering speed. Bystanders said it must have been doing fifty or better when it hit the base of the Civil War statue and burst into flames. ³

Audiences would have had a hard time liking a character that committed such a crime. I’m not saying it’s impossible, but more a risk they weren’t willing to take. The lesson: sometimes less is more. Red admits his guilt, he’s spent the majority of his life behind bars, there’s not a day that goes by he doesn’t feel regret, and that’s all that’s needed.

King described Brooks Hatlen as “a tough old con” with a college education who murdered his wife and daughter. King’s Jake was a pigeon (not a crow) and he didn’t have a thing to do with Brooks. Jake belonged to a fella by the name of Sherwood Bolton. Upon his release, Sherwood let Jake go, and a week later, Red discovered the bird dead in the exercise yard. But back to Brooks…he’s mentioned in just a few paragraphs, mainly to setup Andy’s job as Shawshank’s librarian. King doesn’t follow Brooks outside. Brooks never writes to the boys. Brooks never chisels his name or commits suicide. In the novella, Red says about Brooks, “they trained him to like it inside the shithouse and then they threw him out.” The idea was there and Darabont molded it into one of the film’s most memorable characters.

Finally, the scene where Andy broadcasts Mozart over the prison’s P.A. was Darabont’s creation. It’s the midpoint of the film, where Andy faces off against the Warden, not accepting his rules anymore. It represents a transition. Andy’s slowly breaking out, not physically, but in his mind. Just like Andy’s accomplishments with Shawshank’s library, the music is also a gift to his fellow inmates. He discovers something the Warden and Hadley can’t touch. It’s psychological. It’s called hope.

Other key differences:

• The poster covering the hole at the time of Andy’s escape was of Linda Rondstadt, not Raquel Welch.
• There were three wardens during Andy’s time at Shawshank.
• Warden Norton has Tommy transferred to a minimum security prison, not killed.
• Warden Norton does not kill himself. He quietly resigns after Andy’s escape.
• Andy escapes to Mexico with his money, not the Warden’s (after his appeal was turned down, one of Andy’s close friends from the war created a false identity for him under the name Peter Stevens. He took over three hundred thousand dollars of Andy’s money and setup a bank account in Stevens’ name).

It’s not uncommon for films to differ from their source material. I highly recommend checking out King’s novella and Shawshank‘s shooting script. They’re both worth studying.

Shawshank Redemption Screenplay: The Theme

You can find self-worth in your most hopeless hours. Imagine, just for a few moments, you’re Andy Dufresne. You’ve been found guilty of murdering your wife and her lover and you are innocent. You’re stripped of your freedom and thrown into a prison for two life sentences. Your new neighbors are felons doing hard time: thieves, rapists, and murders. Violence surrounds you. You are beaten by both the guards and inmates. You are gang raped by sociopaths. You find a man who knows the identity of your wife’s true killer and a corrupt, bible-thumping hypocrite of a warden has him killed. You’re dying a little bit everyday. The situation continues to push you beyond what you could ever possibly imagined your limits to be.

While adapting to prison life, Andy rediscovers his self-worth. He risks his life approaching Captain Hadley on the roof. For his service to Hadley, he manages to arrange beers for his fellow “co-workers” and they feel like free men for the afternoon. He does taxes for all the prison guards, helping them save money from Uncle Sam. He tutors a young inmate and helps the man earn his high school diploma. He grows the Shawshank prison library to one of the biggest and best in New England, so he and his fellow inmates can enjoy everything from The Count of Monte Cristo to Hank Williams. He broadcasts Mozart over the prison P.A. and all the inmates at Shawshank feel free for a brief moment. Through the good and bad, Andy discovers his life has meaning and value.

When he decides to break out, he’s at the end of his rope. The infamous line, “get busy living or get busy dying” says it all. The Warden will continue to hold him there for the rest of his life. Andy’s rediscovered his self-worth and knows he has a life worth living. He’ll have to risk death for his freedom and that’s fine with him.

Shawshank Redemption Screenplay: The Structure

In its last ten minutes or so, Shawshank does something rather unexpected: it shifts the protagonist from Andy to Red. Not only has Red been our narrator, but he’s also been a pivotal supporting character for Andy. Red is a decent man in an unethical environment. We care about what happens to him. Halfway through the film, Darabont takes the story away from the protagonist with nearly five full minutes dedicated to a secondary character in Brooks Hatlen. Why spend that much time with Brooks? Easy. For Red. Like the internal midpoint tells us, when you’ve spent your entire adult life in prison, adapting to the outside world is terrifying. Darabont doesn’t tell the audience, he shows them what life’s like for Brooks. When it comes around to Red, we completely understand what he faces on the outside. After his release, he realizes he needs hope to live like air to breathe. That’s when he decides to break his parole and join his old friend in Zihuatanejo, Mexico.

Click here if you’re looking for The Shawshank Redemption screenplay.

Click here to download my Shawshank Redemption script analysis (PDF).

Shawshank Redemption Screenplay: The Beats

ACT I

Inciting Incident — minute 10 — Andy enters Shawshank. This is the incident that turns his life upside down. He must learn to adapt inside the prison walls.

Strong Movement Forward — minute 18 — In his first night in prison, Andy doesn’t break down, even after witnessing the savage beating of a new inmate at the hands of Captain Hadley.

End of Act One Turn — minute 30 — Developing a hobby is Andy’s first real attempt at adapting to Shawshank. He asks Red for a rock hammer, strictly to assist him in his hobby of carving rocks from the yard. It’s only later he discovers the tool’s use for breaking apart the wall.

ACT II-A

First Trial — minute 38 — Andy plays with his life a bit here. While on a work detail tarring a roof, Andy overhears Captain Hadley complaining about the tax man eating up an inheritance he received. Andy breaks the rules and approaches, angering Hadley, and is nearly thrown off the roof. At the last second, Andy informs Hadley he can keep the money without paying hefty taxes and offers to setup the tax free gift (he was a banker after all).  In return, he requests beer for the workers. Hadley agrees.

First Casualty — minute 45 — Andy is beaten within inches of his life by Bogs and the Sisters. The beating is so bad he spends a month in the infirmary.

Midpoint (internal) – minute 60 — Around Andy and friends, Red empathizes with Brooks. Andy realizes, with others, the longer they stay at Shawshank, the more frightening freedom becomes.

Midpoint (external) — minute 69 — Andy discovers a record, “Canzonetta sull’aria” from Mozart’s “Marriage of Figaro,” locks the door to the office he’s in, and broadcasts the song over the P.A. for the entire prison to hear. This is Andy’s first real showdown with the Warden and he gets thrown in the hole as a result. Instead of accepting his situation, he takes action to change it.

ACT II-B

Assumption of Power (internal) — minute 74 — During chow, Andy talks with Red and crew about hope…

Assumption of Power (external) — minute 78 — Andy grows the Shawshank prison library to one of the best in New England.

End of Act Two Turn — minute 90 — Tommy Williams, a new inmate at Shawshank, tells Andy and Red about Elmo Blatch, a former cell-mate who told him explicit details about murdering a golf pro and his mistress. Further, Elmo claimed he was never a suspect, because a “hotshot banker” was wrongly imprisoned for the crime.

Decision — minute 91 — Desperate to clear his name, Andy informs the Warden about Tommy’s Elmo Blatch story. Andy begs the Warden to help, but the Warden refuses, as he needs Andy to launder his dirty money. Andy insists that the money laundering will be kept secret and the Warden explodes with rage, putting Andy in the hole for an entire month.

ACT III

Point of No Return — minute 112 — The cells open for the morning roll call. Andy does not come out.

Climax — minute 120 — Told in flashback, Andy crawls out of the sewage pipe a free man. Rain washes the filth off him. He’s finally free.

EPILOGUE

122 – Andy withdraws all the Warden’s money from a bank and mails the evidence to put put the Warden behind bars to a local newspaper.

124 – With the police outside his door, the Warden takes his own life.

125 – A free man, Andy drives along Mexico’s Pacific coast toward Zihuatanejo.

ACT IV (Red’s Story)

Red’s Assumption of Power – minute 128 — Red sits in front of the parole board. They ask if he’s rehabilitated…

Red’s Turn– minute 129 — Red’s parole is approved and he leaves prison after 40 years of incarceration.

Red’s Decision — minute 130 — Red rents Brooks’ old room and works the same job Brooks had at the grocery store. He’s fearful of the outside world after living the last forty years inside a prison. Like Brooks, he contemplates finding a way to get back in.

Red’s Point of No Return — minute 136 — Red decides to travel to Buxton, where Andy said he’d have something waiting for him when he got out. Along the rock wall Andy described, Red digs out a box from under black volcanic rock. Inside he finds money and a letter from Andy, asking Red to join him in Mexico.

Red’s Climax — minute 138 — Red breaks his parole and buys a bus ticket.

Shawshank Redemption Screenplay: The Analysis

I’ve provided full Shawshank Redemption screenplay analysis available for download, which breaks down the protagonist’s characterization, misbehaviors, internal and external goals, theme, central dramatic question, story engines, plus a complete beat breakdown with all the setups and payoffs a great film can provide. All of this is based on Daniel P. Calvisi’s Story Maps method. Dan is a story analyst, screenplay consultant, author and screenwriter. If you’re serious about the craft of screenwriting, I highly recommend checking out Dan’s site, Act Four Screenplays, and his e-book, Story Maps: How to Write a GREAT Screenplay. You can purchase Dan’s book from Amazon.com or the iTunes Store.

Click here if you’re looking for The Shawshank Redemption screenplay.

Click here to download my Shawshank Redemption script analysis (PDF).