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SCREENWRITING
Reverse-Engineering “The Maltese Falcon”
Ever wondered what it would be like to re-write a movie you love? This is how you do it, using “The Maltese Falcon” as an example.
1 min readDec 2, 2021
The Maltese Falcon was written in the 1940s. Suffice it to say, screenwriting—both in form and format—have changed a lot since then.
Still, it’s a captivating film, and it’s an excellent example of how to strcuture individual scenes. I decided dissect a scene to learn from it in. By reverse-engineering classic movies in proper screenplay formatting—kind of like transcribing a movie yourself—you learn so much about screenwriting, directing, and storytelling. Here’s how I did it:
Remember, this screenwriting exercise isn’t about overall act structure, but is more about fine-tuning your ability to build beat-by-beat nuances in your script and execute them in visual ways.
What film should I do next?
