Script analysis from Blue Cat Screenwriting competition. The Sex Play was a quarter finalist.

SEX PLAY is a wonderfully delightful romantic comedy drama that is similar in the style of a Woody Allen film. The story follows the journey of a somewhat quirky and less than conventional actress in an off-beat theatre show that requires that she stimulate sex on stage. Technically there is a defined three act structure, endearing characters, subtext dialogue, a consistent tone, smooth scene transitions, tension ending scenes, and an engaging story to tell.

The strength of the story lies in the fascinating characters, the original plot, and the sharp and psychological dialogue. The audience immediately bonds to Caroline as she desperately seeks the perfect acting part and utters the question on page 6, “Am I sassy?” The writer adeptly shows the audience  Caroline’s own doubts about being nude in the play when she awkwardly attempts to explain it to her husband, Dave, who has very little to say about it. Caroline convinces herself on page 13 that this is right thing to do when she quips, “But this is about who I am.”  The writer nicely and subtly brings out the marital tension and conflict in both the relationship between Caroline and Dave and Jude and Jason. This tension ultimately leads to the inciting event in which Caroline and Jason actually have sex on stage under the blanket without anyone yet knowing.  The moment Jude realizes that they are actually have sex is a strong pivotal plot beat as is when she leaves Jason. The revelation to the press is the inciting event that takes the story in a new direction and into the third act. In this act, the writer nicely depicts Caroline struggle to either save her marriage or not.

The dialogue in the story is filled with psychological and underlying meaning which reveals both information about the theme and the characters. As stated on page 48 the play and the story are about relationships and the truth that lurks beneath the façade. It is about real relationships and fake ones; real sex and fake sex.  On page 80 the lines spoken by the actors really depict what has happened to the characters. This occurs again near the end of the story, to Alex’s dismay, when fiction blends with reality. The twist of the gun at the end is well foreshadowed and set up earlier in the script. Each major character in the story contributes to the whole. Each has a dysfunctional and “false” relationship and they struggle with the reality of truth in their live questioning what they are playing at versus what is real.

Vadim Jean

"Every adaptor who is adapting a book should treat the material as his friend."