Screenwriting Takeaways from ‘Promising Young Woman’

Logline of Emerald Fennell’s Promising Young Woman: After an unexpected encounter, a young woman traumatized by a tragic event in her past seeks out vengeance against those who cross her path. 

Script Can Be Found Here

Summary of Promising Young Woman:

The movie centers on Cassie Thomas, 30, (Carey Mulligan) who lives with her parents. By day, she works at a nearby coffee shop; by night, she goes out on the town, serving herself up as drunken bait for potential date rapists. Or so we think. She doesn’t kill them; instead, she merely confronts them on their behavior and scares them silly. (In some ways, you can think of a reverse serial date rapist).

She begins dating Ryan (Bo Burnham), a former med school acquaintance, and it’s established that Cassie was incredibly bright during their time at school but dropped out due to some unknown reason. During one of their conversations, Ryan lets Cassie know that one of their former classmates, Al Monroe, has just gotten engaged (and this disturbs Cassie to no end). 

In a segment of the piece called “I,” she meets Madison McPhee (Allison Brie) for lunch. After getting drunk on champagne and red wine, Madison admits that Nina, Cassie’s best friend, got what she deserved in getting drunk and (presumably) violated back in med school. After their lunch, Cassie has Madison be taken up to a hotel room by an unknown man. (We don’t know what immediately happens next, but Madison calls Cassie the next day, freaked out).  

In “II,” she meets with Dean Walker (Connie Britton), dean of the medical school where Nina was sexually assaulted. It becomes clear that Dean Walker is covering for Al and that “she has to give him the benefit of the doubt.” As a type of revenge, Cassie mentions that she picked up Amber, the dean’s daughter, from school and left her in a room with boys (the same one that Nina was assaulted in). This terrifies Dean Walker to no end until Cassandra reveals that it’s a lie and that Amber is actually waiting in a diner for her favorite boy band to show up. 

In “III”, she confronts Jordan, Al Monroe’s lawyer (Alfred Molina). He reveals that he had a psychotic episode, needing to take time off because he’ll never forgive himself for helping to exonerate Al. She decides to not put a hit on him. 

She next meets with Nina’s mom (Molly Shannon) before making amends with Ryan (he saw her out while she was doing her reverse predatory stalking), and she introduces him to her parents. They admit that they’re falling in love with each other. 

Madison stops by her house, and she says that she wasn’t assaulted. Madison expresses her contrition for acting/thinking about Nina before handing her the video of Nina being sexually assaulted and saying “never fucking contact me again.” Cassie watches it, and is horrified, especially because Ryan is on it. 

She confronts Ryan about the video and threatens that he either tell her the location of Al Monroe’s bachelor party or she’ll send the tape out to everyone he knows. 

In “IIII,” she goes to the bachelor party as a nurse stripper. After giving all of the rowdy attendants alcohol (which knocks them out), she goes upstairs with Al (Christopher Lowell). After tying him to the bed in pink, fuzzy handcuffs, she reveals who she is and then threatens to carve Nicole’s name on his chest (and, potentially, do worse). A struggle ensues, and she is suffocated to death. 

In the morning, Joe (Max Greenfield) comes upstairs. Upon learning what has happened, he decides he and Al discard of the body by burning it. After Cassie’s disappearance, a police investigation ensues and when an officer asks Ryan where she could be, he avoids the truth. 

Finally, in “V,” Al and Anastasia (Austin Talynn Carpenter) have their woodland wedding. After vows are exchanged the police show up and arrest Al. Scheduled text messages arrive in Ryan’s phone, and flashbacks indicate that 1) Cassie had forwarded the video and a note to Jordan who tipped off the police, and 2) the police had found the body with the side of the necklace that said “Nina,” and 3) Gail (Laverne Cox) had received the side of the necklace with “Cassie” on it. Banking on that she was going to die, Cassie ensured the bad guys wouldn’t get away. 

What does Promising Young Woman Do Well?

So, so, so, so much. I’ll admit it – I watched this three times (with and without script in hand) because there was so much subtle brilliance at play, and I wanted to ensure that I caught as much as I can. 

Here are some of the highlights.

1. Reading the Room: Promising Young Woman feels like a dynamic response to all of the pre-Trump and Trump-era news stories about sexual assault/rape/harassment. It’s a vengeance story told on behalf of all of the survivors of sexual violence and the resulting collateral damage they face in all aspects of their lives. In this respect, it’s a tremendously cathartic piece. 
2. Compelling Backstory and Exposition: Working at a coffee shop and living with her parents at 30 (with no clear direction in life), Cassie is basically slumming. As we learn that she was practically at the top of her class in med school, we have to ask, “what happened?” The answer to that question keeps us watching. When we find out that she’s potentially avenging her best friend’s sexual assault/death, we begin to put the pieces of her life together. If this person had had more going on in her life, she probably wouldn’t have the need or want to avenge her friend’s rape; but because she seems stuck, it seems like she needs to do this for her own growth so to move past what had happened.  
3. Turning the Tables: Out to avenge Nina’s death, the obvious tact Cassie would’ve taken would be to hunt down and physically harm/castrate/kill any potential date rapist. What’s so brilliantly unnerving about Promising Young Woman is that she’s merely pretending to be drunk so to get potential rapists to that moment right before they strike and then scare them with her sober (and true) identity. She doesn’t scold them; she merely stuns them psychologically. Honestly, if I had read this in a screenplay, I may have given the note of “raise the stakes” and perhaps suggest that she inflict more violence. Turns out – less is totally more here because the acting and directing carry it. 
4. Character Knows More than the Audience: Usually, most films tend to synchronize the audience’s knowledge with the character’s, as in we learn about new events and information when the character does OR we know more than the character (dramatic irony). Here, the opposite occurs in that Cassie knows more than we do, and she’s withholding information. It’s evidenced in several ways: 1) when she gives the guy at the hotel the keys to the room, we don’t know what she’s going to have him to Madison (although we think the worst), and 2) when she tells Dean Fuller about Amber, we don’t know if at first she’s telling the truth about Amber (although we think the worst). Both of these instances support the character’s whipsmart intelligence; they also justify her actions in the third act. We don’t know exactly what she’s up to until after the cops arrive and the flashbacks occur; all of this support the assertion that Cassie knew she was attempting a suicide mission BUT she wasn’t about to let her enemies have the last laugh. Planting these seeds ahead of time (but not letting us in on it) makes for an incredibly compelling, surprising, and satisfying ending. 
5. Foreshadowing: Foreshadowing occurs in several instances in Promising Young Woman, but it’s incredibly sly. For instance, when Cassie meets Madison and states, “If a friend came to you now, tomorrow, let’s say, if they turned up at your house tomorrow morning, and told you that they thought something happened to them the night before-something bad,” that’s basically predicting what will happen to Madison within the next twenty-four hours (except neither Madison nor us know that yet). Madison adds to that, noting, “If you get that drunk, things happen! Don’t get blackout hammered every night and then expect people to be on your side when you have sex with someone you didn’t want to.”There’s such an irony here because she’s getting so wasted, but completely lacks the self-awareness to know that, yes, a situation like that can even happen to her. 
6. Tone: With such subject matter, the bitter needs the sweet. (I was reminded of Heathers in that, in both films, we have this very girly/feminine world of pinks and pastels, but below, there’s a rage in both Veronica and Cassie). Thus, Paris Hilton’s “Stars are Blind,” which is even mentioned in the script, is an appropriate choice because while it’s very poppy and saccharine, it was made by someone whose sex acts were videotaped and distributed without her consent. Combining the dark with the light gives the actors and directors more creative choices and also packages feminine rage in a dynamic (and even fun) way. 
7. Less is More: It’s intriguing that, in her first encounter with Jerry/Jez, we don’t know what happened to him by the end. Similarly, we don’t know immediately what happened after Cassie left Madison alone at the hotel. Finally, we don’t see the video of Nina’s sexual assault. All three of these examples demonstrate that we don’t need the full details because our minds will paint a more terrifying picture than what is actually presented. 
8. Date at a Pharmacy: Much like the fingerpainting scene in The Holdovers, Promising Young Woman’s date at a pharmacy was so indelible – because it’s so weird.
9. Death of Protagonist: I did not – and am glad I did not – see Cassie’s death coming (although, production-wise, her smothering is somewhat foreshadowed with the detail of Dean Walker’s muffled scream in her receptionist’s office). What also is surprising was that, per the script, there is not a Fatal Attraction surprise resurrection. This choice is a refreshing change to hackneyed thrillers where the protagonist has to kill her enemies to save herself; making it a type of suicide mission (that we only find out about after the fact) is such a great twist (and feels appropriate for a thriller with a black comedy edge). 
10. Visual Motif: At the beginning of the film, Cassie does her walk of shame with ketchup from a hot dog running down her arm; the script also notes that she has a significant bruise on her wrist after a night out on the town). Because it’s such an indelible detail (why doesn’t she just wipe it up?), I couldn’t help but wonder if this would come back. And it did! The morning after he kills her, Al has a bleeding wrist. Serving as the set-up and pay-off, this visual motif connects the two, potentially as two predators.

I’m going to be thinking about Promising Young Woman for a very long time. I especially love its sheer audacity in having the protagonist know more than the audience and exacting her revenge by inflicting psychological – not physical – torture to those who were complicit. 

Open to your thoughts…