Facebook memories keep reminding me, though I don’t really need them. I was already in a reflective mood with the year coming to an end. So here’s a little recap of my script club in 2025.

1. How it started: I was reading and analysing scripts on my own, reverse-engineering them to understand what made stories work. Then I discovered monthly script clubs and quickly fell in love with the idea. Inspired by CenterFrame’s Script Club and Sundance Collab, I founded my own script club in November 2024.

2. The name “Pazartesi”: It means “Monday” in Turkish. Somehow, despite its usual negative associations, I realised I actually love Mondays. I love their seriousness, that sense of beginning, the feeling that everything is still possible. Just like screenwriting, it requires discipline, but it’s also fun and exciting. Since it also marks time, it’s easier for it to feel like a tradition: meeting on a Monday once a month.

3. Groundhog Day: Groundhog Day is simply my all-time favourite movie, so it naturally became the subject of our first meeting. I was happy to find the script online, but as I kept reading, I realised it wasn’t the final draft. There were major differences between the version I had and the finished film. I got quite frustrated. My deep-dive internet search for the final version led nowhere, so I decided to ask the screenwriter himself, Danny Rubin. Audacity? Maybe. But I had nothing to lose.

4. Danny Rubin is my pen friend (not really): I sent an email explaining the situation, and he replied quickly. Not only did he kindly share a scan of the shooting script, but he also explained how Harold Ramis added an opening scene after test screenings and how Bill Murray improvised some of his lines.

Continue reading “Pazartesi Script Club, Year One” →