Hello? (An Introduction)
Hi. Welcome to the FAQ of Colin's Movie Monologue Page. Mind you, if you have a comment/question/suggestion, you should still write me. Just please read my FAQ first. Or read part of it. Or skim it. Hell, maybe you should just email me now. No, seriously, please read the FAQ.
Do you know where I can find the script to [fill-in-movie-title- here] online?
Maybe. I find that the best screenplay sites on the web are Drew's Scripts-O-Rama at http://www.script-o-rama.com AND Joblo's Screenplays at http://www.joblo.com/moviescripts.htm. If they don't have it on their sites, it's not on the web. You may also want to check your local bookstore or Amazon.com as some (popular) screenplays have been published as books. Also, there is a site at http://www.scriptshack.com that sells a very wide and extensive variety of film screenplays...but keep in mind that these are screenplays and they may have significant differences to what made it to the final product that you see on film. I should also note that I am not affiliated with this site whatsoever, and this is simply a friendly suggestion from me to you.
More female monologues?
Let me begin by stating that I am not sexist person. However, Hollywood is sexist. I don't deliberately concentrate on one gender more than another, and I do try to find female monologues whenever and wherever I can. But the unfortunate truth is that monologues in movies aren't as frequent for women than they are for men. More dramatic speeches are given to men in the movies than women. Sad but true. Add that to the list of sexist practices of Hollywood that unfortunately continue. If you have any suggestions for me, I'd be more than glad to hear them and even more glad to put them on my page if you choose to donate. If you don't mind my adding my two cents here: I would like to encourage visitors to utilize monologues that are non-gender specific. For example, Brad Pitt in "Twelve Monkeys" -- there's nothing particularly male about his insanity. Jeffery Goines could just as well be Julie Goines. Just my opinion.
Longer monologues?
It has come to my attention that often my monologues aren't long enough for peoples auditions/speech tournaments/classes, etc. Because I love my site and my visitors, I also enjoy updating the site, to keep people coming back. Therefore, I find monologues wherever I can, and often, a lot of them are shorter than what would be good for the persons audition (or so I imagine). Hollywood expects that we (the audience) have very short attention spans and we will not stand for movies with long dramatic speeches, "slowing down" the action of the movie. And this is true. This is why there's so many more monologues present in independent movies? ("No Country for Old Men" and "There Will Be Blood" are two good recent examples). It's a "damned if I don't, damned if I do" situation here. I ask you to please understand. And as long as I'm here, here's another thing: some people have noticed that some of the content on my page is extremely short or just simply a dialogue, with no monologue content to speak of. Usually I get some mean-spirited email about this. I am aware that such things are not useful in the sense of an audition (etc.). More often than not, I just really liked the scene and/or those particular words.
Do you have any monologues from [this movie]?
Let me put it this way: it's a shame that I don't have a paid staff at my disposal. It's just me and the various donors who are kind enough to send a monologue in to me. What you see is what I have. Unfortunately, I'm not able to fulfill requests for monologues. If you really want material from a particular movie, I would suggest renting it and transcribing any monologue, word-by-word, line-by-line. The DVD's English subtitles will help the process. It can be done. I do it all the time.How do you find monologues?
Some I transcribe myself from the movies themselves (in my free time), some I've found in books, many have been donated by very kind visitors, and some I have taken from online screenplays or the Internet Movie Database (a resource I highly reccommend). I update whenever I have new monologues to use (whenever I find/create them) and have the time to put them up.
Will you include a movie monologue on your page if I send one to you?
Most likely. Provided that I can dig it. There are some which I get that are just too silly or maybe I'm not a big fan of the film or the actor or the director or the theme of the monologue. Yes, I can be that shallow. I do reserve the right to refuse any donated monologue. But I'll mull over every monologue that is sent to me.
Are there other monologue sites out there?
As I discover them, other monologue sites will be listed on my Links page.
What about an original unpublished monologue?
Sorry, no. I was receiving just way too many and I didn't have the patience to read each one and judge whether or not it was worthy of inclusion.
Do you have any rules regarding donations?
Yes. If you submit a monologue, please be careful to be true to the movie's content. Use the DVD's English subtitles. Work slowly when transcribing a monologue. Review it more than once after you finish transcribing it. Do not leave out words. Submitting a monologue taken directly from the online/offline script is sometimes okay, provided that you know that the it's the more or less the same as it appears in the final film. Preferably, the donated monologue should be spell-checked, with proper capitalization, punctuation, etc., with correct names. Please check the Internet Movie Database if the spelling of the names is questionable. Good formatting is a plus. Please tell me from where you got the monologue, whether it was transcribed directly from the film or from another source. If it's not a very well-known movie, including some of the monologue's context is always appreciated. Writing those descriptive blurbs is not always easy. Please do not send the monologue as an attachment; paste it directly into the body of the email. All very simple. These are all courtesies to stop me from growling, slightly irritated, at my computer screen. I know this seems like the crazy demands of a website tyrant, but think of the benefit: your name get to show up on a small credit on my site. No, but seriously, I really do appreciate donations. It has helped my page immensely.
I need a monologue for [school/audition, etc.] and it has to be [this many] minutes. Can you recommend a monologue for me?
No. I cannot. And I will tell you why. Say you're assigned a term paper on any aspect of American history, from the American Revolution to the present day. Do you go up to your teacher and ask what you should write your paper on? If no monologue websites existed whatsoever and you had to go to the library to get a monologue for a class or an audition, you wouldn't gather all the monologue-related books together in one big pile then ask the librarian what monologue you should do. In other words, I'm sorry, I make it a policy not to recommend specific monologues to my visitors. I don't think I'm qualified to be giving out advice (due to my very little experience in the realm of acting/theater). What you see on the website is what I have. My best advice is to browse what I do have and find something that suits you best. While I enjoy maintaining this page and enjoy hearing that people have visited and enjoyed and been able to use my site, it disturbs me how often people write me, wanting to be guided to something that they can use. It disturbs me even more that they might take my advice seriously. I am not here to tell you what monologue is best for you. It was never something I imagined happening when I started this page years ago. Find a monologue that suits you. And make it your own. Thank you. Go in peace.
Hey! Some of your monologues have more than one person speaking!! Doesn't that make it a "DIALOGUE," you fool? What gives?
Calm down. Breathe. Please. In some cases, I have (or the donor has) included the entire scene for the sake of context and/or allowing the person who possibly uses the monologue to edit it into a more complete monologue themselves. In these cases, the monologue is there, you just have to put it together (in a sense). Some assembly is required. What I mean by context: let me put it this way. I include the additional text for the same reason that a painter will paint the table behind the bowl of fruit. Otherwise, the bowl is just floating in space. Take the interrogation room scene from "The Dark Knight" for example: if you subtract Batman's lines, you have a more 'meaty' monologue by the Joker. Is it my responsibility to cut out the lines myself? No. I leave it up to you how you're going to play the monologue. I will not deny there are some pieces which are entirely dialogues and have no significant monologue content. I usually try to mention this in the description that this is a scene or a dialogue. Usually, it's because I like the material and/or I want the movie represented on my site. So please do not write me telling me that I don't know the meaning of the word 'monologue' - do not insult the integrity of my page. I know the meaning of the word 'monologue.'
What happened to the monologues from various movies?
I have had to remove several dozen movies (and their monologues) from my website as of Feb. 4, 2004, at the request of 20th Century Fox. However, due to a very kind compromise by Fox, I am able to send out these monologues by request. You will see these monologues listed among the rest of them, but without an active link -- you need to send me an email so I can send you that monologue. As I work Mon-Fri., 7am - 5pm (Pacific), please do not expect an immediate response. I will attempt to respond to your email requests as soon as possible. Unless you ask me to send it to you some other way, the monologue will be sent as an attachment to the email I send you. If for some reason you do not get a response, please email me again.Hey! I found a mistake in one of your monologues! What should I do?
By all means, please send it in. Usually, it turns out to be a slight typo that occurred during the monologue's transcription. Such corrections are very much appreciated.
When do you update?
When I get around to it. Do I still update? Yes, I do.
Hey! I have a question you didn't bother to answer here!
Write me, Brainiac. colin@whysanity.net is how you get a hold of me.