Alternative "Finding Nemo" scene

Rough boards for a 2023 Storyboarding class exercise

Characters are the property of Disney and Pixar Animation Studios
Screenplay by Andrew Stanton, Bob Peterson, and David Reynolds

Transcript

1. BRUCE: Just start with your name.
2. MARLIN: (nervous) Okay…uh, hello. My name is Marlin. I’m a clownfish.
3. ANCHOR: A clownfish?
4. ANCHOR: Really?
5. BRUCE: Go on, tell us a joke!
7. CHUM: Oh, I love jokes!
8. MARLIN: (really nervous) Well, I actually do know one that’s… pretty good.
9. MARLIN: There was this mollusk – and he walks up to the – a sea cucumber.
10. MARLIN: Normally they don’t talk, sea cucumbers,
11. MARLIN: But in a joke, everyone talks.
12. MARLIN: So the sea mollusk says to the cucumber –
13. MARLIN goes still. Stares at a hole in the roof.
14. Hanging from some bent metal is THE DIVER’S MASK.
16. NEMO (V.O.): Daddy!
17. NEMO (V.O.): Daddy!
18. MARLIN: (under his breath) NEMO…!
20. CHUM: (laughs) NEMO! Ha! Ha! NEMO!
21. CHUM: (laughs) NEMO! Ha! Ha! NEMO!
22. CHUM: (straight) I don’t get it.
23. BRUCE: (aside) For a clownfish, he’s not that funny.
24. MARLIN: No, no, no, no. He’s my son…
25. MARLIN: He was taken by…by these divers.
26. DORY: (gasp) Oh my, you poor fish.
27. CHUM: Humans. Think they own everything.
28. ANCHOR: Probably American.
29. BRUCE: (moved) Now there is a father. Lookin’ for his little boy.
30. While the sharks talk amongst themselves, DORY follows MARLIN out the hole.
31. He inspects the mask. Notices WRITING ON THE STRAP.
32. MARLIN: Ugh! What do these markings mean?!
33. BRUCE: I never knew my father.
35. BRUCE: (bursts into tears)
36. ANCHOR/CHUM: Come here…group hug…
37. ANCHOR/CHUM: We’re all mates here, mate.
38. MARLIN: I can’t read human!
39. DORY: Well, then we gotta find a fish that can read this!
40. DORY: (looks back into sub) Hey, look, sharks!
41. MARLIN: No, DORY!
44. DORY: Hey guys!
45. DORY: Guys, guys, guys–
46. DORY: Guys, guys, guys–
47. MARLIN chases after her.
50. MARLIN: No, DORY!
51. DORY: Hey! That’s mine!
52. DORY: Give it back! Gimme! MARLIN: DORY! Cut it out! Give it –
53. DORY: (nasal) Oww!
55. MARLIN: Oh, I’m sorry. Are you okay?
56. DORY: Ow. Oh yeah. Ow, ow, ow.
57. DORY: Wow, you really clocked me there.
58. DORY: (tilts head back) Am I bleeding?
59. DORY: Ow, ow…
60. A TRICKLE OF BLOOD climbs up in the water, like a tiny red ribbon, right under BRUCE’s nose.
61. BRUCE: DORY, are you oka –
63. BRUCE: Oh –
64. BRUCE: Oh…
65. BRUCE: That’s goood!
66. ANCHOR/CHUM: (gasp) Intervention!
71. ANCHOR and CHUM pin BRUCE to the wall, and struggle to hold the giant great white back.
72. BRUCE: Just a bite! ANCHOR: Now you hold it together, mate!
73. CHUM: Remember, BRUCE!
74. CHUM: Fish are friends, not food!
75. BRUCE: FOOD!
76. He breaks free. Lunges for MARLIN and DORY.
80. MARLIN: DORY! Look out!
81. BRUCE overshoots them.
82. The two fish swim awkwardly away with the mask, and escape through a GRATE IN THE FLOOR.
84. MARLIN and DORY swim down the corridor full of piping and ductwork.
88. BRUCE smashes through the grate.
90. BRUCE: I’m havin’ fish tonight!
91. BRUCE gives chase as CHUM and ANCHOR stick their heads through the hole he’s made.
94. CHUM: Remember the steps, mate!
95. CHUM: The steeeeeps!
96. CHUM: The steeeeeps!
97. CHUM: The steeeeeps!