Format: Movie
Released: 1997
Screenplay By: Matt Damon and Ben Affleck
Directed By: Gus Van Sant
Run Time: 122 minutes
Character: Will Hunting
New Role: A therapy patient as well as a man in a serious romantic relationship.
Plot summary of the Good Will Hunting continues below…
Story Structure Analysis: Good Will Hunting
DRAMATIC PHASE ONE: THE SETUP
All of the main characters are introduced. The story world and its mechanics are established. Foundations are laid for the main throughline, subplots and central conflict.
We meet Will and his merry band of hooligans and witness him solving Professor Lambeau’s impossible equation. We learn of Will’s violent tendencies when he brutally beats a man and strikes a cop. He is caught by Lambeau solving the next equation, and the professor vouches for him in court in exchange for Will going to therapy. Will meets Skylar and the two hit it off. Will begins therapy and meets Sean who agrees to treat him.
ACT ONE: DEALING WITH AN IMPERFECT SITUATION
A character in an Imperfect Situation faces Oppressive Opposition as he pursues an Initial Goal. But when there is a Disturbance to his routine, he faces a Dilemma regarding his situation and must assume a New Role.
Will Hunting, a lowly, unambitious janitor ashamed of his prodigious mathematical talents (the imperfect situation) is shunned by a society and system that looks down upon him (oppressive opposition) because he works simple manual labor and gets drunk with his friends (initial goal). But after getting caught solving formulas by Professor Lambeau and being sentenced to jail for hitting a cop (the disturbance), the professor offers to vouch for Will to the judge if he agrees to do math and address his psychological issues (the dilemma) by going to therapy (the new role).
The Imperfect Situation: Will Hunting is a lower class, twenty-year-old who works as a janitor despite demonstrating prodigious mathematical skill.
His friends are unambitious, blue-collar ruffians who spend their free time drinking beer, chasing skanks and fighting. Will has no family and a criminal record from frequent run-ins with the law.
Initial Goal: Work simple jobs and hang out with Chuckie and the gang.
Oppressive Opposition: Will is looked down upon by the students and faculty of MIT because he’s a lowly janitor. He’s a child of the system, which failed him by placing him with a highly abusive foster father. He’s had frequent run-ins with the law, culminating in him striking a cop and being sentenced to jail.
Episode 0: Prologue: NA
Episode 1: Out of Order: 0 minutes – Will leaves in a rundown, one room apartment. He is picked up and driven to his job as a janitor by his best friend Chuckie. We see Will has an affinity for complex math after he spots Professor Lambeau’s supposedly impossible equation, but he keeps this ambition hidden from his friends. Will has no family, other than his buddies.
Episode 2: Turning Point Catalyst – The Disturbance: 8 minutes (6.5%) – While attending an MIT party, Professor Lambeau receives word that someone solved his equation, but no one steps up to take credit.
Meanwhile, Will gets into a fight with his kindergarten bully and savagely beats him. When the police intervene, Will knees one of them and is arrested. After his release, he goes back to work and solves the next theorem only to be caught by the professor. Will runs away and quits his job. That evening, Will accompanies his friends to a Harvard bar and meets Skylar, who gives him her number.
Episode 3: Turning Point One – The Dilemma: 22 minutes (18%)
Lambeau goes to the head janitor inquiring about Will and learns he is on probation. He attends Will’s arraignment and witnesses him try to outsmart the judge only to be sentenced to jail. The professor visits Will in jail and tells him he has spoken to the judge who has agreed to release him under his supervision if he agrees to do math and go to counseling.
The New Role: A therapy patient as well as a man in a serious romantic relationship.
Act Run Time: 28 minutes (22.9%)
ACT TWO: LEARNING THE RULES OF AN UNFAMILIAR SITUATION
The character Learns the Rules of an Unfamiliar Situation and faces Incidental Opposition in pursuit of a Transitional Goal. But when he receives a Reality Check, he makes a Commitment to his New Role.
Act Start Time: 28 minutes (22.9%)
Will begins dating a girl, doing math and going to therapy (the unfamiliar situation) with a string of therapists who refuse to treat him (incidental opposition) for his crass attempts to get out of therapy (transitional goal). But when he meets therapist Sean Maguire who’s unlike the others and agrees to treat him despite Will’s provocations (the reality check), Sean points out Will’s fear of life and seems to get through to him (the commitment).
The Unfamiliar Situation: Will begins doing math with the professor as well as going to therapy on a regular basis. He also begins dating Skylar, which is implied to be his first serious relationship.
Transitional Goal: Do maths. Come to terms with doing therapy.
Incidental Opposition: All of the therapists refuse to see Will after meeting him, but none of them recognize his provocations are a defense mechanism. He inadvertently triggers a violent response from Sean when they first meet.
Episode 4: Rushed Initiation: 28 minutes (22.9%) – Will begins doing maths with Professor Lambeau and goes through a string of psychiatrist due to his insults and inability to take them seriously.
In a last-ditch effort, Lambeau consults his old college roommate, Sean Maguire who agrees to meet with the boy.
Episode 5: Turning Point Catalyst – The Reality Check: 37 minutes (30.3%) – Sean meets Will in their first therapy session. Will tries his usual provocation tactics, but when crosses the line by talking about Sean’s wife and is put in a chokehold. Despite this behavior, or perhaps because of it, Sean agrees to treat him.
Episode 6: Turning Point Two – The Commitment: 43 minutes (35.2%) – Will goes on a date with Skylar and the two hit it off. When Sean next meets with Will he drops some powerful insights. He tells Will he’s not a confident man, but just a scared kid who’s only read books and hasn’t experienced life.
Will seems to take this revelation to heart.
Act Run Time: 23 minutes (18.8%)
DRAMATIC PHASE TWO: CONFRONTATION
The character is thrown in the middle of the Central Conflict and is placed at direct odds with the forces of antagonism. He undergoes a series of successes and failures as he works toward resolving the main throughline.
Will’s refusal to trust in other people is tested when he begins dating Skylar and going to therapy with Sean. Meanwhile, Professor Lambeau begins pushing Will to get a meaningful job. Although Will’s relationship with Skylar and his therapy with Sean begin to go well, he preemptively pushes Skylar away before she can abandon him, and refuses to to be truthful with Sean about what he wants to do with his life.
ACT THREE: STUMBLING INTO THE CENTRAL CONFLICT
The character stumbles into the Central Conflict and faces Intentional Opposition in pursuit of a False Goal. But when there is a grave Turn of events, he has a Moment of Truth.
Act Start Time: 51 minutes (41.8%)
Will struggles to open up to those closest to him (the central conflict) and begins sabotaging his relationships (intentional opposition) as he gets to know Skylar and does therapy with Sean (false goal). But when Skylar discovers Will lied about his family and Lambeau pushes Will to get a job (the turn), Skylar invites Will to California with her and he breaks up with her (the moment of truth).
The Central Conflict: Will vs. his ability to open up to Sean and Skylar. Professor Lambeau begins pushing Will to go to interviews.
False Goal: Get to know Skylar. Go to therapy with Sean.
Intentional Opposition: Will begins sabotaging his relationship with Skylar. Lambeau begins pushing Sean to accelerate Will’s therapy and Will to commit to a path for his life.
Episode 7: Making Progress: 51 minutes (41.8%) – In their fourth session, Will begins talking for the first time, telling a joke about being on a plane. Sean tells Will about how he met his wife and skipped the big game. Will and Skylar begin sleeping together. He agrees to take her to meet his friends and “brothers”.
Episode 8: Turning Point Catalyst – The Turn: 68 minutes (55.7%) – Skylar (sort of) discovers that Will doesn’t actually have any brothers when he won’t allow her to see where he lives and Chuckie reveals it is a one-room shack.
At a bar, Sean and Lambeau argue over whether Will is ready to begin accepting job offers before he finishes therapy.
Episode 9: Turning Point Three – The Moment of Truth: 82 minutes (67.2%) – Skylar asks Will to come to California with her. Will flips out over this, afraid of what will happen if he goes with her only for her to discovers he isn’t everything she thinks is. She reveals she knows he doesn’t have brothers and he angrily tells her he is an orphan and his foster father abused him. Will tells her he doesn’t love her and leaves.
At his next math session with Lambeau, Will argues with him over the interviews he has set up, and the work he has him doing. Lambeau tells Will he wishes he never met him because then he wouldn’t have to see him throw away his potential.
Act Run Time: 41 minutes (33.6%)
ACT FOUR: IMPLEMENTING A DOOMED PLAN
The character implements a Doomed Plan and faces Self-Inflicted Opposition in pursuit of a Penultimate Goal. But when an unthinkable Lowpoint occurs, he pulls himself together and discovers a Newfound Resolve.
Act Start Time: 92 minutes (75.4%)
Will attempts not to care about Skylar (the doomed plan) and not to open up to her or Sean (self-inflicted opposition) as he tries to avoid figuring out what he wants to do with his life (penultimate goal). But when Skylar leaves for Cali and Will stops going to his math sessions prompting Lambeau to threaten to report him to the judge (the lowpoint), Chuckie tells Will that he owes it to his friends to do something better with his life than hang out with them (the newfound resolve).
The Doomed Plan: Will attempts not to care about Skylar
Penultimate Goal: Avoid figuring out what to do with his life.
Self-Inflicted Opposition: Will still refuses to open up to Sean about what he wants to do with his life and is subsequently kicked out of his office.
Episode 10: False Sense of Heroism: 92 minutes (75.4%) –
Will has an interview with the NSA and smugly tells them why it would be unconscionable for him to work for them. When he relays this to Sean, he is asked what he wants to do with his life. Sean kicks Will out when he refuses to answer the question honestly. Will gets angry with Sean and accuses him of being scared to move on with his life
Episode 11: Turning Point Catalyst – The Lowpoint: 98 minutes (80.3%) – Will calls Skylar before she leaves and tells her he is interviewing for jobs. When she tells Will she loves him, he still can’t say it back. Sad music plays as Skylar cries and Will ponders thoughtfully by the river. Skylar leaves for Cali, though she looks for Will at the airport to see her off he doesn’t show.
When Will doesn’t show up for their math session, Lambeau calls Sean and threatens to report Will to the judge.
Episode 12: Turning Point Four – The Newfound Resolve: 100 minutes (81.9%) – Will tells Chuckie that Skylar left for Cali a week ago. When Will says he wants to stay in Boston forever, Chuckie tells him he doesn’t owe it to himself to do something with his life, he owes it to his friends. He says he hopes that one day he’ll go to pick Will up in the morning and he’ll be gone to do something with himself.
Act Run Time: 11 minutes (9%)
DRAMATIC PHASE THREE: RESOLUTION
The character and the forces of antagonism engage in a final confrontation to resolve the Central Conflict. The main throughline and all additional subplots are resolved. The new status quo is established.
Sean resolves to push on with his therapy plan for Will despite Lambeau’s protests against Sean’s life choices and psychiatric methods. When Will arrives unexpectedly, Sean tells him about the abuse he suffered during his own childhood, connecting with Will and bringing him to catharsis. Will discovers how to open up to people and decides to travel to California, leaving his old life behind to win back the woman he loves.
ACT FIVE: TRYING A LONGSHOT
The character tries a Longshot and faces Ultimate Opposition while trying to accomplish the Ultimate Goal. But just when it seems All is Lost, he makes a Final Push against the forces of antagonism and either succeeds or fails.
Act Start Time: 103 minutes (84.4%)
Sean attempt to have a breakthrough with Will (the longshot) and push through Will’s lifelong defense mechanisms (ultimate opposition) to make Will realize none of the bad things in his childhood are his fault (ultimate goal). But when Lambeau accuses Sean of jealous and allowing Will to be a failure like he is (all is lost), Sean’s compassion and persistence break through to Will and allow him to achieve catharsis (the final push).
The Longshot: Sean attempts to have a breakthrough with Will by telling him about his own abusive childhood, making him accept that his childhood is not his fault.
Ultimate Goal: Make Will recognize that it’s not his fault.
Ultimate Opposition: All of Will’s issues come to a head, and he must finally be willing to open up.
Episode 13: Here’s the Plan and Episode 14: Turning Point Catalyst – All is Lost: 103 minutes (84.4%) – Lambeau comes to Sean’s office and complains that Will stopped going to therapy and to his math sessions. Sean tells him he’s making progress with Will but he’s in a very pivotal point of his therapy. Lambeau accuses him of jealousy and being a failure. Will shows up in the middle of their heated debate and Lambeau leaves.
Episode 15: Turning Point Five – The Final Push: 106 minutes (86.8%) – Sean tells Will about his own abusive childhood. Will tells Sean he broke up with Skylar. Sean tells Will that none of the things that have happened are his fault. He repeats it over and over until it gets through to Will and he emotionally embraces it.
Act Run Time: 8 minutes (6.5%)
ACT SIX: LIVING IN A NEW SITUATION
Having accomplished (or failed to have accomplished) the Ultimate Goal, the character is shown living in a New Situation.
Act Start Time: 111 minutes (90.9%)
Will has overcome his fear of letting others get close to him and can now move on with his life (the new situation).
Episode 16: The New Situation: 111 minutes (90.9%) – Will return homes very thoughtful. The next day he goes down to a job interview set up by Lambeau. He reports back to Sean that he got the job. It’s revealed that it’s Will last therapy session and he is now a free man. Sean tells Will he’s is also moving on with his life. Sean and Lambeau reconcile and go out for drinks
Will’s friend give him a car for his birthday. As Sean packs up for his trip, Will drops a letter into his mailbox that reveals he is leaving to go after Skylar. That morning, Chuckie discovers Will is gone when he goes to pick him up.
Act Run Time: 11 minutes (9%)
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