BEAT SHEET - IT'S A WONDERFUL LIFE

EXT. BREDFORD FALL NIGHT

Christmas Eve in Bedford Falls, a sleepy hamlet in upstate New York. Disembodied voices pray for George
Bailey.
EXT. SPACE NIGHT
The angels in heaven, head these prayers and send Clarence, a journeyman angel who has yet turn earn his
wings, down to the to save George Bailey, a man discouraged by life.
The Angels, in order to brief Clarence on his earthly charge, show him critical scenes from his life to the
present.
EXT. LAKESIDE DAY
Twelve year old George, cavorting with other boys on the edge of a frozen lake. His kid brother Harry slides
out onto the river, the ice breaks, and he falls in. George leaps in after Harry and rescues him.
INT. DRUG STORE DAY
Having recovered from his cold (save for the hearing in his left ear) George returns to work at Mr. Gower's
drug store. George regards two girls at the soda counter, Violet and Mary, with disinterest. George reveals his
yearning for far-flung adventure, while Mary whispers in his deaf ear that she'll love him forever.
George catches sight of an open telegram on the counter which has informed Mr. Gower that his son has
died.
George then watches as Mr. Gower, distracted by grief and drink, mistakenly fills a prescription with poison.
Mr. Gower sends George to deliver the pills.
INT. BAILEY BUILDING & LOAN ASSOC. - DAY
Unable to decide what to do next, George runs to his father's office at the "Bailey Building and Loan
Association".
George steps in on a argument between his father and Mr. Potter, "the richest, meanest man in town". The
senior Bailey is pleading with Potter not to foreclose on some delinquent tenants. When Potter berates Mr.
Bailey and his brothers as failures, young George hotly protests. His father sends him on his way.
INT. DRUG STORE DAY
Mr. Gower, upon seeing George return with the prescription still in hand, starts hitting his delivery boy.
George points out the druggist earlier mistake. Seeing his error, Mr. Gower breaks down and embraces the
boy, apologizing.
INT. SHOP DAY
Eight years later, George, now a young man setting off to see the world, is picking out a suitcase. He picks
out one which has been paid for secretly by the repentant and grateful Mr. Gower.
EXT. BREDFORD FALL DAY
Making his way through town, bidding farewell as he goes.
INT. ROOM NIGHT
George ends up at his family's for dinner. He scuffles good-naturedly with Harry his brother, his father
beams. We learn that he's off to Europe and then to college. Harry invites him to his graduating party.
INT. SCHOOL PARTY NIGHT
During the graduation party at the high school, George dances with grown-up Mary. Freddie, her jealous
suitor, finds a switch which makes the dance floor retract revealing the swimming pool underneath. George
and Mary fall in, pandemonium ensues.
EXT. BEDFORD FALL NIGHT
Mary and George wander off into the night, flirting. Just as he's about to kiss her, Uncle Billy and Harry

drive up with news that George's father has had a stroke. George hastens off.
INT. BOARDROOM DAY
At a board meeting three months later, Potter threatens to dissolve the Building and Loan. George, delivers a
stirring tirade against the Potter and his scheme, rallying the other board members to maintain the institution.
The vote comes in: The Building and Loan stays, on the condition that George stay on in his father's place.
EXT. SPACE NIGHT
Through the angels it is shown that Harry attends college, while George stays on to manage the business.
EXT. RAILWAY STATION DAY
George, restless after four years of waiting for his brother to come home and take over the Building and loan,
greets Harry at the station. Harry introduces his new wife, who reveals the couples plan to move Buffalo.
George struggles to conceal his disappointment.
EXT. BAILEY HOME NIGHT
After a family celebration that night, Mrs. Bailey suggests to her disconsolate son that he call on Mary
Hatch.
EXT. BEDFORD FALL NIGHT
Walking through town that night, he encounters Violet. She balks at his idea to walk barefoot in the grass, so
he moves on.
EXT. MARY'S HOUSE NIGHT
He hesitates furtively in front of Mary's house, she invites him in.
INT. MARY'S HOUSE
After an awkward exchange, George leaves, but returns for his hat ends up in an embrace with Mary, as her
mother watch's aghast.
INT. CAB DAY
After their wedding, Mary and George are poised to take off on their honeymoon with a hefty trussot of
money, when they witness a mob at the bank.
INT. BAILEY BUILDING & LOAN ASSOC. - DAY
George, upon learning of rumor of a run on the bank and starts giving up he and Mary's honeymoon trussot
to the the anxious depositors.
INT. GRANVILLE HOUSE NIGHT
The newlyweds move into the rickety old Granville house.
EXT. BAILEY PARK DAY
Two years later, The Martini family moves from one of Mr. Potter's slum into a new house in "Bailey Park" a
new modest but cozy section of town. George and Mary welcome them to the neighborhood.
INT. POTTER OFFICE DAY
In Potter's office, a rent collector points out the growth and success of "Bailey Park" to his employer, who
glowers.
EXT. BEDFORD FALL DAY
An old high school friend, Sam Wainwright, now a rich industrialist, makes a brief visit. Sam's long black
limousine provides Mary and George with a vivid example of the material comforts they've sacrificed to
remain in Bedford Falls.
INT. POTTER OFFICE DAY
Potter offers George a lucrative position, which, after a moment of consideration, George flatly declines.

INT. GRANVILLE HOUSE NIGHT

At home getting ready for bed, George is pondering the downside of his life to date when his wife reveals
that she's having a baby.
MONTAGE
A montage accompanied by the angels narration takes us through various characters lives during the War
years. While other Bedford Falls men fight, or become rich supplying the war machine, George stays behind
and assumes various humble responsibilities.
INT. BAILEY BUILDING & LOAN ASSOC. - DAY
On V.J. Day, he exults in his brother being awarded the Medal of Honor.
On Christmas eve, at the Building and Loan, while family gears up for Harry Bailey's return, George gets a
visit from the bank examiner.
INT. BANK DAY
Uncle Billy, on his way to deposit the Building and Loan money, stops to taunt Mr. Potter about Harry
Bailey's success. Uncle Billy inadvertently leaves the deposit envelope in Mr. Potter's newspaper.
Uncle Billy discovers that he no longer has the money.
INT. POTTER OFFICE DAY
Mr. Potter, in his office, discovers the envelope full of eight thousand dollars, folded up in his newspaper. He
starts to scheme.
INT. BAILEY BUILDING & LOAN ASSOC. - DAY
Uncle Billy, flustered, returns to his office at the Building and Loan.
While the bank examiner waits to go over the books, George loans Violet money so she can pursue a life in
New York.
George, looking for the accounts payable, finds Uncle Bailey desperately looking for the money.
EXT. BEDFORD FALL DAY
Together, the two men retrace Billy's steps through the snow outside, while Mr. Potter watches gleefully
from his office window.
INT. BAILEY BUILDING & LOAN ASSOC. - DAY
The search continues at Uncle Billy's house, but in vain. George's frustration mounts and he savagely berate's
his Uncle, who breaks down sobbing.
INT. GRANVILLE HOUSE NIGHT
George, in a pique of ill-humour, arrives home as the Bailey family is cheerfully preparing for an idyllic
Christmas. He snaps at the kids, disabuses their school teacher and let's fly all the acrimony withheld over
the coarse of his life.
INT. POTTER OFFICE NIGHT
He appeals to Mr. Potter for a loan, but the vituperative old skirl spurns George.
INT. BAR NIGHT
George enters Martini's Bar, where he's punched out by the husband of the maligned school teacher.
EXT. BEDFORD FALL NIGHT
Driving into the snowy night, he collides with a tree.
Abandoning his car, George makes his way to a bridge, from which he's about to jump when a figure falls
from above into the river.
EXT. RIVERSIDE NIGHT
George leaps in and saves the man, who turns out to be Clarence, his guardian Angel.

INT. ROOM NIGHT

Now safe in the tollhouse, warming themselves by the fire, Clearance makes known to George the purpose of
his visit, namely to save his earthly charge from suicide. George absentmindedly wishes he were never born,
a condition the angel readily manifests.
45. George realizes that he regained hearing in his left ear and no longer has a bloody lip.
EXT. BEDFORD FALL NIGHT
He and the angel walk out into the night.
His car is no longer smashed against a tree. Bedford falls is now called Pottersville.
INT. BAR NIGHT
The pair step into what used to be Martini's Bar, which is now Nick's Bar, a seedy dive. They encounter Mr.
Gower, now a dissolute rummy and are tossed out into the snow by the hostile owner.
George, still incredulous, starts to grasp significance of never having been born.
EXT. BEDFORD FALL NIGHT
The general character of the town has dissipated into that of a frontier village, vulgar and ugly.
Violet, now a tart, is being arrested.
George hails a cab, driven by Ernie, to take him home.
INT. GRANVILLE HOUSE NIGHT
George finds the house decrepit and uninhabited.
Bert the cop arrives and attempts to arrest George due to his peculiar behavior. Clearance intercedes and
George escapes.
EXT. BAILEY HOUSE NIGHT
He arrives at his mother's house, only have the cold uncomprehending woman bearing his mother's name
slam the door in his face.
EXT. GRAVEYARD NIGHT
George and Clarence come upon the cemetery where Bailey Park once was. George glimpses the tombstone
of his brother Harry, who, with no one to save him, drowned years ago as a boy. George, now desperate,
manages to get Mary's whereabouts Out Of the angel, before running off to find her.
EXT. BEDFORD FALL NIGHT
He finds Mary, a withered spinster, closing the library. His frantic deportment frightens her and she runs
away.
The enormity of his predicament now upon him, he rushes of to find Clarence.
EXT. RIVERSIDE NIGHT
Arriving at the spot on the bridge where he contemplated suicide, George kneels and prays. The police car
pulls up behind him and Bert approaches with evident concern. After a moment George realizes the world
has returned to it's previous order.
INT. GRANVILLE HOUSE NIGHT
George, now ebullient, returns home. The presence of the bank examiner, the sheriff and a reporter in the
hallway do nothing to dampen his spirits as he embraces his wife and family.
Just as he's about to be arrested, a mob of friends and family descent on the house, with cash offerings to
make up for the lost deposit. Sam Wainwright sends large donation. Harry arrives back from the war.
Clarence gets his wings.
IT'S A WONDERFUL LIFE!