It is 1969. Los Angeles is a haze of smog, cigarette smoke, and the fading echoes of the Golden Age. Most people think they know how this story ends. They think about Cielo Drive. They think about the tragedy that defined a decade's grisly conclusion. But when Quentin Tarantino sat down to write the Once Upon a Time in Hollywood screenplay, he wasn't interested in a history lesson. He wanted a fairy tale.
He actually spent five years writing this thing. It didn't start as a movie script; it started as a novel. Tarantino lived with these characters—Rick Dalton and Cliff Booth—long before he ever figured out how to fit them into a three-act structure. Honestly, you can tell. The pacing is weird. It’s slow. It meanders through the backstreets of the San Fernando Valley like a Cadillac DeVille with nowhere to be.
The Script That Rewrote Blood and Dust
If you've ever held the physical Once Upon a Time in Hollywood screenplay in your hands, or even just read the leaked drafts, you’ll notice something immediately. Tarantino writes like he’s talking to you over a beer. His stage directions aren't clinical. They are vivid, opinionated, and sometimes a bit aggressive. He describes Rick Dalton’s "tough guy" persona as a mask for a man who is essentially a bundle of insecurities and whiskey.
Rick Dalton is a "has-been" who never truly was. That's the heart of the script. While the world remembers the 60s for Hendrix and the Moon Landing, Tarantino focuses on the guys who were just trying to remember their lines on the set of Lancer.
Why the dialogue feels different
Most screenplays follow a strict rule: every line must move the plot forward. Tarantino ignores that. He lets Rick and Cliff talk about nothing for ten pages. They talk about TV pilots. They talk about Italian Westerns. They talk about the quality of Wolf's Tooth dog food.
It feels real.
The scene where Rick is struggling with his lines in his trailer—the "it's official, old man" breakdown—wasn't even fully scripted the way it appeared on screen. Leonardo DiCaprio pushed for that level of pathetic, raw frustration. In the Once Upon a Time in Hollywood screenplay, the bones of that scene are there, but the execution became a masterclass in improvisational character work within a rigid framework.
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The Bruce Lee Controversy and Page 72
You can't talk about this script without talking about Bruce Lee. People got mad. Like, really mad.
In the screenplay, the fight between Cliff Booth and Bruce Lee on the set of The Green Hornet is depicted as a bit of a stalemate, but it leans heavily into Cliff's perspective as a "war hero" (with a dark past). Critics, including Lee’s daughter Shannon Lee, argued that the script turned a martial arts icon into a caricatured "arrogant punchline."
Tarantino defended it. He argued that Cliff is a "killer." Bruce Lee is a martial artist on a TV set. In the world of the Once Upon a Time in Hollywood screenplay, the rugged, grizzled veteran of WWII is the ultimate apex predator, not the stylized fighter. It's a controversial take on masculinity that stays consistent throughout the 160-plus pages of the draft.
The Manson Family as a Background Hum
The genius of the script is how it treats the Manson Family. They aren't the protagonists. They aren't even really the antagonists for most of the runtime. They are just a bad vibe. They are the rot in the floorboards.
When Cliff Booth visits Spahn Ranch, the screenplay shifts gears. It stops being a "hangout movie" and turns into a horror film. Tarantino writes the ranch as a graveyard of 1950s Western tropes. The "old west" sets are decaying. The cowboys are replaced by hollow-eyed teenagers.
- The tension isn't from jump scares.
- It's from the feeling that the era of the "tough guy" is being replaced by something aimless and violent.
- The script uses George Spahn (played by Bruce Dern) as a symbol of a Hollywood that is literally going blind.
How the ending actually works on paper
Let’s talk about the revisionist history. The Once Upon a Time in Hollywood screenplay pulls a "Bastards." Just like he did in Inglourious Basterds, Tarantino uses the power of cinema to fix a reality that was too broken to accept.
On the page, the climax is a chaotic, psychedelic explosion of violence. The descriptions of the "Firemans" (the flamethrower) are written with a sort of gleeful, cathartic energy. Tarantino isn't just killing the Manson followers; he's incinerating the people who "killed the sixties."
By having the killers stumble into Rick Dalton’s driveway instead of Sharon Tate’s, the script creates a beautiful, fictional alternate reality. The final lines of the screenplay describe the gates of Sharon Tate's house opening for Rick. It’s a moment of grace. It’s the "Once Upon a Time" promise finally being kept.
The technical details of the draft
For the nerds out there, the original script had scenes that didn't make the theatrical cut but surfaced later in the novelization and the extended "Richmond" versions.
- Charles Manson’s screen time: There was more of him. Not a lot, but a bit more "scouting" that made him feel more like a predator.
- The Lancer scenes: The script spends a massive amount of time on the fictional show Lancer. Tarantino loves the process of filmmaking, and the screenplay acts as a meta-commentary on how mediocre TV is actually made.
- Cliff’s wife: The script remains intentionally ambiguous about whether Cliff actually killed his wife. It’s written in a way that lets the reader decide, though the "vibe" is undeniably grim.
What writers can learn from Tarantino's 9th film
If you’re studying the Once Upon a Time in Hollywood screenplay to improve your own writing, don't try to copy the dialogue. You’ll fail. Everyone does. Instead, look at the atmosphere.
Look at how he uses music cues. Tarantino doesn't just say "music plays." He specifies the radio station (KHJ). He specifies the commercials. He builds a soundscape in the reader's head. That is how you create a world that feels lived-in.
Also, notice the lack of "camera talk." You won't see "CLOSE UP" or "ZOOM IN" very often. He describes the feeling of the shot. If he wants you to look at a character’s feet or a neon sign, he describes the object with so much detail that your mind’s eye has no choice but to frame it that way.
Actionable Insights for Screenplay Enthusiasts
To truly understand this script, you have to look beyond the PDF.
- Read the novelization: Tarantino wrote a book version after the movie came out. It’s not just the script with more adjectives; it’s a total reimagining that provides deep backstories for Cliff Booth that the movie only hinted at.
- Watch 'Model Shop' (1969): This film was a huge influence on the visual language of the script. Seeing the "real" 1969 LA helps you see what Tarantino was trying to preserve.
- Analyze the "Hangout" Structure: Most scripts are built on "Goals." Rick Dalton’s goal is to stay relevant, but most of the script is just him existing. Study how Tarantino keeps tension high even when nothing "important" is happening.
The Once Upon a Time in Hollywood screenplay is essentially a love letter written in blood. It’s a reminder that movies don't have to follow the rules of reality. They can be better than reality. They can save the girl, kill the monsters, and let the sun stay up just a few minutes longer on a summer night in 1969.
If you're looking to dive deeper into the mechanics of Tarantino's writing, your next step should be a side-by-side comparison of the Spahn Ranch sequence in the script versus the final film. Pay attention to how much of the dread was on the page and how much was created through the rhythmic editing of Fred Raskin. Examining the pacing of the dialogue beats in that specific scene reveals how Tarantino uses "empty" conversation to build a sense of impending doom.