Challengers Screenplay Breakdown: Erotic Thriller Meets Sports

Welcome to The Screenplay Lab, the podcast where we break down great screenplays as standalone works of art. I’m your host, Jeff Barker, a screenwriter, and in Episode 15 we’re diving deep into the 2024 psychological romantic sports drama Challengers, written by Justin Kuritzkes and directed by Luca Guadagnino.

Starring Zendaya, Josh O’Connor, and Mike Faist, Challengers is much more than a love triangle on a tennis court. It’s nonlinear storytelling, erotic tension, subtext-rich dialogue, and smart cinematic structure.

💡 In this episode, we explore what makes the Challengers screenplay so bold, layered, and compelling:

✔ Nonlinear structure with emotional and narrative momentum
✔ Subtext-heavy dialogue that reveals more than it says
✔ Tennis as a metaphor for power, control, and seduction
✔ Multiple POVs handled with nuance and clarity
✔ Bold formatting choices and purposeful onomatopoeia (yes, we’re talking about “thwack”)
✔ The unique blend of sports film, erotic thriller, and psychological drama

Whether you're a screenwriter, filmmaker, or just a film nerd who loves a tight script, this episode unpacks how Challengers delivers both technically and emotionally.

📚 Learn about Justin Kuritzkes’ rise from playwright and viral YouTuber to Hollywood screenwriter, how this script made the Black List, and how he collaborated with Zendaya and Luca Guadagnino to bring the story to life.

🔥 Plus: We compare its nonlinear structure to Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind and examine what this screenplay can teach us about character, symbolism, and modern storytelling.

#screenwriting #screenplay #filmmaking #moviemaking #screenplayanalysis #ChallengersMovie #Zendaya #JoshOConnor #MikeFaist #JustinKuritzkes #ScreenwritingPodcast #ScreenplayAnalysis #EroticThriller #SportsDrama #LucaGuadagnino #LoveTriangleMovie #FilmmakingPodcast #ScriptBreakdown

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There are screenplay breakdowns on:
Anora (Mikey Madison) by Sean Baker
Nosferatu (Lily Rose Depp, Bill Skarsgard) by Robert Eggers
Heretic (Hugh Grant) by Scott Beck and Brian Woods
A Complete Unknown (Timothee Chalamet, Edward Norton, Elle Fanning) by James Mangold
The Substance (Demi Moore, Margaret Qualley) by Coralie Fargeat
A Real Pain (Kieran Culkin) by Jesse Eisenberg
Conclave (Ralph Fiennes, Stanley Tucci, John Lithgow) by Peter Straughan
The Brutalist (Adrien Brody, Felicity Jones, Guy Pearce) by Brady Corbet and Mona Fastvold
Us (Lupita Nyong'o) by Jordan Peele (with Curry Barker interview)
Waves (Sterling K. Brown, Taylor Russell, Kelvin Harrison Jr) by Trey Edward Shults
Babygirl (Nichole Kidman, Harris Dickinson) by Halina Reijn
The Lighthouse (William Dafoe, Robert Pattinson) by Robert Eggers and Max Eggers
La La Land (Emma Stone, Ryan Gosling) by Damien Chazelle
Challengers (Zenaya, Mike Faist, Josh O'Connor) by Justin Kuritzkes

CHAPTERS:
00:00 - The Screenplay Lab
00:40 - Challengers
01:16 - Awards
01:32 - What's Unique
02:22 - Justin Kuritzkes
04:18 - Celine Song
05:22 - 2018 US Open
06:08 - Scriptnotes Podcast
06:34 - Andre Agassi
06:53 - Amy Pascal and Rachel O'Connor
07:30 - Luca Guadagnino
08:11 - Zendaya
08:45 - Mike Faist and Josh O'Connor
08:57 - Production
09:23 - Box Office
09:48 - Loglines
10:21 - Screenplay Statistics
10:40 - Title Meanings
11:24 - Bold Text
12:01 - Time Tags on Slugs
12:31 - Mini Slugs
12:48 - Tennis Scoreboards
13:23 - Age Designations
14:01 - White Space
15:06 - Jeff Barker
15:40 - Star of the Show
15:45 - Direction on the Page
16:23 - Unique "we see" Use
17:19 - Cinematic Writing
20:54 - Character Introductions
22:08 - Onomonopia
24:00 - Mirrored Language
26:42 - Dialogue
28:30 - Non-Linear Storytelling
30:28 - POV Changes
32:09 - Symbolism
33:03 - Tone
34:01 - Words on the Screen
35:03 - Why It's Unique
35:30 - I Got Jokes
35:44 - Conclusion