The Curse of the Black Pearl Is the Last Great Blockbuster Script

The worst pirate you have ever heard of, in the best written blockbuster of its century. Why The Curse of the Black Pearl works as a script, and why the four sequels are the proof. A screenplay essay on Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl (2003, dir. Gore Verbinski, screenplay Ted Elliott and Terry Rossio): the four-writer development Disney nearly shut down, Depp's Keith Richards performance and the studio's panic, why Jack Sparrow was built as the third lead, how the code and the curse turn rules into plot, leverage and the opportune moment as structure, the last scene, and what the sequels lost when Jack became the protagonist. Every quoted line is from the film. Chapters 0:00 The Worst Pirate 0:40 How It Happened 2:15 The Third Lead 2:59 What They Want 3:55 The Code, the Curse 5:12 Leverage 6:54 The Sequels 7:53 The Last Scene 9:16 A Script, a Franchise