1. THE YELLOW WALLPAPER
Written by
by Max Mercier
Story by Charlotte Perkins Gilman
4/14/2015
Max Mercier
638 Balboa
San Francisco, CA 94118

2. EXT. CITY STREET - NIGHT1
John is talking to a townsman.
JOHN
My younger sister and I are taking
Jane to the countryside tomorrow.
TOWNSMAN
Should be nice this time of year.
How long are you staying?
JOHN
I’ve rented a house for three
months. Rest and air will do Jane
good. She has been having bouts of
nervousness.
TOWNSMAN
I’m sorry to hear.
JOHN
Me as well. However, she should be
back to normal after some time away
from society.
TOWNSMAN
I must get back to my family now.
Good luck, John.
JOHN
Thank you.
The townsman nods and walks away from John. John walks up
the stairs of his apartment.
INT. JANE AND JOHN'S APARTMENT - NIGHT2
Jane sits on a stack of books looking out of a windows.
John approaches her.
JOHN
Get some rest dear, we leave early.
JANE
Yes, darling.
INT. JANE AND JOHN'S APARTMENT - MORNING3
It is morning. John and Jane exit the apartment and walk
down the stairs.
EXT. HOUSE IN THE WOODS - MORNING4
John and Jennie carry two suitcases up the stairs of a
large house. Jane walks behind them, biting her
fingernails.

3. 2.
INT. HOUSE IN THE WOODS - MORNING5
JANE
Why are we here?
JOHN
For your rest.
Jane, John, and Jennie walk up the stairs of the home.
John grabs Jane by the wrist and takes her to a room.
JANE
John. Society and stimulus-
JOHN
You are not to write while you are
here.
JANE
Joh-
JOHN
This will be our room, dear
Jane glances around the room. She notices barred windows,
nailed down beds and sickening yellow wallpaper.
JANE
Not any of the other rooms? Darling,
one opens on the piazza, it has
windows covered in roses from the
garden, and those pretty chintz
hangings!
John takes Jane into his arms as she glances at the yellow
wallpaper.
JANE
Joh-
JOHN
Shh- dear. It’s all okay. It’s all
okay. You’re very safe. Jennie,
would you pour Jane a glass of
water?
JENNIE
Yes, John.
Jane tries to push her way out of John’s arm but he does
not let go.
JANE
John, I can manage myself without
your little sister.

4. 3.
JOHN
She is here to help you, dear.
INT. JOHN AND JANE’S ROOM - NIGHT6
Jane and John lay in their beds. It is 3:13 at night. She
looks directly across from where she lays and studies the
pattern of the wallpaper. She takes out the small notebook
and writes.
ON SCREEN:
“I never saw a worse paper in my life. One of those
sprawling flamboyant patterns committing every artistic
sin. It is dull enough to confuse the eye in following,
pronounced enough to constantly irritate and provoke
study, and when you follow the lame uncertain curves for a
little distance they suddenly commit suicide—plunge off at
outrageous angles, destroy themselves in unheard of
contradictions.”
Jane looks at the barred window, and back at the yellow
wallpaper.
INT. DINING ROOM - MORNING7
CUTS TO:
Jane and John sit at a table. John pours Jane a cup of
coffee.
JANE
I am not very fond of our room,
John.
JOHN
How so, dear?
JANE
(slight stutter)
There are barred windows and a
sickening yellow wallpaper that
looks as if a stampede of children
took their fists to it!
John shakes his head as Jane talks.
JOHN
(laughs)
That’s funny, dear. Our room is fi-
JANE
It is constantly cold and my bed is
stiff.

5. 4.
JOHN
Darling, I believe you are feeling a
draft.
JANE
Joh-
JOHN
It would do you good to step outside
and maybe (pause) walk the garden
path.
Jane stands up. She trips on the chair leg as she attempts
to walk out of the room. The chair leg does not move. Shot
of the chair bolted to the ground. She turns towards John.
John stands up and pushes his chair in. Jane walks out of
the room. She walks into the room where the doors to the
garden are. She trots over to the doors and attempts to
open them. She follows the space between the door and the
floor. She finds the that door is bolted as well. She
calls for John.
JANE
John?
JOHN
Yes, dear?
JANE
I cannot access the garden.
JOHN
I’ll have to mend the door. Why
don’t you go upstairs and get some
rest.
JANE
Yes. I will.
INT. JOHN AND JANE'S ROOM - NIGHT8
Jane stares out of the window and pulls out a small
notebook.
ON SCREEN:
“I never saw such a garden—large and shady, full of
box-bordered paths, and lined with long grape-covered
arbors with seats under them. There were greenhouses, too,
but they are gone now.”
Cuts to Jane falling asleep.
FLASHBACK TO:

6. 5.
Jane is being held back by John as their baby is given to
Mary who takes it into her arms, and John telling her that
it is the best decision, considering her condition.
CUTS TO:
Jane wakes up. It is 4:39 in the morning. She is facing
the yellow wallpaper. She sees a dark figure staring back
at her on the paper. She studies it for a minute, it looks
like a grown woman. Jane throws herself back under the
covers and pulls out the small notebook.
ON SCREEN:
“There are things in that paper that nobody knows but me,
or ever will. Behind that outside pattern the dim shapes
get clearer every day. It is always the same shape, only
very numerous. And it is like a woman stooping down and
creeping about behind that pattern. I don't like it a bit.
I wonder—I begin to think—I wish John would take me away
from here!”
INT. JOHN AND JANE’S ROOM - MORNING9
Jane wakes up again to the sound of Jennie lightly setting
a cup of water down on her bedside table and running out
of the room. John sits on the bed where Jane lays.
JOHN
Dear?
JANE
John.
JOHN
How are you dear?
JANE
I’m getting quite fond of our room,
however, I want to repaper the wall.
JOHN
I say you’re letting the paper get
the best of you. The worst thing for
a nervous patient is to give way to
such fancies. I do not want to
change the paper for only three
months rental.
JANE
Then let us go downstairs, there are
such pretty rooms down there.
John takes Jane into his arms.

7. 6.
JOHN
My blessed little goose, this place
is doing you good. When you get
better, we can invite Cousin Henry
and Julia down. I’d rather put
fireworks in your pillowcase than
expose you to those stimulating
people about now.
JANE
(Laughing)
John!
JOHN
However, if you do not get better, I
shall send you to Weir Mitchell in
the fall.
John puts Jane down.
INT. DINING ROOM - EVENING10
Cuts to John and Jane sitting at a table for dinner.
JANE
I never saw so much expression in an
inanimate thing before, and we all
know how much expression they have!
JOHN
This is the yellow wallpaper?
JANE
YES! I used to lie awake as a child
and get more entertainment and
terror out of blank walls and plain
furniture than most children could
find in a toy store.
JOHN
(Laughs)
Oh dear. Maybe I shall repaper the
room!
JANE
The wallpaper, as I said before, is
torn off in spots, and the floor is
scratched and gouged and splintered!
The plaster itself is dug out here
and there.
JOHN
(Laughs)
JANE
But I don't mind it a bit. Only the
paper.

8. 7.
Jennie picks up their dishes.
INT. JOHN AND JANE’S ROOM - AFTERNOON11
John stares at the yellow wallpaper. Jennie walks in.
JENNIE
She is obsessed with this paper.
JOHN
I cannot understand it though.
CUTS TO:
Jane opens her eyes. She is under the covers in her bed.
John and Jennie do not know that she is awake. She pulls
out a small notebook.
ON SCREEN:
“I have watched John when he did not know I was looking,
come into the room suddenly on the most innocent excuses,
and I've caught him LOOKING AT THE PAPER! And Jennie too.
I have caught Jennie with her hand on it!”
INT. BREAKFAST TABLE - MORNING12
Jane wakes up with a smile on her face. She pulls out a
small journal.
ON SCREEN:
“I'm getting really fond of the room in spite of the
wall-paper. Perhaps BECAUSE of the wall-paper.”
CUTS TO:
Jane and John eat breakfast.
JOHN
Dear, I am so pleased to see you
improving. You’re eating better, you
look healthier, and you seem much
happier!
JANE
Oh darling, life has never been more
exciting! I feel as if I have
something to look forward to and
something to watch!
FLASHBACK TO:
Jane watches the yellow wallpaper.
CUTS TO:

9. 8.
John and Jane are eating breakfast.
JOHN
That’s wonderful, dear.
INT. JOHN AND JANE’S ROOM - NIGHT13
Jane touches the yellow wallpaper. The door is open. John
looks at Jane from the open door.
Jennie runs up behind John.
JENNIE
Brother, there is something peculiar
about her.
John looks at Jennie.
JOHN
It is something peculiar about the
paper, that is interesting her.
Jennie puts her hand on John’s shoulder.
JOHN
There is a case in town I am needed
for. I will be back at midnight.
CUTS TO:
Jane stares blankly at the yellow wallpaper.
FLASHBACK TO:
Jane walks through the garden, looking down and seeing the
figure.
CUTS TO:
Jane looks at the yellow wallpaper. She sees the figure.
ON SCREEN:
“There are only two more days to get this paper off, and I
believe John is beginning to notice. I don't like the look
in his eyes. And I heard him ask Jennie a lot of
professional questions about me. She had a very good
report to give. She said I slept a good deal in the
daytime.”
John walks into the room. He notices Jane staring at the
paper.
JOHN
What is it, little girl?
Jane does not move.

10. 9.
JOHN
I want you to rest.
John starts to walk out of the room.
JOHN
There is a case in town. It’s quite
serious.
JANE
Good luck, dear.
Jane slides into bed. She pulls out a small notebook.
ON SCREEN:
“I am getting a little afraid of John. He seems very queer
sometimes, and even Jennie has an inexplicable look. It
strikes me occasionally, just as a scientific
hypothesis,—that perhaps it is the paper!”
INT. JOHN AND JANE’S ROOM - MORNING14
Jane wakes up and looks at John who is sitting on her bed.
JOHN
Hello, dear.
Jane smells the room.
JANE
That smell!
JOHN
Smell?
JANE
It creeps all over the house.
JOHN
The house is old, but-
JANE
I find it hovering in the
dining-room, skulking in the parlor,
hiding in the hall, lying in wait
for me on the stairs!
John looks at Jane as she rambles on about the paper.
INT. JOHN AND JANE’S ROOM - NIGHT15
Jane is looking at the yellow wallpaper from her bed. John
walks in and stares at Jane angrily.

11. 10.
JOHN
Dear, this is our final night here.
Please rest.
Jane does not move.
JOHN
Jennie, could you stay the night
with Jane?
Jennie runs in.
JENNIE
Jane! I shall stay the night with
you!
JANE
(laughs)
I should UNDOUBTEDLY rest alone.
JENNIE
Yes, Jane.
Jane runs out of the room. Jennie follows her.
ON SCREEN:
“As soon as it was moonlight and that poor thing began to
crawl and shake the pattern, I got up and ran to help her.
I pulled and she shook, I shook and she pulled, and before
morning we had peeled off yards of that paper.”
INT. JOHN AND JANE’S ROOM - MORNING16
The yellow wallpaper pattern is shown in the sunlight. The
paper is torn off in spots and the color has now become
darker. Jennie moves a chair across the floor. Jane wakes
up.
JANE
Jennie!
JENNIE
Jane, dear, you need to leave.
JANE
Jennie, it is quiet, and I need to
rest.
JENNIE
Yes, Jane.
Jennie leaves the room. Jane pulls out the notebook.
ON SCREEN:
“She tried to get me out of the room—it was too patent!
But I said it was so quiet and empty and clean now that I

12. 11.
believed I would lie down again and sleep all I could; and
not to wake me even for dinner—I would call when I woke.”
Jane gets out of bed and crawls around on the floor. She
looks at the bedstead, the legs have been gnawed at. She
looks on her nightstand and sees that Jennie has left the
key to the room. Jane locks the door and throws the key
out of the window, into the plant on the doorstep.
Jane faces the wallpaper. She talks to it.
JANE
I do not want anyone in this room,
except for John. I want to astonish
him.
Jane pulls out her notebook.
ON SCREEN:
“I've got a rope up here that even Jennie did not find. If
that woman does get out, and tries to get away, I can tie
her!”
Jane tries to peel off the wallpaper, but she cannot reach
it. Jane attempts to move the bed over to the wall, but
the bed is nailed down.
Jane runs back over to the wall and bites a piece of the
paper. She peels a section off and reveals fungus on the
wall.
Jane turns around and screams in anger. She puts her foot
on the windowsill and tries to push the bars off of the
windows.
ON SCREEN:
“To jump out of the window would be admirable exercise.”
Jane starts to crawl on the floor. She walks towards the
yellow wallpaper and notices a groove around the wall. She
slides her shoulder into the groove and starts to creep
around the room.
John knocks on the door forcefully.
JOHN
JANE! PLEASE OPEN THIS DOOR!
JANE
It is no use, dear! You cannot open
it!
JOHN
JANE!!

13. 12.
John pounds on the door.
JOHN
JENNIE! GET AN AXE!
JANE
John, dear! The key is in the
planter on the front steps.
John goes silent.
JOHN
Dear. Please open the door.
JANE
The key is in the planter, the key
is in the planter, the key is-
Jane hears John’s footsteps.
John runs back up and bursts the door open. He sees Jane
creeping around the wall.
JOHN
What is the matter? For God's sake,
WHAT ARE YOU DOING!
Jane continues to creep around the wall. She looks at John
over her shoulder.
JANE
I’ve got out at last in spite of you
and Jane! And I’ve peeled off the
paper so you can’t put me back!
John faints. Jane continues to creep around the wall,
crawling over John each time.
END