Script Files
Download Script
Download Script

By The Time I Got To Woodstock

Emily, a spoiled, lonely teenaged ballerina, finds herself on a long, strange trip to the 1969 Woodstock festival.

  • Jeffrey Massie
    Writer
    Equity, Eighty-Eight Frequencies, By The Time I Got To Woodstock, Falling In Love With Love
  • Project Type:
    Screenplay
  • Genres:
    Adolescence, Road Trip, Strong Female Lead, Comedy
  • Number of Pages:
    84
  • Country of Origin:
    United States
  • Language:
    English
  • First-time Screenwriter:
    Yes
  • Student Project:
    No
  • WorldFest Houston International Film Festival
    Houston, TX
    June 1, 2016
    Platinum Remi
  • Diverse Voices Competition

    May 16, 2017
    Semifinalist
  • Austin Film Festival
    Austin, TX
    December 2, 2021
    Second Round
Writer Biography - Jeffrey Massie

I attended New York University's Institute of Film and Television in the 1970s, where I studied under Haig Manoogian, who mentored Martin Scorsese and produced his first feature.

My parents were animators who met on the picket line at Disney Studios in 1941, and I spent almost thirty-five years in the labor movement as an officer of the Animation Guild Local 839 IATSE. About fifteen years ago I started taking classes with Joe Bratcher and the late Judy Farrell at the Twin Bridges Screenwriting Salon.

Since my retirement from the Guild in 2013, my screenwriting has become a full-time occupation, if not (yet) a living.

Add Writer Biography
Writer Statement

One thing that Joni Mitchell and I have in common: neither of us went to Woodstock.

Joni didn’t go because she didn’t want to cancel her interview with Dick Cavett that weekend. I didn’t go because I was more into Dave Brubeck, Broadway musicals, and not taking any risks with my life.

My prep-school classmate Bo Slocomb went to Woodstock, and when he got back all he could talk about was what a terrible experience he’d had: the rain and mud, the bad drugs, the food poisoning …

But then, there came the articles and books and records, and a really cool movie. Bo, along with half a million of his friends, found themselves inducted into The Woodstock Generation™, brought to you by a major film company that was teetering on the edge of bankruptcy before the feature film came out.

And the next thing you know, Joni Mitchell had written one of her first big hits, and Bo seemed to forget all about his four-day bad trip. Overnight, for Joni and for Bo, Woodstock became the defining moment of their lives.

“By The Time I Got To Woodstock” is the story of Emily, who didn’t even want to go to Woodstock. And then, she tried to go. And then, she couldn’t go. And then she did anyway.

And then … she arrived at Woodstock.