Mumblecore
A wave of very low-budget American independent films from the 2000s about the relationships of people in their twenties, with loose, naturalistic and often improvised dialogue.
In practice
Mumblecore is a style of American independent filmmaking that emerged in the early and mid-2000s. Its films were made for very little money, often with friends as actors and digital cameras as equipment, and they follow educated people in their twenties as they drift through relationships, jobs and conversations.
The name began as a joke. Eric Masunaga, a sound editor working with the director Andrew Bujalski, is credited with coining it at the South by Southwest festival in 2005, where several of these films played at once. Critics picked it up for the films' quiet, overlapping and sometimes mumbled dialogue.
Key filmmakers include Bujalski (Funny Ha Ha, Mutual Appreciation), Joe Swanberg (Hannah Takes the Stairs), the brothers Jay and Mark Duplass (The Puffy Chair) and Lynn Shelton (Humpday). Greta Gerwig acted in several of the films before writing and directing her own, and the style shaped later work such as Frances Ha and the series Girls.
A mumblecore scene in screenplay form
INT. KITCHEN - LATE NIGHT
Dishes from a party nobody cleaned up. JESS (27) eats cereal standing. TOM (28) sits on the counter.
TOM
So that was... that was a good party. Right? Like overall.
JESS
Yeah. No, it was good. You were good.
TOM
I was good?
She shrugs. Eats.
Opens as a new Plot project once you sign in or create a free account. Inkwell keeps this copy for 24 hours.
Nothing important is said, and that is the point. The hesitations, half-sentences and evasions carry what both characters are avoiding. Mumblecore scripts often look this sparse on the page, because the actors are expected to find the rest of the scene.
What defines mumblecore
Mumblecore films usually share a tiny budget, a small cast of friends and non-professional actors, real apartments as locations and naturalistic acting. Plots are slight: a breakup, a road trip, a visit, a night that goes nowhere. The interest lies in how people talk around what they feel.
Much of the dialogue is improvised or developed with the actors during the shoot, from an outline rather than a full script. That freedom is also the style's limit: critics have called the films self-absorbed, and many of the directors moved on to more structured work.
Mumblecore movies
Funny Ha Ha (2002): Andrew Bujalski's film about a young woman in Boston drifting between jobs and an unspoken crush is usually called the first mumblecore film.
The Puffy Chair (2005): Mark Duplass plays a man driving across the country to deliver a recliner to his father, with his girlfriend and his brother along for the ride.
Hannah Takes the Stairs (2007): Joe Swanberg's film follows Greta Gerwig as a young woman who moves from one office romance to the next.
Humpday (2009): Lynn Shelton's comedy about two straight old friends who dare each other to make an art film together.
Drinking Buddies (2013): Swanberg's bigger-budget film with Olivia Wilde and Jake Johnson keeps the improvised method with known actors.
How to write a mumblecore script
Write what each scene is about underneath, not every line. Many of these films started as a detailed outline, sometimes called a scriptment, that describes what happens and what each character wants but leaves the words to the actors.
When you do write dialogue, write the way people avoid things: false starts, repeated words, answers to a different question. Keep stage directions short and practical.
Keep the world small. Few characters, few locations you can actually use, and a situation that puts two people in a room with something they will not say.
In Plot, you can draft the scenes as an outline first and add dialogue only where the words matter, so the script and the improvisation plan live in the same document.
Common questions
What is mumblecore?
Mumblecore is a style of very low-budget American independent film from the 2000s, about people in their twenties, with naturalistic and often improvised dialogue.
Why is it called mumblecore?
The sound editor Eric Masunaga is credited with the name, coined at South by Southwest in 2005 as a joke about the films' quiet, overlapping dialogue. Critics adopted it.
What was the first mumblecore film?
Andrew Bujalski's Funny Ha Ha (2002) is usually considered the first mumblecore film, followed by his Mutual Appreciation (2005).
Is mumblecore improvised?
Often, in part. Many mumblecore films were shot from a detailed outline, and the actors developed the dialogue during filming rather than reading a full script.
Is Greta Gerwig a mumblecore filmmaker?
Greta Gerwig began as an actor and co-writer in mumblecore films such as Hannah Takes the Stairs, before writing and directing more structured films like Lady Bird.