"Jay Kelly" — Read The Screenplay By Noah Baumbach & Emily Mortimer
A Family Fractured, A Myth Exposed, A Son Searching for the Truth.
"Jay Kelly" (2025), written by Noah Baumbach and Emily Mortimer, is a piercing psychological drama about legacy, identity, and the stories families tell to survive themselves. When Jay — a quiet, self-contained man still living under the shadow of a missing father — uncovers a long-buried secret, he’s forced into a confrontation with the myths that shaped him. What begins as a search for truth spirals into something far more intimate: a study of how grief calcifies, how silence becomes inheritance, and how the past refuses to stay buried.
Tense, restrained, and emotionally surgical, the screenplay builds a portrait of a man unraveling the only narrative he’s ever known -- and discovering who he might be once the lie is gone.
A character-driven slow burn with the emotional weight of a true-crime confession and the claustrophobia of a family secret closing in.
"Jay Kelly" — Educator Resources & Study Guide
Interrogating Family Myths: Writing Trauma Through Revelation.
"Jay Kelly" is a powerful model for writing psychological drama without spectacle. The script explores how trauma travels through generations -- not through overt violence, but through absence, secrets, and the emotional ecosystems created around them. Jay’s journey is built on withheld information, fractured memory, and the slow erosion of denial, making the film a masterclass in revelation-driven character work.
For screenwriting students, the screenplay demonstrates how to structure a narrative around discovery, how to externalize internal conflict, and how to maintain tension through emotional truth rather than plot mechanics. It’s an essential study in storytelling where the deepest wound is silence.
Jay Kelly (2025) — Classroom Study
"Jay Kelly" is a tightly wound psychological drama about the lies a family builds to survive -- and what happens when one man finally stops believing them. Famous actor Jay, a withdrawn and emotionally stunted adult son, has lived his entire life under the shadow of a father who vanished and a mother who refuses to speak truth aloud. When a discovery shatters the family mythology, Jay is pulled into a confrontation not just with the past, but with himself. The screenplay avoids melodrama and big reveals. Instead, it treats revelation as erosion -- slow, methodical, and deeply human. The more Jay uncovers, the less he understands about who he is or what he has inherited. Secrets become stories, stories become survival strategies, and silence becomes the most powerful antagonist in the film. For screenwriting students, "Jay Kelly" is a study in submerged emotion, internal conflict, and narrative restraint. It teaches how to write tension not through plot twists, but through revelation peeling identity apart.
- Writing internal conflict in visual terms.
- Building character-driven mysteries without genre tropes.
- Using silence, absence, and avoidance as narrative tools.
- The psychology of family secrets and survival stories.
- Writing protagonists who are emotionally constricted.
- The ethics of depicting generational trauma.
"Jay Kelly" One Sheet & Script Intel
Famous movie actor Jay Kelly embarks on a journey of self-discovery, confronting his past and present with his devoted manager Ron. Poignant and humor-filled, pitched at the intersection of regrets and glories. Netflix
| Type | ... |
FYC
|
| Version | ... | FINALFYC |
| Date | ... | 08.11.2025 |
| Pages | ... | 128 |
| Genres | ... | Comedy Drama Showbiz |
| Screenplay | ... | Noah Baumbach Emily Mortimer |
| IMDb ID | ... | 30446847 |
How to read and download the screenplay.
Click or tap the READ/DOWNLOAD button. You may need to create a free account, or log in.
It's free! Enjoy the read, and thanks for visiting 8FLiX!
You’ll need to create a free account to access our scripts and screenplays database. If you’re already registered, simply log in and start your journey of discovery!
Read and Watch
Compare the script and movie together with 8FLiX and JustWatch.
Now that you have the screenplay, stream "Jay Kelly" and compare. We've partnered with JustWatch so you can make that happen.
Looking For Something?
If you can't find what you're looking for, send us an email.
If you're searching for a specific movie or TV show/series, please let us know. 8FLiX has more than 10,000 scripts and screenplays. Not all are currently listed here. Eventually, they'll all be available to download (but certainly not in your lifetime). To avoid waiting decades for 8FLiX to add the script that you're looking for, send us an email. You still may have to wait, but it'll be days rather than generations. You can SEARCH our site when you're ready!