Screenwriting is hard. Adapting Shakespeare for a bunch of teenagers in the late nineties? That sounds like a recipe for a cringeworthy disaster, honestly. Yet, here we are, decades later, still obsessed with the ten things i hate about you script. It isn’t just nostalgia talking. There is something fundamentally "right" about how Karen McCullah and Kirsten Smith approached this story. They took The Taming of the Shrew, stripped away the more problematic Elizabethan misogyny, and replaced it with a riotous, riot-grrrl-infused energy that feels weirdly timeless.
Kat Stratford isn’t just a character. She’s a mood. And the script is the reason why.
The Secret Sauce of the Ten Things I Hate About You Script
Most people think a good script is just about funny dialogue. That’s part of it, sure. But the real magic of the ten things i hate about you script lies in its structure and its refusal to talk down to its audience. It treats high school like a genuine battlefield. When Patrick Verona and Cameron James enter the fray, the stakes feel high because the writing treats their social survival as life or death.
It’s actually pretty brilliant how they handled the exposition. Instead of a boring voiceover, we get the "Social Map" of Padua High. Remember the coffee achievers? The future MBAs? The white Rastafarians? That wasn't just fluff. It established a world that felt lived-in and specific. McCullah and Smith have often talked in interviews about how they drew from their own high school experiences to ground the Shakespearean plot in something tangible. They knew that if the world didn't feel real, the romance wouldn't feel earned.
Shakespeare, But Make It Snarky
Let’s talk about the Bard. The Taming of the Shrew is, let’s be real, a pretty tough sell for a modern audience. The original play ends with Katherine essentially being "broken" into submission. Nobody wants to see that in a 1999 teen movie. The writers of the ten things i hate about you script flipped the script. Literally.
They turned Katherine Minola into Kat Stratford—a feminist, Sylvia Plath-reading, Bikini Kill-listening rebel who doesn't need "taming." Instead of being forced into marriage, she’s wooed by a guy who actually likes her brain. It’s a subtle shift but a massive one. The script keeps the skeleton of the play—the sisters, the overprotective father, the bet—but breathes new life into it by making Kat’s "shrewishness" a valid response to a shallow environment.
The Iconic Poem Scene: A Scripting Masterclass
You know the scene. Everyone knows the scene. Julia Stiles standing at the front of the classroom, reading that poem. It’s the emotional climax of the ten things i hate about you script, and it almost didn't happen the way we remember it.
In the original draft, the poem was slightly different. But the core remained: a list of grievances that ultimately revealed total vulnerability. It’s a classic "listicle" before listicles were a thing. What makes it work in the script is the buildup. We’ve seen Kat be tough for eighty minutes. We’ve seen her kick a soccer ball at someone’s head and crash a car just to make a point. When she finally breaks, it’s earned.
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- "I hate the way you talk to me, and the way you cut your hair."
- "I hate the way you drive my car. I hate it when you stare."
- "I hate your big dumb combat boots and the way you read my mind."
The rhythm of these lines is rhythmic and punchy. It mimics the iambic pentameter of the source material without being pretentious about it. It’s just... good writing.
Character Archetypes That Actually Work
Characters in teen movies are usually cardboard cutouts. You’ve got the Jock, the Nerd, the Popular Girl. While the ten things i hate about you script uses these tropes, it complicates them.
Take Joey Donner. He’s the villain, but he’s also a hilarious parody of male vanity. "I'm semi-bi-lingual. I'm also quite charming." That line is gold. Or Michael, the nerd who isn't just a punching bag—he's the one who actually moves the plot forward. The script gives every character a distinct voice. You can read a line from the script without seeing the character's name and you’ll know exactly who said it. That is the hallmark of a professional-grade screenplay.
The Father Figure
Walter Stratford is arguably one of the best "teen movie dads" ever written. Played by Larry Miller, he’s a man terrified of his daughters’ burgeoning adulthood. His dialogue is snappy, neurotic, and strangely sweet. The "pregnancy suit" bit? That’s some high-level physical comedy written directly into the scene descriptions. It provides a necessary counterweight to the teen angst, grounding the movie in a family dynamic that feels protective rather than just restrictive.
Why the Dialogue Still Hits Different
"I like my girls skinny and blonde."
"And I like my men with a little more substance."
The back-and-forth in the ten things i hate about you script is incredibly fast-paced. It feels like a 1940s screwball comedy dropped into a 90s high school. There’s a musicality to it. Writers often struggle with "teen speak" because they try too hard to be hip. They use slang that expires in six months. McCullah and Smith avoided this by focusing on wit and vocabulary. Kat and Patrick don’t sound like "teens"—they sound like smart people who happen to be young.
This is why the movie hasn't aged poorly. Sure, the tech is old. The cars are dated. But the insults? The insults are eternal.
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Behind the Scenes: From Script to Screen
A script is a blueprint. But a blueprint can be interpreted in a lot of ways. Director Gil Junger knew he had a winner with this script, but he also allowed for some improvisation. The scene where Patrick (Heath Ledger) sings "Can't Take My Eyes Off You" on the bleachers? That was in the script, but the energy was all Ledger.
Interestingly, the script originally had a much darker tone in some places. There was more focus on the cynicism of the bet. But through the development process, the heart of the story—the genuine connection between two outcasts—became the focal point. This is a great lesson for aspiring writers: your first draft is just a starting point. The ten things i hate about you script went through several iterations to find that perfect balance of bite and sweetness.
Specific Scene Analysis: The Paintball Date
If you’re studying the ten things i hate about you script for craft, look at the paintball scene. It’s almost entirely visual. In a script, you have to describe action in a way that feels cinematic but not cluttered.
The writers used this scene to show, not tell, the softening of Kat’s defenses. It’s messy, it’s colorful, and it’s tactile. It breaks the "cool" veneer both characters have spent the whole movie building. Writing a scene like that requires a deep understanding of pacing. You need the high-energy "war" followed by the quiet moment in the hay. It’s a classic transition that keeps the audience engaged.
Common Misconceptions About the Screenplay
People often think the script was a "job for hire" where writers were told to "modernize Shakespeare." That’s not quite how it happened. Karen McCullah and Kirsten Smith were actually interested in the concept of "un-tamable" women. They saw Kat as a hero, not a problem to be solved.
Another misconception is that the script was written specifically for Julia Stiles and Heath Ledger. In reality, the script was finished long before they were cast. The fact that the roles fit them like a glove is a testament to how clearly the characters were defined on the page. If a character is well-written, the right actor will inhabit them effortlessly.
The Legacy of the Script
The ten things i hate about you script paved the way for a whole wave of literary adaptations. She’s the Man (Twelfth Night), Easy A (The Scarlet Letter), Clueless (Emma)—these movies owe a debt to the way McCullah and Smith proved that classic stories could be reshaped for a modern audience without losing their soul.
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How to Apply These Lessons to Your Own Writing
If you're a writer, there are a few key takeaways from the ten things i hate about you script that you can use right now.
First, focus on "voice." Make your characters sound distinct. If you can swap their names and the dialogue still makes sense, you haven't worked hard enough on their personality.
Second, don't be afraid of "smart" dialogue. Your audience is smarter than you think. Give them credit. Use big words if the character would use them.
Third, find the "human" angle in every story. Even if you're adapting a 400-year-old play, find the part of it that still hurts or still makes people laugh today.
Practical Steps for Screenwriters and Fans
For those who want to dive deeper into the world of screenwriting or just celebrate this specific masterpiece, here is what you should do next.
- Read the actual screenplay. You can find PDF versions of the ten things i hate about you script online through various script databases like IMSDb. Reading it while watching the movie is a masterclass in seeing how words on a page translate to performance.
- Analyze the "Beats." Break the script down into its three-act structure. Notice where the "inciting incident" happens (Cameron seeing Bianca) and where the "midpoint" occurs (the party at Bogey Lowenstein's).
- Watch the 20th-anniversary interviews. The writers and cast have done several "oral histories" (check out the ones in the New York Times or Vulture) that go into detail about specific lines and scenes that were changed or fought for.
- Practice writing dialogue "battles." One of the best things about the script is the verbal sparring. Try writing a two-page scene where two characters are trying to out-insult each other while secretly falling in love. It’s harder than it looks.
- Explore the soundtrack. The music in the film was heavily influenced by the "riot grrrl" aesthetic mentioned in the script. Listen to Letters to Cleo and Joan Jett to get into the headspace of the writers.
The ten things i hate about you script remains a high-water mark for the genre because it has a brain, a heart, and a very sharp tongue. It didn't just capture a moment in 1999; it captured the universal feeling of being misunderstood and finding the one person who actually gets it. And honestly? That never goes out of style.