Anora | The Screenplay Lab

The Fragility of Transactional Relationships

By Jeff Barker

This is The Screenplay Lab, where we dig deep and break down screenplays. This week, we put the magnifying glass on Anora. Let’s get after it.

Sean Baker’s Anora melds raw realism with stunning symbolism, humor, and social commentary. The film has been nominated for six Academy Awards, including Best Original Screenplay, and has received significant buzz from audiences with its unique narrative structure, vibrant characters, and emotional depth.

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Sean Baker

Sean Baker is known for crafting character-driven stores that represent the marginalized fringes of society, telling those stories with compassion and respect.

He is from New Jersey and graduated from NYU’s prestigious film school. After, he began his career in television as a co-creator of the sitcom Greg the Bunny (FX/FOX).

Baker’s first four major films have all featured sex work. His breakout film was Tangerine (2015), about sex workers in Los Angeles. It was shot entirely on an iPhone 5S. He gained more momentum with The Florida Project (2017), about a mother who engages in sex work to provide for her child while living in a motel next to Disney World. There was also Red Rocket (2021), about a retired adult film star. But nothing has “rocketed” him like Anora.

Anora is about a Brooklyn sex worker navigating the world of power, privilege, and societal judgment.

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Why This Screenplay is Worthy of an Oscar-Nomination

The final scene of Anora encapsulates everything that makes the screenplay memorable. It’s the “special sauce” that elevates Sean Baker’s work from a compelling narrative to an emotionally profound exploration of self-awareness and authenticity.

As the screenplay nears its conclusion, the tension and stakes have built to a fever pitch, leaving audiences and readers expecting a dramatic twist. Yet, Baker subverts expectations in the best way possible, offering not a twist but a profoundly symbolic and emotionally raw moment that cements Ani’s character arc.

Have a read, and then we’ll discuss it:

In this climactic scene, Igor, Ani’s handler and one of the most nuanced characters in the story, presents her with her previously taken 4-carat diamond ring worth around $200,000. On the surface, this act of kindness is a gesture of respect and care, but choosing a diamond is not incidental. It harkens back to Ani’s main rival, a fellow dancer named Diamond, whose presence in the story has been a constant reminder of Ani’s struggles for agency and self-worth.

The ring is more than a gesture; it symbolizes Ani’s internal journey and the contradictions she faces as she attempts to reconcile who she was with who she is becoming.

After Igor gives Ani the ring, their conversation reveals the subtle layers of her emotional state.

When Ani attempts to compliment Igor by saying the car he drives is “very you,” it’s evident that she is reverting to the performative flattery she has long relied upon in her career. This instinct to say what men want to hear rather than express her true feelings is second nature to her and has become a defense mechanism.

Igor presses her, asking her to be honest. For a moment, Ani cracks. She admits she doesn’t like the car. This may seem minor, but it marks a significant shift in Ani’s character: she is wavering between the woman she used to be—guarded and transactional—and the woman she has grown into, someone learning to embrace vulnerability and authenticity.

What follows is a moment of silence between them. For perhaps the first time, Ani is with a man who desires her but does not impose himself on her.

Igor respects her space, offering her a safe moment to sit with her emotions. This silence is both liberating and overwhelming for Ani. In her vulnerability, she instinctively retreats to her defense mechanism, climbing onto Igor’s lap in a gesture that is equal parts comfort and deflection.

She transitions into her sexualized self, putting on the mask she has worn for so long, using sexuality as a way to avoid confronting her pain by gaining temporary power and status.

But Igor does not reciprocate. He does not want sex. He wants true intimacy. His gaze, his restraint, and his respect for Ani force her to confront something she has rarely encountered: a man who sees her as a complete person, not a sexual object.

This realization is both beautiful and infuriating for Ani. In that moment, she is forced to face her own vulnerability and recognize the emotional growth she has experienced throughout the story.

This scene culminates Ani’s journey toward self-awareness and emotional authenticity. It strips away the transactional rituals and power dynamics that have defined her relationships and reveals her true self.

It’s not wrapped in a neat bow; Ani is still in pain, still grappling with her identity, but she has grown. This moment, raw and symbolic, makes Anora exceptional and worthy of its Oscar nomination.

It’s a testament to Sean Baker’s ability to craft characters and scenes that resonate on a deeply human level, leaving audiences moved.

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Development

The film’s development began with Baker’s admiration for actress Mikey Madison after her performance in Quentin Tarantino’s Once Upon a Time in Hollywood. Baker approached Madison, proposing a film written specifically for her, and she accepted.

BY THE WAY:

Can we pause and talk about the young (previously undiscovered) talent in Once Upon a Time in Hollywood? The Manson Family kids:

• Mikey Madison - Nominated for Best Actress for Anora

• Margaret Qualley - The Substance, Kinds of Kindness

• Sydney Sweeney - Megastar (Euphoria, White Lotus)

• Austin Butler - Golden Globe winner (Elvis Presley, Dune, Masters of the Air, Bikeriders)

• Dakota Fanning - She was already established and the big name of the group.

• Maya Hawke and Leslie Van Houten are next.

So… who was the casting director? The LEGEND: Victoria Thomas (146 BIG credits)

Madison went to work learning Russian and a Brooklyn accent while training with exotic dancers. Baker went to work writing.

Along the way, he consulted with Andrea Werhun, a former sex worker and author of the memoir Modern Whore. He brought her on board to help with authenticity; she was present through production.

Baker completed the screenplay in November 2022, and production began three months later. This film was shot in 37 days for a budget of $6 million.

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The Story of Anora

The official logline for Anora reads: “A young sex worker from Brooklyn meets and impulsively marries the son of an oligarch. Once the news reaches Russia, her fairytale is threatened as the parents set out for New York to get the marriage annulled.”

Here’s my go at it: A Brooklyn sex worker fights for love and independence against insurmountable odds when billionaire Russian oligarchs race to New York to shatter her whirlwind marriage to their son.

Beyond the logline, this story is about agency, class, and self-determination.

Ani, the protagonist, is a 23-year-old sex worker at a Manhattan gentlemen’s club. Her world changes when she meets Ivan, the 21-year-old son of a Russian family worth $40 billion. Their transactional relationship evolves into a whirlwind romance, leading to an impulsive marriage. Once Ivan’s parents get word, they board a plane for New York, and the clock starts. Ivan goes missing, and Ani is faced with a crisis.

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A Unique Approach to Writing

Baker’s writing begins with an unusual 10-line block of text describing the electric scene of a gentlemen’s club. He gives it to us like pins in a map rather than a brush on canvas.

“There are 50 girls and 15 guys downstairs and 20 girls and 5 guys upstairs. Throughout the club are 3 security guards, a DJ, the owner and the owner’s right hand man. The music is so loud that everyone is essentially shouting at all times.”

There is no dialogue for the first 12 scenes. Instead, Baker opts to describe what is being said, like writing prose. This gives him the freedom to pull all the strings later on set.

“Ani sweet talks a BUSINESSMAN (50’s) into getting a dance.”

I believe this is because he had grand plans about doing a ONER (tracking shot) weaving in and out of conversations. There is evidence in the script.

“We roll without a cut for ten minutes.”

This did not happen in the film.

Baker was not concerned with page length. This screenplay is a hefty 137 pages and 184 scenes. However, the movie’s runtime is close to spot on: 139 minutes.

Languages

Baker mostly opts for parentheticals to indicate what language is spoken outside of English (Russian or Armenian). One time in the script, he mentions it in an action line instead.

“Everything Toros says, he repeats in Russian.”

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Montages

Montages play a significant role in Anora, with Baker employing them in four distinct ways.

1. The “friends partying” montage on page 28 showcases the vibrant, chaotic energy of Ani and Ivan’s relationship during their week together. He gets very specific here: “We show 7 club interiors and 4 exteriors.”

2. The “just married” montage on page 37 captures the euphoric high of their impulsive decision, with Baker summarizing the spirit of the moment in a single paragraph with no specific scenes.

3. The “learning to be married” montage on pages 40-41 takes a more traditional approach, listing individual scenes that depict the challenges of their new life together.

4. The “looking for Alex in Brighton Beach” montage on page 96 creatively integrates multiple locations into a single action line rather than different scenes.

   “The next section plays out as a montage as the crew scours Brighton Beach, Coney Island and Sheepshead Bay for Ivan. The crew hits restaurants (Varenichnaya, Ocean View, etc.), bars (Volna, Cafe Max, etc.) with interesting interactions with staff and regulars as they ask if anyone has seen Ivan. Toros shows the Insta photo to everybody. No luck.”

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Baker’s Thumbprint

His writing thumbprint is using present participles (-ing) rather than action verbs. This is his voice on the page. Here is what I’m talking about.

Sean Baker:

“Ani is eating dinner from a tupperware container while scrolling on her phone. Lulu is sitting in front of the mirror next to two other dancers. They are doing their make-up and vaping.”

Verb Approach:

Ani eats dinner from a tupperware container while she scrolls on her phone. Lulu sits in front of the mirror next to two other dancers. They do their make-up and vape.

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Comedy

There is a masterful balance of slapstick comedy to accompany all the drama. This surprised me. Pulling this off requires a high level of skill.

Some of the standout moments are:

• Toros answering the phone and texting while at a newborn sacrament at church.

• Refusing to allow the Escalade to be towed.

• The mansion fight scene.

• All of Anora’s dealings with Diamond.

• The fight at the gentlemen’s club.

• The confrontation and destruction of the vape shop with a golf club (which is a candy shop and baseball bat in the film)

• The courthouse scene.

• Toros lecturing the young people at the diner.

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Out of Order

There are a few lines in the screenplay that appear to be out of order. This is evidence of scenes being moved around and fragments left behind. For example, on page 76: Toros threatens Ani with a red scarf, but there is no scarf at this point.

It shows up two pages later:

“Toros runs to the closet in the foyer and grabs a designer red scarf.”

Later, during the confrontation in the vape shop, we get this on page 88:

“Tom struggles on the floor in pain.”

However, Tom is not accosted in any way in this script or the film. This may be a crumb left over from a previous draft.

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Setting

This screenplay has a throbbing and vibrant sense of setting. There are no generic backdrops here. The scenes come across as genuine and lived-in.

Baker dips us in contrast by taking us to:

• High-end Manhattan gentleman’s club

• Worn streets of Brighton Beach

• The grand Mill Basin with its charm and opulence (If this were a Cinderella story, the mansion would be Prince Charming’s castle)

• The risky, over-indulgent land of poor choices - Vegas

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Imagery and Symbolism

Symbolism is woven throughout Anora, with the color red serving as a recurring motif. Red appears all over the page in various forms, such as furniture, neon signs, a red scarf, and other visual elements.

The red scarf, in particular, plays a pivotal role. It first appears during a moment of violence and is later recontextualized as a gesture of kindness from Igor. In the film, it is used as an imagery device. The scarf is often framed with shades of blue and white (The American Dream).

Ani’s real name (Anora) is also a bit of symbolism. It means light in a dark space. She struggles with identifying with her name throughout the screenplay. It keeps coming up. This is an emotional topic between her and Igor. Her name symbolizes her transformation.

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Themes

At its core, Anora is a story about agency and self-determination. Ani’s journey is defined by her struggle to maintain her independence in a world that constantly seeks to undermine her. From the judgment she faces as a sex worker to the power dynamics in her relationship with Ivan and his family, Ani refuses to let others dictate her worth.

The screenplay also examines societal expectations and class disparity. Ani’s working-class struggles are juxtaposed with the opulence and entitlement of Ivan’s family, highlighting the clash between privilege and resilience. Baker portrays Ani’s defiance as a powerful act of self-respect, even as she navigates the transactional nature of her relationships.

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Conflict

Ani is a multidimensional protagonist whose toughness, vulnerability, and empathy make her deeply relatable. Her internal conflicts—authenticity versus assimilation, stability versus independence, love versus pragmatism—drive the story’s emotional core. Meanwhile, her external conflicts with Ivan’s family and the broader societal forces of privilege and judgment create high stakes.

Igor, Ani’s handler, is one of the screenplay’s most nuanced characters. His moments of kindness and humanity are in stark contrast to the chaos around him, and his interactions with Ani increase his emotional depth. The final scene between Ani and Igor is powerful storytelling, forcing Ani to confront her vulnerability and growth in a way that elevates the entire screenplay.

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Conclusion

Sean Baker’s Anora blends realism, humor, and social commentary into a deeply personal and universally relevant narrative. The screenplay is a literary piece worth reading, from its richly drawn characters to its layered symbolism and thematic depth.

Thanks for reading. Please watch or listen to my podcast on this screenplay. It will be available on YouTube and wherever you get your podcasts on 2/17.

You can always find me at: www.Jeff-Barker.com.