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The Screenwriter Looks at the Screenwriter
by William FrougTwelve of Hollywood's top screenwriters discuss their craft and their lives, including: Johnson 'Grapes of Wrath', Diamond 'Some Like It Hot', Henry 'The Graduate', and Lardner 'M*A*S*H'.
The Screenwriter Within: How to Turn the Movie in Your Head into a Salable Screenplay
by D. B. GillesIf you've ever dreamed of writing a screenplay,The Screenwriter Withinis the book for you. Insightful, inspirational, and wildly irreverent, it takes you through all the stages of the writing process, using references to hit movies and the author's personal experience to show you how to: Turn everyday events into big-screen successes Find the best stories to turn into screenplays Develop strong characters Write compelling dialogue Find your niche as a screenwriter . . . and much more.
Screenwriters and Screenwriting
by Craig BattyScreenwriters and Screenwriting is an innovative, fresh and lively book that is useful for both screenwriting practice and academic study. It is international in scope, with case studies and analyses from the US, the UK, Australia, Japan, Ireland and Denmark. The book presents a distinctive collection of chapters from creative academics and critical practitioners that serve one purpose: to put aspects of screenwriting practice into their relevant contexts. Focusing on how screenplays are written, developed and received, the contributors challenge assumptions of what 'screenwriting studies' might be, and celebrates the role of the screenwriter in the creation of a screenplay. It is intended to be thought provoking and stimulating, with the ultimate aim of inspiring current and future screenwriting practitioners and scholars.
The Screenwriter's Bible: A Complete Guide To Writing, Formatting, And Selling Your Script
by David TrottierThe Bible is five books bound into a single volume. -- a screenwriting primer (provides a concise presentation of screenwriting basics) -- a formatting guide (presents both correct screenplay and teleplay formats) -- a screenwriting workbook (the writing process, from nascent ideas to revisions) -- a sales and marketing guide (offers a marketing plan and sales strategies) -- a resource guide (provides contacts for industry organizations, guilds and unions, schools, publications, support groups and services, contests, etc.)
The Screenwriter's Bible: A Complete Guide to Writing, Formatting, and Selling Your Script
by David TrottierThe Screenwriter s Bible's 7th edition marks the 25th anniversary of one of the most popular, authoritative, and useful books on screenwriting. A standard by which other screenwriting books are measured, it has sold over 340,000 copies in its 25-year life. Always up-to-date and reliable, it contains everything that both the budding and working screenwriter need under one cover five books in one!
A Screenwriter's Companion: Instruction, Opinion, Encouragement
by Joseph Dougherty Scott Ryan“I was a writer before I knew what a writer was.” -Joseph DoughertyJoseph Dougherty has been a successful playwright and television writer, producer, and director for more than thirty years. He's written for breakthrough series that have changed the way we look at television drama, from thirtysomething to Pretty Little Liars, winning everything from Emmys to Teen Choice Awards along the way.In A Screenwriter's Companion, Dougherty offers insights and advice both practical and nonpractical to writers and would-be writers. Dougherty's voice comes off the page with anecdotes about the writing process, hard-learned tips for survival in “the business,” and reflections on the influences that head led him to a successful career. Honestly, entertainingly, without cynicism, he gives readers permission to embrace the writer they want to be, so they can experience the rewards and satisfactions of writing. Beyond an insider's take on story and structure, dialogue, action and outlining, A Screenwriter's Companion is as much mentor as it is manual. With every insider observation about how to keep a potential producer reading till the last page of a script, there's encouragement to explore your thoughts and memories, things a writer needs to embrace in order to become more than “a pro.” In short, to see writing not as merely a career, but as a way to greater self-understanding.
The Screenwriter's Guide to Agents and Managers
by John Scott LewinskiThe lessons to be learned from this helpful guide show aspiring screenwriters, television writers, and novelists how to catch an agent's eye and develop a successful scriptwriting career. Step-by-step instructions reveal how to get around the "Catch 22" of the trade-that you can't get an agent until you've sold a script. Interviews with prominent agents and managers disclose how the power brokers choose material, what kinds of writers command their attention, and what they expect from the writers they sign on. Tips on how to write a winning spec script, how to word an effective query letter, how to forge a sound relationship with reps, and other invaluable advice fill this insider's guide.
The Screenwriter's Legal Guide: Third Edition
by Stephen BreimerThis authoritative guide will help both fledgling and established writers to negotiate the best deal, protect their work, and get fair compensation for it. One of the most powerful entertainment lawyers in Hollywood provides easy-to-understand, expert advice on all the legal issues involved in the business of screenwriting. He gives an enlightening explanation of the screenwriter's position in the industry and then provides a thorough discussion of contracts, options, and working with agents and lawyers. This book shows screenwriters what to give up as a lost cause and what to hold out for.
Screenwriters on Screen-Writing: The Best in the Business Discuss Their Craft
by Joel EngelBefore any lights, camera, or action, there's the script--arguably the most important single element in filmmaking, and Screenwriters on Screen-Writing introduces the men and women responsible for the screenplays that have produced some of the most successful and acclaimed films in Hollywood history. In each interview, not only do the writers explore the craft and technique of creating a filmic blueprint, but they recount the colorful tales of coming up in the ranks of the movie business and of bringing their stories to the screen, in a way that only natural-born storytellers such as themselves can. These and other screenwriters have garnered the attention of the movie-going population not only with their words, but with headlines announcing the sales of their scripts for hundreds of thousands and sometimes millions of dollars.Anyone interested in writing, making, or learning about movies will enjoy reading this fascinating behind-the-scenes compendium that brings together some of the most prominent and talented screenwriters in modern-day filmmaking. Screenwriters interviewed include:Bruce Joel Rubin (Ghost), Ernest Lehman (North by Northwest, Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf?), Amy Holden Jones (Indecent Proposal), Ted Tally (The Silence of the Lambs), Horton Foote (To Kill a Mockingbird, Tender Mercies), Andrew Bergman (The In-Laws), Caroline Thompson (Edward Scissorhands), Richard LaGravenese (The Fisher King), and Robert Towne (Chinatown, Shampoo).
The Screenwriter's Path: From Idea to Script to Sale
by Diane LakeThe Screenwriter’s Path takes a comprehensive approach to learning how to write a screenplay—allowing the writer to use it as both a reference and a guide in constructing a script. A tenured professor of screenwriting at Emerson College in Boston, author Diane Lake has 20 years' experience writing screenplays for major studios and was a co-writer of the Academy-award winning film Frida. The book sets out a unique approach to story structure and characterization that takes writers, step by step, to a completed screenplay, and it is full of practical advice on what to do with the finished script to get it seen by the right people. By demystifying the process of writing a screenplay, Lake empowers any writer to bring their vision to the screen.
The Screenwriter's Problem Solver
by Syd FieldAll writing is rewriting. But what do you change, and how do you change it? All screenplays have problems. They happened to Die Hard: With a Vengeance and Broken Arrow-and didn't get fixed, leaving the films flawed. They nearly shelved Platoon-until Oliver Stone rewrote the first ten pages and created a classic. They happen to every screenwriter. But good writers see their problems as a springboard to creativity. Now bestselling author Syd Field, who works on over 1,000 screenplays a year, tells you step-by-step how to identify and fix common screenwriting problems, providing the professional secrets that make movies brilliant-secrets that can make your screenplay one headed for success...or even Cannes. Learn how to:*Understand what makes great stories work*Make your screenplay work in the first ten pages, using Thelma & Louise and Dances With Wolves as models*Use a "dream assignment" to let your creative self break free overnight*Make action build character, the way Quentin Tarantino does*Recover when you hit the "wall"-and overcome writer's block foreverFrom the Trade Paperback edition.
The Screenwriters Taxonomy: A Collaborative Approach to Creative Storytelling
by Eric WilliamsIn The Screenwriters Taxonomy, award-winning screenwriter and educator Eric R. Williams offers a new collaborative approach for creative storytellers to recognize, discuss and reinvent storytelling paradigms. Williams presents seven different aspects of storytelling that can be applied to any fictional narrative film—from super genre, macrogenre and microgenre to voice and point of view—allowing writers to analyze existing films and innovate on these structures in their own stories. Moving beyond film theory, Williams describes how this roadmap for creative decision making can relate to classics like Sunset Boulevard, The Wizard of Oz and Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid as well as such diverse modern favorites like 12 Years a Slave, Anomalisa and Shrek.
The Screenwriter's Workbook (Revised Edition)
by Syd FieldAt last! The classic screenwriting workbook—now completely revised and updated—from the celebrated lecturer, teacher, and bestselling author, Syd Field: “the most sought-after screenwriting teacher in the world”* No one knows more about screenwriting than Syd Field—and now the ultimate Hollywood insider shares his secrets and expertise, completely updating his bestselling workbook for a new generation of screenwriters. Filled with new material—including fresh insights and anecdotes from the author and analyses of films from Pulp Fiction to Brokeback Mountain—The Screenwriter’s Workbook is your very own hands-on workshop, the book that allows you to participate in the processes that have made Syd Field’s workshops invaluable to beginners and working professionals alike. Follow this workbook through to the finish, and you’ll end up with a complete and salable script! Learn how to: • Define the idea on which your script will be built • Create the model—the paradigm—that professionals use • Bring your characters to life • Write dialogue like a pro • Structure your screenplay for success from the crucial first pages to the final act Here are systematic instructions, easy-to-follow exercises, a clear explanation of screenwriting basics, and expert advice at every turn—all the moment-to-moment, line-by-line help you need to transform your initial idea into a professional screenplay that’s earmarked for success. The Perfect Companion Volume to Syd Field’s Revised and Updated Edition of Screenplay: The Foundations of Screenwriting *Hollywood Reporter
Screenwriting for a Global Market: Selling Your Scripts from Hollywood to Hong Kong
by Andrew HortonThis book provides the practical know-how for breaking into the global marketplace. It offers specific advice on writing for screens large and small, around the world from Hollywood to New Zealand, from Europe to Russia, and for alternative American markets including Native American, regional, and experimental.
Screenwriting For Dummies
by Laura SchellhardtSuspend your disbelief—you can make it as a screenwriter Behind every blockbuster film and binge-worthy show, there’s a screenwriter—and that writer could be you! Turn your brainstorming sessions into dynamic scripts with the help of Screenwriting For Dummies. Create believable worlds with relatable characters, gripping dialogue, and narrative structures that will keep even the showbiz bigwigs on the edge of their seats. Once you’ve polished your product, it’s time to bring it to market. This book is full of advice that will help you get eyes on your screenplays so you can sell your work and find success as a screenwriter. From web series to movie musicals to feature films, this book shows you how to develop and hone your craft. Learn to think like a screenwriter and turn story ideas into visually driven, relatable scripts that will get noticed Study the elements of a story, like plot structure (beginning, middle, and end) and characterization (wait, who’s that, again?) Hop over the hurdle of writer’s block, and tackle other obstacles that stand in the way of your scriptwriting career Get insider insight into finding an agent and meeting with studio execs, plus alternative markets for your finished work This updated edition covers the latest trends and opportunities—and there are lots of them—for today’s writers. Let Dummies help you map out your story and put your script on the road to production. Thank us when your work goes viral!
Screenwriting For Dummies, 2nd Edition
by Laura Schellhardt John LoganWrite a great script and get it into the hands of the Hollywood players! So you want to be a screenwriter? Whether you want to write a feature film or a TV script or adapt your favorite book, this friendly guide gives you expert advice in everything from creating your story and developing memorable characters to formatting your script and selling it to the studios. You get savvy industry tips and strategies for getting your screenplay noticed! The screenwriting process from A to Z -- from developing a concept and thinking visually to plotline, conflicts, pacing, and the conclusion Craft living, breathing characters -- from creating the backstory to letting your characters speak to balancing dialogue with action Turn your story into a script -- from developing an outline and getting over writer's block to formatting your screenplay and handling rewrites Prepare for Hollywood -- from understanding the players and setting your expectations to polishing your copy and protecting your work Sell your script to the industry -- from preparing your pitch and finding an agent to meeting with executives and making a deal Open the book and find: The latest on the biz, from entertainment blogs to top agents to box office jargon New story examples from recently released films Tips on character development, a story's time clock, dramatic structure, and dialogue New details on developing the nontraditional screenplay -- from musicals to animation to high dramatic style Expanded information on adaptation and collaboration, with examples from successful screenwriting duos
Screenwriting for Micro-Budget Films: Tips, Tricks and Hacks for Reverse Engineering Your Screenplay
by David J GreenbergScreenwriting for micro-budget films can present its own challenges and this book takes the reader through all the considerations that need to be made to write an effective screenplay for a low-budget film. Drawing on his own experience, case studies from films such as Primer, Coherence and Reservoir Dogs, as well as the perspectives of working screenwriters such as Joe Swanberg and Alex Ross-Perry, Greenberg explores common pitfalls screenwriters face and suggests practical solutions. This book lays the groundworks of the realities of low-budget filmmaking and also talks through the practical aspects, such as story structure and genre considerations. Greenberg makes the process of writing a screenplay for a low-budget film accessible and creative, allowing student and independent filmmakers to tailor their writing for their films. This book is ideal for aspiring screenwriters, independent filmmakers and students of screenwriting.
Screenwriting for Profit: Writing for the Global Marketplace
by Andrew StevensThis book teaches readers how global trends define the marketplace for saleable screenplays in key international territories as well as the domestic market. Veteran writer, producer, and director Andrew Stevens gives you the insider edge you need to write for the global marketplace, sharing his decades of experience producing and financing everything from micro-budget independent films to major studio releases. In leveraging Stevens’ comprehensive experience, you will learn how to determine specific subject matter, genre, and story elements to make the most of international sales trends, and harness the power of these insider strategies to craft a screenplay that is poised to sell.
Screenwriting for Virtual Reality: Story, Space and Experience (Palgrave Studies in Screenwriting)
by Kath Dooley Alex MuntThis book is focused on screenwriting and development for virtual reality (VR). It explores a diverse range of creative approaches to the writing and screen development of VR stories and immersive audience experiences. Contributions from scholars and practitioners combine conceptual and practically orientated approaches for creating fictional and documentary media VR stories. The book evaluates, challenges and adapts existing screenwriting models and practices for immersive storytelling and grapples with the future of storytelling in the era of sophisticated computer visualization, AI and the online social metaverse. The book proposes new VR storytelling models, identifies altered relationships between creators, screen works and their audiences and demonstrates how interdisciplinary practices will be core to the future of screen storytelling.
Screenwriting from the Inside Out: Think and Write like a Creative
by Margaret McVeighThis book provides aspiring screenwriters with a practical and informed way to learn how to think and write like a “creative”. It stands apart from, yet complements, other screenwriting “how to” books by connecting the transdisciplinary academic fields of screenwriting, film studies and cognitive psychology and neuroscience. Using a stepped approach, it shows the writer how to understand that how we think, shapes what we write, so that we may write better.
Screenwriting Fundamentals: The Art and Craft of Visual Writing
by Irv BauerScreenwriting Fundamentals: The Art and Craft of Visual Writing takes a step-by-step approach to screenwriting, starting with a blank page and working through each element of the craft. Written in an approachable anecdote-infused style that’s full of humor, Bauer shows the writer how to put the pieces together, taking the process of screenwriting out of the cerebral and on to the page. Part One of the book covers character, location, time-frame and dialogue, emphasizing the particularity in writing for a visual medium. Part Two of the book focuses on the narrative aspect of screenwriting. Proceeding incrementally from the idea and story outline, through plotting and writing the treatment, the workshop-in-a-book concludes with writing the First Draft. A unique emphasis on the visual elements of storytelling because the camera is always present—the screenplay must act as a guide for the director and the editor. A "workshop in a book" approach that walks the reader step-by-step through a screenplay—focusing on character, location, time frame, visual components, and transitions—with plenty of exercises that generate material for the narrative writing process. A process-oriented approach, combined with a lighthearted tone and approachable style, that allows the reader to ease into the daunting task of writing a First Draft and takes them all the way through to the end— First Draft in hand.
Screenwriting in The Land of Oz
by Richard KrevolinSet your sights on a screenwriting career--and you know you're not in Kansas anymore. With some 100,000 original screenplays vying to be among the 7,000 few made into movies every year, craft is key and competition is fierce. Enter the Wizard: Award-winning screenwriter and playwright and acclaimed writing instructor Richard Krevolin, who shows you the way to turn your good ideas into great stories, and your great stories into compelling scripts.With the writer's gift for storytelling and the professor's gift for teaching, Krevolin gives you the brains, heart, and courage you need to make it in the Emerald City of Hollywood--one yellow brick at a time.
Screenwriting in The Land of Oz: The Wizard on Writing, Living, and Making It In Hollywood
by Richard KrevolinSet your sights on a screenwriting career-and you know you're not in Kansas anymore. With some 100,000 original screenplays vying to be among the 7,000 few made into movies every year, craft is key and competition is fierce. Enter the Wizard: Award-winning screenwriter and playwright and acclaimed writing instructor Richard Krevolin, who shows you the way to turn your good ideas into great stories, and your great stories into compelling scripts.With the writer's gift for storytelling and the professor's gift for teaching, Krevolin gives you the brains, heart, and courage you need to make it in the Emerald City of Hollywood-one yellow brick at a time.
Screenwriting in the Land of Oz
by Richard KrevolinSet your sights on a screenwriting career--and you know you're not in Kansas anymore. With some 100,000 new, original screenplays vying to be among the 7,000 few made into movies every year, craft is key and competition is fierce. Enter the Wizard: Award-winning screenwriter, playwright, and acclaimed writing instructor Richard Krevolin, who shows you the way to turn your good ideas into great stories, and your great stories into compelling scripts. With the writer's gift for storytelling and the professor's gift for teaching, Krevolin gives you the brains, heart, and courage you need to make it in the Emerald City of Hollywood--one yellow brick at a time.
Screenwriting Poetics and the Screen Idea
by Ian W. MacdonaldA new, original investigation into how screenwriting works; the practices, creative 'poetics' and texts that serve the screen idea. Using a range of film, media and creative theories, it includes new case studies on the successful ITV soap Emmerdale, Hitchcock's first major screenwriter and David Lean's unfinished film, Nostromo.