Books for Screenwriters
(page four)
The Screenwriter's Problem Solver: How to Recognize, Identify, and Define Screenwriting Problems - Syd Field
All 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 thatmake 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 forever
•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 forever
Creating Unforgettable Characters - Linda Seger
In this book, Linda Seger shows how to create strong, multidimensional characters in fiction, covering everything from research to character block. Interviews with today's top writers complete this essential volume.
Writer's Guide to Character Traits - Dr. Linda Edelstein
What makes a person commit a white-collar crime? Who is a likely candidate to join a cult? Why do children have imaginary friends? How does birth order affect whether or not a person gets married? When does mind over matter become a crippling problem?
Writer's Guide to Character Traits, 2nd edition answers all of these questions and many others. With more than 400 easy-to-reference lists of traits blended from a variety of behaviors and influences, you'll gain the knowledge you need to create distinctive characters whose personalities correspond to their thoughts and actions - no matter how normal or psychotic they might be. In this updated and expanded edition, you'll also find:
Writer's Guide to Character Traits, 2nd edition answers all of these questions and many others. With more than 400 easy-to-reference lists of traits blended from a variety of behaviors and influences, you'll gain the knowledge you need to create distinctive characters whose personalities correspond to their thoughts and actions - no matter how normal or psychotic they might be. In this updated and expanded edition, you'll also find:
- Comprehensive instruction on how to use this book
- New statistical information to help you create true-to-life characters
- Corresponding exercises that show you how to put the material to work in your stories
- A quick-reference index to make cross-referencing a snap
- Idea sparkers to get your thoughts out of your head and onto the page
The Writer's Guide to Psychology: How to Write Accurately About Psychological Disorders, Clinical Treatment and Human Behavior - Carolyn Kaufman
An accurate and accessible survey of modern psychological theory and practice, this reference offers professional writers practical advice for incorporating psychological elements into their work. With easy-to-understand explanations and definitions, this book is an invaluable resource for any writer wishing to add realistic details to scenes that depict psychologists, mental illnesses and disorders, and psychotherapeutic treatments. Designed around the needs of professional fiction and nonfiction writers, this is an easy-to-use resource that includes historical and modern psychological treatments and terms and refutes popularly held misconceptions.
Breakfast with Sharks: A Screenwriter's Guide to Getting the Meeting, Nailing the Pitch, Signing the Deal, and Navigating the Murky Waters of Hollywood - Michael Lent
What They Didn’t Teach You in Your Screenwriting Course
Screenwriters, listen up! Breakfast with Sharks is not a book about the craft of screenwriting. This is a book about the business of managing your screenwriting career, from advice on choosing an agent to tips on juggling three deal-making breakfasts a day. Prescriptive and useful, Breakfast with Sharks is a real guide to navigating the murky waters of the Hollywood system.
Unlike most of the screenwriting books available, here’s one that tells you what to do after you’ve finished your surefire-hit screenplay. Written from the perspective of Michael Lent, an in-the-trenches working screenwriter in Hollywood, this is a real-world look into the script-to-screen business as it is practiced today.
Breakfast with Sharks is filled with useful advice on everything from the ins and outs of moving to Los Angeles to understanding terms like “spec,” “option,” and “assignment.” Here you’ll learn what to expect from agents and managers and who does what in the studio hierarchy. And most important, Breakfast with Sharks will help you nail your pitch so the studio exec can’t say no.
Rounded out with a Q&A section and resource lists of script competitions, film festivals, trade associations, industry publications, and more, Breakfast with Sharks is chock-full of “take this and use it right now” information for screenwriters at any stage of their careers.
Screenwriters, listen up! Breakfast with Sharks is not a book about the craft of screenwriting. This is a book about the business of managing your screenwriting career, from advice on choosing an agent to tips on juggling three deal-making breakfasts a day. Prescriptive and useful, Breakfast with Sharks is a real guide to navigating the murky waters of the Hollywood system.
Unlike most of the screenwriting books available, here’s one that tells you what to do after you’ve finished your surefire-hit screenplay. Written from the perspective of Michael Lent, an in-the-trenches working screenwriter in Hollywood, this is a real-world look into the script-to-screen business as it is practiced today.
Breakfast with Sharks is filled with useful advice on everything from the ins and outs of moving to Los Angeles to understanding terms like “spec,” “option,” and “assignment.” Here you’ll learn what to expect from agents and managers and who does what in the studio hierarchy. And most important, Breakfast with Sharks will help you nail your pitch so the studio exec can’t say no.
Rounded out with a Q&A section and resource lists of script competitions, film festivals, trade associations, industry publications, and more, Breakfast with Sharks is chock-full of “take this and use it right now” information for screenwriters at any stage of their careers.
The Writer Got Screwed (but didn't have to): Guide to the Legal and Business Practices of Writing for the Entertainment Industry - Brooke A. Wharton
An indispensable roadmap to success, The Writer Got Screwed is the first book to untangle the legal and business aspects of writing for the entertainment industry. It is for the young TV production assistant waiting for a big break, the executive with a treatment tucked away in a bottom drawer, the techie targeting the new field of cyberspace writing, or anyone who is inspired to write screenplays.
Savvy Hollywood entertainment attorney Brooke Wharton decodes legal jargon, explains how to protect creative work, shows how to read between the lines of a contract, and advises how to avoid getting sued and screwed along the way. Useful resources, including a list of agencies, competitions, fellowships, internships, and legal organizations, make The Writer Got Screwed an essential part of every writer's tool chest.
Savvy Hollywood entertainment attorney Brooke Wharton decodes legal jargon, explains how to protect creative work, shows how to read between the lines of a contract, and advises how to avoid getting sued and screwed along the way. Useful resources, including a list of agencies, competitions, fellowships, internships, and legal organizations, make The Writer Got Screwed an essential part of every writer's tool chest.
45 Master Characters - Victoria Schmidt
45 Master Characters will make your characters and their stories more compelling, complex and original than ever before.
You'll explore the most common male and female archetypes—the mythic, cross-cultural models from which all characters originate—and learn how to use them as foundations for your own unique characters. Examples culled from literature, television and film illustrate just how memorable and effective these archetypes can be—from "Gladiators" and "Kings" like Rocky Balboa and Captain Ahab to "Amazons" and "Maidens" like Xena and Guinevere.
The mythic journeys of heroes and heroines—the progression of events upon which each archetype's character arc develops—are also examined. Building such a "journey" into your character's story will enable you to stop worrying about what happens next and get on with telling your tale.
You'll explore the most common male and female archetypes—the mythic, cross-cultural models from which all characters originate—and learn how to use them as foundations for your own unique characters. Examples culled from literature, television and film illustrate just how memorable and effective these archetypes can be—from "Gladiators" and "Kings" like Rocky Balboa and Captain Ahab to "Amazons" and "Maidens" like Xena and Guinevere.
The mythic journeys of heroes and heroines—the progression of events upon which each archetype's character arc develops—are also examined. Building such a "journey" into your character's story will enable you to stop worrying about what happens next and get on with telling your tale.
Dialogue Secrets (Screenwriting Blue Books) [Kindle Edition] - William C. Martell
What makes great dialogue? How can I make my characters each have a different and unique voice?
A step-by-step guide to improve your screenplay's dialogue. How to remove bad dialogue (and what *is* bad dialogue), First Hand Dialogue, Awful Exposition, Realism, 41 Professional Dialogue Techniques you can use *today*, Subtext, Subtitles, Humor, Sizzling Banter, *Anti-Dialogue*, Speeches, and more. Almost 200 pages of tools you can use to make your dialogue sizzle!
Special sections that use dialogue examples from movies as diverse as "Bringing Up Baby", "Psycho", "Double Indemnity", "Notorious", the Oscar nominated "You Can Count On Me", "His Girl Friday", and many more!
Professional Screenwriter William C. Martell (19 produced films) shares professional dialogue techniques, showing you step-by-step how to write great dialogue for your screenplay.
A step-by-step guide to improve your screenplay's dialogue. How to remove bad dialogue (and what *is* bad dialogue), First Hand Dialogue, Awful Exposition, Realism, 41 Professional Dialogue Techniques you can use *today*, Subtext, Subtitles, Humor, Sizzling Banter, *Anti-Dialogue*, Speeches, and more. Almost 200 pages of tools you can use to make your dialogue sizzle!
Special sections that use dialogue examples from movies as diverse as "Bringing Up Baby", "Psycho", "Double Indemnity", "Notorious", the Oscar nominated "You Can Count On Me", "His Girl Friday", and many more!
Professional Screenwriter William C. Martell (19 produced films) shares professional dialogue techniques, showing you step-by-step how to write great dialogue for your screenplay.
The Secrets Of Action Screenwriting (fully revised edition) [Kindle Edition] - William C. Martell
Now fully revised! The Screenwriting Book recommended by an Oscar Winning Screenwriter and a Screenwriter with *Four* of the Top Twenty Box Office Movies Of All Time! The old version sells on Amazon for $399 (check it out!).
The old version was 240 pages packed with tips and techniques - the new version is fully expanded with new chapters and is over 500 pages! Real techniques from a working professional screenwriter that you won't find anywhere else! Let the other books tell you about the 3 act structure! This book covers: How to write a plot twist, the four kinds of suspense (and how to create it), reversals to keep your description exciting, ten ways to invent new action scenes, secrets and lies, creating the ultimate villain, five kinds of love interests, creating effective violence, is sex necessary?, theme, using magnification to create kick ass stories, weapons for weirdos, plans for world destruction and/or domination, four ways to explode cliches, twelve steps to a more focused script, *every* type of hero, emotional action scenes, your script's DNA, pre-story goal and the connection to story goal, pacing, *how* to plot, giving them something extra, and more.... Plus a complete analysis of the classic DIE HARD!
Though this book focuses on the Action and Thriller genres, the information can be used in any genre. This is the book professional screenwriters recommend!
The old version was 240 pages packed with tips and techniques - the new version is fully expanded with new chapters and is over 500 pages! Real techniques from a working professional screenwriter that you won't find anywhere else! Let the other books tell you about the 3 act structure! This book covers: How to write a plot twist, the four kinds of suspense (and how to create it), reversals to keep your description exciting, ten ways to invent new action scenes, secrets and lies, creating the ultimate villain, five kinds of love interests, creating effective violence, is sex necessary?, theme, using magnification to create kick ass stories, weapons for weirdos, plans for world destruction and/or domination, four ways to explode cliches, twelve steps to a more focused script, *every* type of hero, emotional action scenes, your script's DNA, pre-story goal and the connection to story goal, pacing, *how* to plot, giving them something extra, and more.... Plus a complete analysis of the classic DIE HARD!
Though this book focuses on the Action and Thriller genres, the information can be used in any genre. This is the book professional screenwriters recommend!
My Story Can Beat Up Your Story: Ten Ways to Toughen Up Your Screenplay from Opening Hook to Knockout Punch - Jeffrey Schechter
My Story Can Beat Up Your Story! is the same powerful, easy-to-learn system that industry insiders have used to generate millions of dollars in script sales and ?assignments. In a clear, step-by-step fashion, this book is a fun, eye-opening, ?brain-expanding, and often irreverent guide to writing stories that sell. Covering everything from Heroes to Villains, from Theme to Plot Points, from cooking up good ideas to abusiness plan for smart writers, this book forever eliminates that horrible feeling every writer goes through staring at the blank page and wondering what comes next?