Books on screenwriting.....

[Forty]

Best book on screenwriting: http://www.clickok.co.uk/index4.html

[André]

I think Michael Hague's book is very good ... and I think Blake Snyder's Save the Cat! is especially good for new writers and is easy to digest at less than 200 pages.

I studied Save the Cat and though it was good, but now doubt because it's hard to find movies really fit the pattern n STC. I am leaning more towards the TotallyWrite these days, now called Contour. Feels better and it seems to fit most movies I watch.

[ScriptNurse]

Indeed, they DO come to life. When you find yourself saying, "She wouldn't say it like that." That's a good indication.

[Chuck58]

I just finished Syd Field's book Screenplay: The Foundations of Screenwriting, and I loved it.  It was very illuminating.  It helped me to see a lot of things.

There is reason for you to direct.  That's the job of the director.  You have to trust in others, as filmmaking is a truly collaborative effort.  Just describe you scene as you see it.  It's really all you can do.

Be true to who your characters are.  If they wander away from your outline, maybe it's because they, as a person, wouldn't do what the outline calls for.  You characters will speak to you, and tell you what to do.

That's it, exactly. Great way of putting it. Non-writers don't understand how an imaginary person can come to life. I think when they do the story comes more alive. They develop their own voices, personalities. Inevitably, the story will take off in a slightly different direction.

[scripto]

I just finished Syd Field's book Screenplay: The Foundations of Screenwriting, and I loved it.  It was very illuminating.  It helped me to see a lot of things.

There is reason for you to direct.  That's the job of the director.  You have to trust in others, as filmmaking is a truly collaborative effort.  Just describe you scene as you see it.  It's really all you can do.

Be true to who your characters are.  If they wander away from your outline, maybe it's because they, as a person, wouldn't do what the outline calls for.  You characters will speak to you, and tell you what to do.

[Chuck58]

Next time we get to town, I've got Save the Cat on my list. I've seen it mentioned in a lot of places.

With Celtx, Final Draft, Movie Magic, or any good screenplay formatting software, even a couple I've found for MS Word, that part of the problem is solved. I can't imagine how they did it with a typewriter.

The best I can explain my problem is being able to do a couple of things:

1. Keep the scene descriptions to a minimum and quit trying to direct.
2. Stick to an outline. I find the story gallivanting off track within a couple of pages. It's the same with my novels. The characters take over and just won't obey me.

[ravenskya]

I read and liked most of "Save that Cat"

the one that actually helped me get through my mental blocks was "How to write a screenplay in 21 days" I LOVE that book.  It lives in my purse now.

[rnbrewer]

I hear that Uncle Al. It's amazing how many books one can find, in print, on a single subject. 

[uncle_al]

Well, since Lew Hunter is one of the honchos of the Graduate Screenwriting program at UCLA, it would figure.

I've got most of them, too... some I reread often, some I've read once and leave on the shelf.  Some were a waste of time, money, and the trees they cut down to make them.

Cheers!
Al B.

[rnbrewer]

Just don't do what I did, which is go out and buy every book on screenwriting under the sun (well, maybe not THAT many). I own the "Screenwriters Bible", "Idiots Guide To Screenwriting", "Lew Hunters Screenwriting 434" (actually a pretty good one), and about six others. I even have a pocket guide of sorts which I never use and I never take with me. In short, most of them have about the same information in them, but some are more useful than others.

Idiots Guide I could live without. The Screenwriters Bible I found to be quite useful and more strait forward. Lew Hunters book is a bit more technical which makes sense since the book is based on his screenwriting classes. I believe it's still used as a text book in some schools, but I could be wrong. 

[ScriptNurse]

I think Michael Hague's book is very good ... and I think Blake Snyder's Save the Cat! is especially good for new writers and is easy to digest at less than 200 pages.

[uncle_al]

There's a few more I'd recommend, Chuck...

Save the Cat! by Blake Snyder is really good... I haven't fooled with the software package developed from it, but the book helped me clarify my mind quite a bit.

Syd Field's books I can take or leave... I wouldn't dis them, but I wouldn't recommend them highly either.

Dave Trottier's The Screenwriter's Bible is invaluable.  The new fourth edition has up-to-date (at least, up to printing date) versions of acceptable format, and how and when to use them.  (Trottier himself writes for Script Magazine, as "Dr. Format".)

I've got the Hauge, too.  It's a really good book.

Cheers!
Al B.

[Chuck58]

I've got only one. Writing Screenplays That Sell by Michael Hauge.

I've read it cover to cover a couple of times, and it sits on the table with my laptop when I'm working. It's a bit dated now in some areas, written I think in the latter 1980's.

The principles, rules, outlining, character and story building and all the rest are still good to go.