Martell's "Action Screenwriting" -- The Review

[Keith Kocaine]

The book can be summed up by the tounge in cheek remark by Roger Avary, screenwriter for Pulp Fiction: "This book is dangerous. I feel threatened by it."

Down to business. "The Secrets of Action Screenwriting" by William C Martell is simply a must-have book for your library. Martell lays it on the line. He tells you everything you need to know about the action genre. Not only that, the book is applicable to other genres as well.

It's an easy read and the author has an excellent sense of humour. Don't expect to read about Arnold Schwarzenegger. To Martell it's Ah-nuld. Good stuff on Steven Seagal and Sly Stallone too.

One of my favorite techniques he uses is to give examples from his actual screenplays. Excellent. Read it as a pro wrote it before the movie executives got their hands on Martell's work of art and screwed it up.

I laughed out loud when Martell told the story of his movie "Crash Dive." It takes place on a submarine. The producers insisted on a sex scene. Martell responded by saying : "There are 110 men on the submarine, what kind of sex did you have in mind?"

In conclusion, I highly recommend this book. You can purchase
it at amazon.com or at Martell's website.

Just one last thing. Mr Martell, if you read this review, I have a question. Just exactly what are "popeye points"?

[Willoughby]

I haven't read the book, but I want to contribute an anecdote from this year's Expo: I was walking down a hall on the last day and struck up a conversation with the only other person nearby (most folk were in the farewell ceremony/thingie). I happened to ask him what book he would recommend if I could only buy one book on screenwriting.

Turns out he was the guy to ask as, for some reason (writer for a script mag? I forget) he reads and reviews almost every screenwriting title out there. He said that out of the hundreds collecting dust in his den there are three he uses and one he can't live without: Martell's Action Writing.

At first not interested in chatting, when I asked him that question he grew so animated by the chance to recommend it to me that he immediately marched me to the sales room to see to it I bought a copy. The only reason I didn't was that Martell himself had sold out - as had the Writer's Shop table, where the employees didn't have to check that they'd run out because they'd been getting questions about it all day and had long since triple and quadruple checked on it.

Dang, do I want me a copy of that book. I'll probably buy one after the big move.

Willoughby

PS: I also took Mr. Martell's class about generating ideas, *and* he helped me with a logline issue I'd been struggling with. Man knows his stuff! He is absolutely the real deal.

[wcmartell]

Thanks!

Popeye Points: Page 48 of the book. For those of you who don't have the book and feel like just giving a page number is some sort of rip off - That point at the end of Act 2 when the hero has been pressed up against the wall, and has no choice but to fight. This is when Popeye always says "I've had alls I can stand and I can't stands no more" and eats his spinach, then kicks some Bluto butt.

- Bill

[creativexec]

It is a great book.

I have TWO copies - one at work and one at
home.


:D

[JakeSchuster aka Ostroff]

I only have one.

But then again, I work from home.

Vital reading for all screenwriters.:)

[Keith Kocaine]

Okay. Thanks Bill! I must have misunderstood the popeye-points thing or been stoned at the time. Or both of the above! :lol

[JakeSchuster aka Ostroff]

Keith Kocaine...stoned?

Surely you josh!:hat

[dlshooter]

Awesome book Bill! Just finished it, one of the best I've read and not just on the genre. A buoy of insight, practicality and mechanics bobbing in the cesspool of SW books from all those film Professors in their ivory towers far from the real industry.8o Thanks.

[Keith Kocaine]

Jake! Wutcha smokin' in that glass pipe bro? Pass the peace pipe around.

I gotta make another comment about Bill Martell's book versus Lew Hunter's. Please be aware that Mr Hunter wrote one of the five greatest screenplays in history. He says so.

Now, on the other hand, Mr Martell doesn't have that on his resume. Just thought I'd mention it. :rollin

SIRIUSly radio though, you only need two screenwriting books in your library. Trottier's "Bible" and Martell's "Action Screenwriting." I understand that Bill is writing another book. Looking forward to it! :)

[Drewish Princess]

Well...I'm sold, really. I bought the book today at the writer's store! I too wanted to get it at the Expo this past year but it was, in fact, sold out. I went to a seminar (at Expo 3) by Mr. Martell and it was really fun! I'm glad you guys reminded me to buy it. :)

Got my highlighter and post its and I'm off to read....

[dlshooter]

Was re-reading another SW book, one I'm a big fan of actually, by a reader. Kinda found myself put off by it this pass however. Guy seems to go out of his way to show off how much he knows about literature, film history, fifty cent words, etc. (things he reminds you several times never to try in your screenplay, which I thought was interesting) Good for him but it kind of strays from the whole theme of his own book: economic and effective writing. The higher education of the avg. reader over all of us lowly, inept, film geek wannabe's is pointed out several times BTW.

Found myself longing for Bill's nuts and bolts approach to a lot of the same topics adressed and what do you know...had to reach for it.

Was so moved a second time I just had to write a little bit more praise.

[Aspiring Screenwriter]

I will have to read "The Secrets of Action Screenwriting." It sounds really good.

Ian

[Bobwhite45]

This is an excellent book, as a matter of fact I’m going to dig mine out and read it again. :D

[GroundlingCom]

I'm not sure, but I think Bill kinda likes "Die Hard".


/I kid, I kid ... :)

[A Pathetic Writer]

Holy cow! I have a Popeye point at the end of my second act!!! SWEET!

[Keith Kocaine]

Hi Ian. Anyone thinking of purchasing Bill's book -- at one time he was autographing all copies purchased ON HIS WEBSITE. I DO NOT KNOW if he's still doing this. But it was a nice bonus.

Dave. I have a popeye point at the end of my third act. Oy vey! Back to the drawing board. :lol

Groundling. You think Bill kinda likes "Die Hard"? Here's a surprise. I kinda think Lew Hunter likes... well, anything he (Lew Hunter) wrote. The man is clearly delusional. :rollin Hey, sorry Lew. But I read your book and couldn't resist another joke at your expense.

*Peace*

[Willoughby]

I like Die Hard, too. I also like Casablanca.

But I love that large swathes of both were just made up as they went along.

I may be misremembering, but I thought in the dvd commentary to Die Hard one of the commentators said that they didn't know themselves how Hans was planning to get them out of the building. Which is why when Hans walks out of the truck and into the film someone said: (paraphrasing) 'Here's our one cheat: Is there an ambulance behind him in that truck? Uh, sure. Could be.'

And it's been a long time since I read up on the making of Casablanca, but I remember a lot of it being put together on set, including the beautiful friendship line. (Which is less surprising when you think about the frantic myriad production schedules major studies had going at any given time back then.)

Popeye points: Don't just give them to your protags, always keep some for yourself!

[Micksterman]

Have read tons of s/w books. Will look out for Bill Martell's based on reviews here.

Lew's book is pretty crummy. His own screenplay used as example was dreadful. The advice in the rest of the book was pretty standard fare, not inspirational.:x

Another piece of junk just read was Jimmy Sangster's epic tome. I'm running out of tables with uneven legs to prop up!:rolleyes

Trottier's Bible is useful as a formatting guide and handy to dip back into. Good thing is it's pretty succinct with guidance re loglines etc. For my money you only really need a formatting guide and access to great scripts which are available on the web. (as an aside, Trottier's own project in that book wasn't spectacular, something about a mini helicopter, reminded me of those crappy child friendly "Innerspace" type movies).

The other two books that are must haves are:-
"500 ways to beat the hollywood script reader" by Jennifer Lerch. Great. Succinct. Less is more.
"Writing Treatments that sell" Aitchity & Wong. Straightforward advice on how to go about doing what a lot of writers hate to do.

[ComicBent]

For those of you who are new, I will point out that Bill has been a regular contributor of his wisdom and experience, on this board, for a long time. We appreciate his continued participation in the discussions here.

[wcmartell]

I have the DIE HARD script - it's all there.

By the way, I also have the 48 HOURS script - and all of Eddie Murphy's jokes are *written* (and this is a multicolored draft, not a transcription).

Directors & actors love to take credit for what writers do - they love to make it seem as if they made up that great line or tht great bit of business... but usually it's all in the script. The writer created that cool stuff sometimes *years* before the director or actor were hired.

Lesson: Make sure the script kicks ass.

- Bill

[tomasz1985]

A great book. I enjoyed it alot. I enjoy the Script tips. Thank you for a great book and your columns Bill. I´ll recomend the book here in Sweden.

[K.C.]

I have the DIE HARD script - it's all there.

Really? I'll have to go back and check that audio commentary. I could've sworn they said they were into shooting before someone figured out what Gruber's plan was.

Thanks for the excuse to re-rent it!

K.C. a.k.a The Artist Formerly Known as Willoughby


PS: No, really, I have my own copy. (I can count the copy in my head, right?)

[Mickster]

Just a quick query, are you going to be taking a few of your books over to the Raindance Course in July?



Mickster
The Artist Formerly Known as Micksterman