Why are there so many screenwriting books out there?

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  • Why are there so many screenwriting books out there?

    I'm so confused! I must have bought my 9th screenwriting book and I'm nowhere nearer to understanding most of screenwriting.

    I know to read scripts, of which I've downloaded 40, especially those relevant to the movies I'd like to make.

    But I go on to Amazon and check the "Screenwriting bestsellers" and the list is endless! Of course, Robert McKee's STORY , is usually in the Top 3, and I have bought some others, but I just can't get into them

    Could you post your DEFINITIVE list of beginner/entry-level Scriptwriting books? (I'm only 24!)
    Last edited by MPrince; 08-12-2006, 12:59 PM.
    I post too much.

  • #2
    Re: Why are there so many screenwriting books out there?

    Sorry that the world did not begin when you were born.

    Try Aristotle first. His Poetics is about 2300 years old.

    Then I recommend the Linda Seegar (spelling?) book. It is very good for laying out how a script works.

    There are so many books for the very reason that led you to ask for a list: Everybody keeps on trying to write the perfect explanation of a process that basically involves Beginning, Middle, and End, with some complications along the way.

    "The fact that you have seen professionals write poorly is no reason for you to imitate them." - ComicBent.

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    • #3
      Re: Why are there so many screenwriting books out there?

      You're 24 so you can't read a book that's fifteen years old? Are you afraid you'll read it with the comprehension of a nine year old (that's math, baby)? I assure you, that's not how these things work.

      Kidding aside, there is no definitive list of screenwriting books. The ones that I personally found useful are not ones on most lists, such as STORY (which, in my opinion, is dry, boring and states the obvious in complex terms), or HOW NOT TO WRITE A SCREENPLAY (which comes across as bitter, and is flat-out wrong in some of its advice) or SCREENPLAY by Syd Field (which does do a decent job of reverse engineering standard Hollywood screenplays, but that's all it does).

      The books I have enjoyed on the subject are the Bill Froug ZEN AND THE ART OF SCREENWRITING BOOKS, which are full of interviews with working screenwriters about the art and craft and business, THE SCREENWRITER LOOKS AT THE SCREENWRITER, and there is another book of interviews in which Oscar winning screenwriters are interviewed. I forget the title, but I'm sure it has "Oscar" and "screenwriter" in there.

      Someone else, I'm sure, will come along and recommend Lajos Egri and they will be right, but that damned fifteen year rule.

      But truth is, I think the best way to learn how to write screenplays is to watch a lot of movies, read a lot of novels and short stories and screenplays, and then write a lot of screenplays and stories. And anyone who tells you screenplays are so different from all other forms of writing that you can't learn from novels and short stories and poetry is full of offal.
      Last edited by captain bligh; 08-12-2006, 12:23 PM.
      "Though he is a person to whom things do not happen, perhaps they may when he is on the other side."
      -- Edward Gorey, The Unstrung Harp

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      • #4
        Re: Why are there so many screenwriting books out there?

        Yup, read the interviews. Froug's books (look 'em up on Amazon) are excellent (both Zen books are worth reading, as well). There's a new compilation entitled Screenwriters' Masterclass which has interviews with writers of more recent pictures.

        And Creative Screenwriting has on its website an E-book of interviews that have appeared in their excellent magazine (which you should also be reading regularly--and no, I'm not on their payroll!).

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        • #5
          Re: Why are there so many screenwriting books out there?

          Read as many books as you can, if you can't afford them, go to the library.
          Many books, many opinions, something in between will click within you.

          Charli

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          • #6
            Re: Why are there so many screenwriting books out there?

            Big money mania is the reason for the proliferation of screenwriting manuals. A handful of writers get seven figure paydays, and anyone who can put two sentences together writes a script in hope of cashing in.

            The rise in classes, contests, and consultants is due to the same phenomenon.

            Since you're soliciting opinions, here's mine:

            Nine screenwriting manuals is plenty. Stop buying them, and start writing.

            Also, start making short films, and start working in your local theatre in whatever capacity you can - actor, stagehand, costumer, whatever. Once you've made several shorts, you'll be able to see how the script translates to the screen. Once you've been part of several plays, you'll be able to see how the script comes alive through the actors, and how the audience reacts to the story they're being told.

            addendum

            If you've got the stones, write a short standup comedy set and find a comedy club with an open mike night. Not everyone's cuppa, but it can be a great way to get your writing in front of people. ( And the louts in the club are the same louts who buy movie tickets.)
            Last edited by odocoileus; 08-13-2006, 06:46 AM.
            If you really like it you can have the rights
            It could make a million for you overnight

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            • #7
              Re: Why are there so many screenwriting books out there?

              Linda Cowgill's The Secrets of Screenplay Structure really helped me along the way.

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              • #8
                Re: Why are there so many screenwriting books out there?

                Besides Field's, Seger's and McKEE's books, my peanut brain also absorbed:
                David Trottier's THE SCREENWRITER'S BIBLE
                Christopher Vogler's THE WRITER'S JOURNEY
                Jennifer Lerch's 500 WAYS TO BEAT THE HOLLYWOOD SCRIPT READER
                and Cole/Haag's STANDARD SCRIPT FORMAT

                I took notes as I read on what I felt were key points for me and what I absolutely didn't know and refer to the notes from time to time.

                Corona
                I love you, Reyna . . .

                Brown-Balled by the Hollywood Clika

                Latino Heart Project's MEXICAN HEART...ATTACK!
                I ain't no punk b1tch...

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                • #9
                  Re: Why are there so many screenwriting books out there?

                  because it's easier to write one of those books than it is to be a screenwriter. not to get too cynical or anything
                  If it can be written, or thought, it can be filmed. -- Stanley Kubrick

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                  • #10
                    Re: Why are there so many screenwriting books out there?

                    MPrince, we were only teasing you about the "no books older than fifteen years" thing.

                    Read some books, and do some writing.

                    "The fact that you have seen professionals write poorly is no reason for you to imitate them." - ComicBent.

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                    • #11
                      Re: Why are there so many screenwriting books out there?

                      Ann old adage says that during a gold rush, it's not the gold diggers that make money, but those people selling shovels, sifting pans, etc.

                      EBay and screenwriting are two markets that have the "gold rush" feeling about them and likewise, the industries are inundated with how to books.

                      Agree with other poster...stop buying books and start writing. You're using your book purchases as a way to convince yourself that you're involved in the sw process but you're fooling yourself. Get writing!
                      "This is insane, he has space dimentia" - a line from Armageddon

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                      • #12
                        Re: Why are there so many screenwriting books out there?

                        This is one book I wish I had before I wrote my first screenplay.
                        Clear, concise and to the point.

                        SAVE THE CAT! by Blake Snyder.

                        The author has made millions selling screenplays.
                        A book written by someone who has actually sold something... and then some.
                        ~Well behaved women seldom make history~

                        ~My first pitch~ I felt like I had a mouth full of marbles and every synapse in my brain was firing at once - Dreadful.~

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                        • #13
                          Re: Why are there so many screenwriting books out there?

                          This is all bullsh!t, MPrince! Whatever books you've already read is more than enough. As a first-time writer don't read any; that's my advice. You've seen a load of films and you've got an idea for one you believe in. Get it down on paper. Everything. Each scene. Know the ending. Write a 130 page treatment if need be. And when you're done; when you're finished; when you've got files of pages and books of notes, then go back to your books on Screenwriting and use them to improve upon what you have. These books should resonate with what you've already written. If they don't . . . they should.
                          A lovely being, scarcely formed or moulded,
                          A rose with all its sweetest leaves yet folded.

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