Screenwritng: The Sequence Approach

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  • Screenwritng: The Sequence Approach

    Anyone here read it? Worth picking up?
    "This is insane, he has space dimentia" - a line from Armageddon

  • #2
    Re: Screenwritng: The Sequence Approach

    If it's the one with the guy on the front cover with blonde Hercules style locks then I'm still waiting to get it back from another writer I lent it to.

    Not that my tale of woe helps you one little bit.

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    • #3
      Re: Screenwritng: The Sequence Approach

      I've read it, and it's not bad. He does a short chapter on the sequencing method itself (too short, if you ask me), and then spends the rest of the book applying the theory to different films. Worth buying for the first chapter alone, probably.

      I'm a big fan of the eight-sequence methodology he uses, and I did a post on the sequencing method on my screenwriting site awhile ago. You might be interested in checking it out. Here's a link:
      http://www.screenwritinglife.com/eig...riting-program

      It's actually a two-part posting, and there's a page with the basic sequencing outline for you to take a look at too. Hope it helps.

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      • #4
        Re: Screenwritng: The Sequence Approach

        I directed a video of Paul's Class (along with 40 other Expo classes) a few months ago. It's a very intelligent and thought-out theory. If you are struggling with structure--especially with figuring out how to keep the momentum goiing in the second act--then Paul's class (and I assume book) are great.


        Jim Mercurio

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        • #5
          Re: Screenwritng: The Sequence Approach

          Hey, that's great, Jim. I didn't know Gulino did one of those classes. Is his dvd available now? Also, I was wondering if those dvds were going to be available at the Expo for a discount. I'd like to buy a bunch of them.

          Thanks!

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          • #6
            Re: Screenwritng: The Sequence Approach

            Originally posted by wleonard89
            Hey, that's great, Jim. I didn't know Gulino did one of those classes. Is his dvd available now? Also, I was wondering if those dvds were going to be available at the Expo for a discount. I'd like to buy a bunch of them.

            Thanks!
            http://creativescreenwriting.com/expodvds.htm

            There is also an order form in the Expo catalog.

            They will be on sale at the Expo also.

            Make sure you include one of mine in the bunch. ;-)

            I got 80 hours of DVDs to edit and 2-300 screenplays to read by the Expo, so if my eyes looked glazed over at the Expo, forgive me.

            Jim

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            • #7
              Re: Screenwritng: The Sequence Approach

              Originally posted by wleonard89
              I've read it, and it's not bad. He does a short chapter on the sequencing method itself (too short, if you ask me), and then spends the rest of the book applying the theory to different films. Worth buying for the first chapter alone, probably.

              I'm a big fan of the eight-sequence methodology he uses.
              Got to read this at last. The first thing I noticed was that he references quite old movies, (apart from Lord of the Rings), especially considering that the book was only recently published 04/05. Yeah, One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest and Lawrence of Arabia are great films but one's 30 years old and the other's 40 years old. A lot of people will have probably seen them and be able to reference them. The other films he uses as examples include an Italian film from the 50's/60's and some other little known gems. Not that helpful to those who haven't seen them. Made me think that he's just re-hashed instruction he's received previously or else why not utilise the approach on more commonly/recently viewed movies? Or is he just revealing his encyclopaedic knowledge of film? Remember the sequence approach has been around for some time and perhaps he dug out some old college notes from the 70's/80's for the older stuff and threw in Lord of the Rings as a nod to the 21st century. Further, his discussion of the films seem to be little more than recounting the plot. Maybe others would disagree but that's how it came across to me.

              Some of the terms that he uses seem a little archaic and inappropriate. As I'm on a break at work I'm typing this without the book in front of me so can't use the exact same terms that he uses. We can all generally figure out or understand what commonly used terms such as inciting incident, catalyst etc mean. The sequence approach doesn't use them.

              The sequence approach itself can be summed up as it's easier to break a screenplay down into manageable chunks. Using the accepted 3 act structure all the sequence approach really does is to say that there are two sequences in the first act, four in the second and two in the third. Then to contradict things the examples in the book don't all have 8 sequences eg one has 9 and another has 12.

              Personally I'd borrow the book and read the first couple of chapters and see if there's anything useful. As a tool I don't think it's particularly helpful. We all know that screenplays are composite creatures made up of a number of scenes. Whether it is helpful to divide the beast into 3, 4, 6, 8 parts or to adopt a 22 step structure a la Truby is personal choice.

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              • #8
                Re: Screenwritng: The Sequence Approach

                Hey Mickster, I hear ya, with regard to the older films. However, in Gulino's defense, these films are mostly masterpieces, and they were written by screenwriters that we should all be reading as we learn the craft.

                Nights of Cabiria is an Italian film from the 1950's, but it's also a Fellini film (an original idea), and you will learn more about filmmaking (and subsequently screenwriting) by watching one of his films than by reading all of John Truby's works combined.

                The other films are no less important: Lubitsch's The Shop Around the Corner, written by Samson Raphaelson; Double Indemnity, written by Billy Wilder and Raymond Chandler; North by Northwest, by Ernest Lehman; and you mentioned Robert Bolt and David Lean's Lawrence.

                Throw in the Charlie Kaufman pic, Andrew Marlowe's Air Force One, Toy Story, and LOTR's, and I think it's pretty well rounded.

                But we all should know exactly who Raphaelson, Wilder, Lehman, and Bolt are if we want to master the craft.

                I do agree with you that Gulino mostly recounts the plots of these scripts and applies them to the structure, with a little discussion of his "four tools" for effective screenwriting. I'm not a huge fan of the book, but I think it's not a bad place to start if you want to learn about the sequencing method.

                Just my two cents.

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