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Title: Screenplay: Writing the Picture by Robin U. Russin, William Missouri Downs ISBN: 1-879505-70-3 Publisher: Silman-James Press Pub. Date: July, 2003 Format: Paperback Volumes: 1 List Price(USD): $21.95 |
Average Customer Rating: 4.62 (13 reviews)
Rating: 4
Summary: 1 of the Top 2 or 3 Must-Have Screenwriting Books
Comment: This book will give you a better understanding and approach to writing a screenplay than any others out there. Supplement it with Bill Johnson's "A Story is a Promise" to get to the heart of what your story is about, and Linda Cowgil's "Secrets of Screenplay Structure" and you'll have more story/screenplay knowledge than what is taught in most screenplay courses.
Note. I gave it 4 stars instead of 5 because the book can not stand on its own. You will have to supplement it with the other books mentioned. It does give you a lot of great and useful how-to information that you won't find in other books, but it does not show you how to build a story that will span 2 hours. The authors don't like the formula gurus too much (such as Syd Fields, they do like some of Truby's ideas), and they do offer their own ideas using conflict building as a tool to build a story. But they do not provide a model that uses their ideas to span a 2 hour story. To me, this is a glaring omission. Saying you have a better idea, but not providing proof, is useless. Story structure (and the Guru formulas) exist to help you successfully construct 120 pages of story. To me, this book is missing the author's approach to this critical requirement for any screenplay writing book. If they had supplied their own approach with a model, this would be a 5 star book. So you will need the other books mentioned earlier.
Rating: 5
Summary: This book has it all!
Comment: I teach screenwriting and have read virtually every book on the market. This book has it all! It's a wonderful how-to with a methodical step-by-step approach to writing a marketable script. But it also goes into the depth and detail of getting the writer through the hard work of making characters, scenes and stories really work. I highly recommend it for the beginning writer. But more than that, it's one of those rare books that is truly beneficial to the advanced writer. This book will help you get through each difficult act with confidence and expertise. The business-of-the-business chapters are simply wonderful and up to date with the current state of the industry. It's a book I will continue to recommend to my own students; I will also continue to use it as a personal reference in my own writing and teaching. Wonderfully done. Wonderfully written. Bravo!
Rating: 5
Summary: Putting The Writer in the Picture
Comment: Russin and Downs received the highest tribute from Lew Hunter, the head of the screenwriting department at UCLA, who called "Screenplay: Writing the Picture" the best work he had read on this subject, including his own. My own experience in reading the book prompts me to echo Hunter's words of high praise.
So many times "how to" books in different areas can be downright dull, like a series of "do's" and "dont's" written in the manner of an old Sears Catalogue. Such is not the case here. This book uses numerous examples from scripts of major films to put the prospective writer on track in determining which techniques work as well as those that do not. The major element separating screenwriting from all other types of fictional writing endeavors is the all-important presence of the camera. Accordingly, the authors demonstrate the importance of stressing visuality and exercising word economy in crafting a professional level screenplay.
One area stressed which greatly assisted me, someone coming from a non-fiction and journalistic background, was the importance of using index cards to set up the story. The authors explain that the reason why this technique is so important in structuring a story is that, with the profound influence of the camera and the role it plays, it is important for a writer to see the scenes unfolding pictorially before beginning the process of writing words to accompany the images.
William Hare
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Title: Advanced Screenwriting: Raising Your Script to the Academy Award Level by Linda, Dr. Seger ISBN: 1879505738 Publisher: Silman-James Press Pub. Date: October, 2003 List Price(USD): $14.95 |
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Title: Write Screenplays That Sell: The Ackerman Way by Hal Ackerman ISBN: 1931290520 Publisher: Tallfellow Press Pub. Date: October, 2003 List Price(USD): $19.95 |
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Title: Crafty Screenwriting: Writing Movies That Get Made by Alex Epstein ISBN: 0805069925 Publisher: Owl Books Pub. Date: 08 October, 2002 List Price(USD): $15.00 |
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Title: The Screenplay Workbook: The Writing Before the Writing by Jeremy Robinson, Tom Mungovan ISBN: 1580650538 Publisher: Lone Eagle Publishing Company Pub. Date: October, 2003 List Price(USD): $18.95 |
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Title: Making a Good Script Great by Linda Seger ISBN: 0573699216 Publisher: Samuel French Trade Pub. Date: November, 1994 List Price(USD): $12.95 |
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