AnyBook4Less.com | Order from a Major Online Bookstore |
![]() |
Home |  Store List |  FAQ |  Contact Us |   | ||
Ultimate Book Price Comparison Engine Save Your Time And Money |
![]() |
Title: Making a Good Script Great by Linda Seger ISBN: 0-573-69921-6 Publisher: Samuel French Trade Pub. Date: November, 1994 Format: Paperback Volumes: 1 List Price(USD): $12.95 |
Average Customer Rating: 4.4 (52 reviews)
Rating: 5
Summary: TOOLS FOR WRITING
Comment: I bought Making A Good Script Great shortly after I attended a seminar Seger gave at the Writers Guild. That was many years ago. Each year since, I reread her book simply to get clarity on the basics. Will reading Seger's book make you a screenwriter? No? No book has that ability and when we fall short it's easier to look everywhere but ourselves for a reason. Will reading her book make you a better screenwriter? Yes. All great works start with the basics. All great tales are held together by a simple theme. People don't write to be complicated. They write to tell a story. And no matter how many layers you could peel away, if you don't start with the basics, your lasagna will end up tasting like lentil soup. Is Seger's book the definitive book on screenwriting. No book is. I've read many and continue to search others looking for ideas on how to improve my work. If I can take just one good idea away from a read and add it to my screenwriter's toolbox, then that book was worth the money.
You want to write? Write. You want a text to guide you through the process? Buy "Making A Good Script Great." Add to that any of Seger's other books. Then buy Fields and McKees, Hauge, Hunter and Straczynski. There's a whole bunch of gurus out there writers can complain about when they have trouble writing.
Rating: 5
Summary: AS ESSENTIAL AS A DICTIONARY
Comment: As a script consultant, screenwriter and film critic, I cannot recommend this book too highly. It presents craft principles clearly and succinctly with good examples, and enables the reader to approach their own writing much more confidently.
The book is especially helpful at two stages in the writing process: the first is at the beginning when you're faced with a mass of story material, ideas, character elements, themes, bits of dialogue ... and you're trying to see the wood for the trees. The book helps you sort them out and develop a structure for the story, as well as defining the function each of these bits of material might perform in the script.
The second point at which you can turn to the book for help is after you've written a draft and you need to sit back and look at what you've done with a cold, objective, analytical eye. As you read the book, you find yourself applying the concepts and principles to your own work, and the weaknesses (and of course the successful bits!) are easily apparent. It works as a memory jogger, a kind of touchstone to bring you back to first principles, which often get obscured as you concentrate on the specifics of getting the stuff down in writing.
I've read many books on scriptwriting and have gleaned something useful from each one, but Making a Good Script Great is the one I recommend to writers, especially those starting out, and it's the one I personally always go back to as my basic, easy-to-get-around reference text. In fact, writing this review has just reminded me that my own copy is currently on loan to a friend and I'd better get it back!
Rating: 5
Summary: Well written and full of information.
Comment: No, you don't have to be writing screenplays to appreciate and get useful information from this book. This is one of my favorite books on plotting, and I recommend it every time I give a workshop on the subject. In general, screen writing books are good resources for plotting, but this my favorite. Ms. Seger covers Story Structure, Idea Development, and Character Development, then shows how it all comes together with a case study of the movie, Witness. It's a really well written book, choked full of information. Again, it's one I pull out often.
![]() |
Title: Creating Unforgettable Characters by Linda Seger ISBN: 0805011714 Publisher: Henry Holt & Company, Inc. Pub. Date: 15 July, 1990 List Price(USD): $15.00 |
![]() |
Title: Story: Substance, Structure, Style and The Principles of Screenwriting by Robert McKee ISBN: 0060391685 Publisher: Regan Books Pub. Date: 17 December, 1997 List Price(USD): $35.00 |
![]() |
Title: Screenplay : The Foundations of Screenwriting; A step-by-step guide from concept to finishedscript by Syd Field ISBN: 0440576474 Publisher: DTP Pub. Date: 10 June, 1984 List Price(USD): $15.95 |
![]() |
Title: The Screenwriter's Bible: A Complete Guide to Writing, Formatting, and Selling Your Script by David Trottier ISBN: 1879505444 Publisher: Silman-James Press Pub. Date: August, 1998 List Price(USD): $19.95 |
![]() |
Title: Art Of Dramatic Writing : Its Basis in the Creative Interpretation of Human Motives by Lajos Egri ISBN: 0671213326 Publisher: Touchstone Books Pub. Date: 15 February, 1972 List Price(USD): $12.00 |
Thank you for visiting www.AnyBook4Less.com and enjoy your savings!
Copyright� 2001-2021 Send your comments