Description from amazon
A generation of screenwriters has used Syd Field’s bestselling books to ignite successful careers in film.
Now the celebrated producer, lecturer, teacher, and bestselling author has updated his classic guide
for
a new generation of filmmakers, offering a fresh insider’s perspective on the film industry today.
From concept to character, from opening scene to finished script, here are easily understood
guidelines to help aspiring screenwriters—from novices to practiced writers—hone their craft.
Filled with updated material—including all-new personal anecdotes and insights, guidelines on
marketing and collaboration, plus analyses of
recent films, from
American Beauty
to
Lord of the
Rings—
Screenplay
presents a step-by-step, comprehensive technique for writing the screenplay that
will succeed in Hollywood.
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1. Intro
What is a screenplay:
The nature of the screenplay is the same as it has always been: A
screenplay is a
story told with pictures, in dialogue and description, and placed within the context of
dramatic structure. It is the art of visual storytelling.
Two aspects to deal with when writing a screenplay:
When you want
to write a screenplay, there are two aspects you have to deal with.
1. One is the preparation required to write it: the
research, thinking time, character work, and
laying out of the structural dynamic.
2. The other is the execution, the actual
writing of it, laying out the visual images and capturing
the dialogue. The hardest thing about writing is knowing what to write.
A good screenplay:
When you read a good screenplay, you know it—it's evident
from page
one, word one. The style, the way the words are laid out on the page, the way the
story is set up, the
grasp of dramatic situation, the introduction of the main character, the basic premise or problem of
the screenplay—it's all set up in the first few pages of the script.
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