Screenplay: The Foundations of Screenwriting
by Syd Field
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Book Summary Information
Author: Syd FieldEdition: Paperback
Audio: English (Unknown); English (Original Language); English (Published)
Published: 2005-11-29
ISBN: 0385339038
Number of pages: 320
Publisher: Delta
Product features:
- ISBN13: 9780385339032
- Condition: New
- Notes: BRAND NEW FROM PUBLISHER! 100% Satisfaction Guarantee. Tracking provided on most orders. Buy with Confidence! Millions of books sold!
Book Reviews of Screenplay: The Foundations of Screenwriting
Book Review: An essential book for every aspiring novelist or screenwriter
Summary: 5 Stars
Syd Field's Screenplay is an essential book that should be on the desk of every aspiring screenwriter or novelist. Field brilliantly breaks down the movie script into a three-act model that effectively shows the structure for telling a story on film. If you're thinking about being a serious writer, this book must be on your desk along with Strunk and White's Elements of Style, The Chicago Manual of Style, Webster's Dictionary and a Thesaurus.
Throughout Screenplay Field discusses how to write plot, characters and action for the silver screen. He goes through the process step-by step in a simple easy to read fashion and uses examples from classic movies like Chinatown to show the reader how the elements of a solid screenplay come together.
The book goes into detail about proper screenplay form. Field's details for formatting a script to WGA (Writer's Guild of America) standards are on the money. I've gone to the Oscars (Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences) website and the WGA website and the information on screenplays mirrors just that. I'd also suggest readers download a couple of screenplays to get a sense of format and style.
The only thing the book lacks is a good section on Screenwriting for computers. My edition is fairly old (fourth Edition) and goes into detail about typewriters, but not computers. My only nitpick with the book is I'd love to get some information on how to format a screenplay in Microsoft Word. But that could just be my edition. The book has probably been updated since then
The copyright section is on the money. Solid information that will help any writer starting their screenwriting career. Unlike books where you can submit blind, ALWAYS register a screenplay with BOTH the WGA and the U.S. Copyright office before contacting any agents. Furthermore, Do not send any script unsolicited to anyone without getting a written release from the agent!
I got this book for a gift and it's helped me improve my writing tremendously. Field gives some great advice about writing in the later chapters detailing adaptation and collaborative writing. And in the After it's done chapter he goes into detail about the writer's lifestyle. He is right about it being a solitary process filled with stress and frustration. He is right about it being hard work. Having written both books and screenplays I can tell you everything he writes about is this creative process is true.
Thanks to this book I've gained a greater understanding about storytelling, plot and characters. I found the same storytelling model Field uses for screenplays can be applied to novels. In my research I've learned most contemporary fiction stories have three acts to them as well. The only difference between the two storytelling mediums is style. Novels often use lots of words to detail the action in the reader's imagination while Screenplays use very few words to describe what's going onscreen. I actually find the minimalist storytelling screenwriting uses to be very effective for novel writing because it cuts down on long rambling passages and pages of dialogue that don't advance the plot.
Thanks to this book I currently write my fiction around a storytelling model that uses elements of both the screenplay and the novel. Minimal details in the descriptive paragraphs and quick dialogue that advances the plot. This leads to tighter faster paced storytelling that grabs the reader and gets them right into the action.
Syd FRield's Screenplay is a Shawn James Five Star Top Ten essential book. You have to pick this one up!
Summary of Screenplay: The Foundations of Screenwriting
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. Discover:?Why the first ten pages of your script are crucially important
?How to visually ?grab? the reader from page one, word one
?Why structure and character are the essential foundation of your screenplay
?How to adapt a novel, a play, or an article into a screenplay
?Tips on protecting your work?three legal ways to claim ownership of your screenplay
?The essentials of writing great dialogue, creating character, building a story line, overcoming writer?s block, getting an agent, and much more.
With this newly updated edition of his bestselling classic, Syd Field proves yet again why he is revered as the master of the screenplay?and why his celebrated guide has become the industry?s gold standard for successful screenwriting.
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