The Screenwriter's Problem Solver: How to Recognize, Identify, and Define Screenwriting Problems
by Syd Field
List Price:
Our Price: $9.65
You Save: $7.35 (43%)
Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days
Buy Used: from $3.70 (click here)
Category: Book
See more book details and other editions
Book Summary Information
Author: Syd FieldEdition: Paperback
Audio: English (Unknown); English (Original Language); English (Published)
Published: 1998-02-17
ISBN: 0440504910
Number of pages: 384
Publisher: Delta
Book Reviews of The Screenwriter's Problem Solver: How to Recognize, Identify, and Define Screenwriting Problems
Book Review: Should be in every writer's library
Summary: 5 Stars
I had read Field's excellent book Screenplay several years ago, and it helped me tremendously in writing my first screenplay. Since them I have written two more, but neither of them have sold. When I finished my last screenplay, I knew I had some problems, but I didn't know what I could do to fix it. So,I gave it to a few people to read,and then everyone started giving me different advice.The more people I gave it to, the more confused I became. So, I got the Screenwriter's Problem Solver and was absolutely delighted to find a way I could identify and define the problems in my own screenplay.It was like I really felt I could take control of my own writing. When I finished the book,I approached my screenplay with the understanding of how to recognize and analyze the problems, then break them down into the various problem catagories of plot, character and structure. I really feel the book has been instrumental in my understanding of how to approach the solving my problems in the rewrite. Each chapter took me through a different area of the process and I'm happy to say that after I rewrote my script, which took several months, I submitted it to a production company and while they didn't buy it, they liked it well enough to recommend an agent in Hollywood, and he is now showing it around. I'm so happy to have read this book; it is so literate, so clear, I see why Field is called the "meta guru of screenwriters."
More The Screenwriter's Problem Solver: How to Recognize, Identify, and Define Screenwriting Problems reviews:
1 2 3 4
1 2 3 4
Summary of The Screenwriter's Problem Solver: How to Recognize, Identify, and Define Screenwriting Problems
All writing is rewriting. But what do you change, and how do you change it? All screenplays have problems. They happened to Die Hard: With a Vengeance and Broken Arrow-and didn't get fixed, leaving the films flawed. They nearly shelved Platoon-until Oliver Stone rewrote the first ten pages and created a classic. They happen to every screenwriter. But good writers see their problems as a springboard to creativity. Now bestselling author Syd Field, who works on over 1,000 screenplays a year, tells you step-by-step how to identify and fix common screenwriting problems, providing the professional secrets that make movies brilliant-secrets that can make your screenplay one headed for success...or even Cannes. Learn how to:?Understand what makes great stories work
?Make your screenplay work in the first ten pages, using Thelma & Louise and Dances With Wolves as models
?Use a "dream assignment" to let your creative self break free overnight
?Make action build character, the way Quentin Tarantino does
?Recover when you hit the "wall"-and overcome writer's block forever
Can't get your characters to shut up? Is the bit player in Act II more compelling than your protagonist? Do your scenes drag on f-o-r-e-v-e-r? Whatever your problem, screenwriting guru Syd Field can help; he's written four previous books on screenwriting, teaches worldwide, and is "involved in the reading and writing of about a thousand screenplays a year." Screenplays bog down in vague and mysterious ways, says Field; identifying a screenwriting problem is half the battle. Fixing a screenplay that seems dazed and confused might seem like Mission: Impossible, but you've got to have courage under fire. By identifying symptoms in the writing, Field isolates about 20 different screenwriting problems, each related to plot, character, or structure (after all, what else is there?). His fixes generally involve getting to know your characters or story better, through the use of automatic writing, biographical sketches, and the like. For examples of spectacular screenwriting, he offers excerpts from the screenplays for Thelma and Louise, The Shawshank Redemption, Pulp Fiction, Apollo 13, and Silence of the Lambs. Field is a man of many mantras: "Writing is rewriting," "Film is behavior," "Drama is conflict," "Action is character." But his advice is so useful that you'll forgive him his facile phrasemaking. And you'll thank him for persuading you that, yes, "a problem is an opportunity, a challenge that will allow you to ultimately improve your craft." --Jane Steinberg
Movies Books
Book Subjects
- Arts & Photography
- Biographies & Memoirs
- Business & Investing
- Children's Books
- Comics & Graphic Novels
- Computers & Internet
- Cooking, Food & Wine
- Entertainment
- Gay & Lesbian
- Health, Mind & Body
- History
- Home & Garden
- Horror
- Law
- Literature & Fiction
- Mystery & Thrillers
- Nonfiction
- Outdoors & Nature
- Parenting & Families
- Professional & Technical
- Reference
- Religion & Spirituality
- Romance
- Science
- Science Fiction & Fantasy
- Sports
- Teens
- Travel
Most talked about in Movies Books
David Lean: A Biographyby Kevin Brownlow
St Martins Pr; Published: 1997-09; Paperback; Book
Best price: $55.00
The New Biographical Dictionary of Film: Fifth Edition, Completely Updated and Expandedby David Thomson
Knopf; Published: 2010-10-26; Hardcover; Book
Best price: $22.46
Price in other shops:
Placing Shadows, Third Edition: Lighting Techniques for Video Productionby Chuck Gloman, Tom LeTourneau
Focal Press; Published: 2005-02-21; Paperback; Book
Best price: $37.04
Price in other shops:
Placing Shadows, Second Edition: Lighting Techniques for Video Productionby Chuck Gloman, Tom LeTourneau
Focal Press; Published: 2000-04-12; Paperback; Book
Best price: $11.89
Price in other shops:
Stars in My Eyesby Don Bachardy
University of Wisconsin Press; Published: 2011-02-06; Paperback; Book
Best price: $11.98
Price in other shops:
Behind the Curtain: Making Music in Mumbai's Film Studiosby Gregory D. Booth
Oxford University Press, USA; Published: 2008-10-13; Paperback; Book
Best price: $17.71
Price in other shops:
Time Out Film Guide, 6th EditionTime Out; Published: 1998-01-01; Paperback; Book
Best price: $10.00
Price in other shops:
Natashaby Suzanne Finstad
Random House; Published: 2002-07-04; Paperback; Book
Best price: $12.42
The Writer Got Screwed (but didn't have to): Guide to the Legal and Business Practices of Writing for the Entertainment Industryby Brooke A. Wharton
Harper Perennial; Published: 1997-03-14; Paperback; Book
Best price: $4.12
Price in other shops:
JOHN WAYNE: AMERICANby Randy Roberts, James S. Olson
Free Press; Published: 1995-09-11; Hardcover; Book
Best price: $64.98
Similar Books and other products
Save The Cat! The Last Book on Screenwriting You'll Ever Needby Blake Snyder
Michael Wiese Productions; Published: 2005-05-25; Paperback; Book
Best price: $12.07
Price in other shops:
Essentials of Screenwriting: The Art, Craft, and Business of Film and Television Writingby Richard Walter
Plume; Published: 2010-06-29; Paperback; Book
Best price: $9.08
Price in other shops:
How to Write a Movie in 21 Days: The Inner Movie Methodby Viki King
HarperCollins Publishers; Published: 1993-09-15; Paperback; Book
Best price: $5.82
Price in other shops:
Making a Good Script Greatby Linda Seger
Silman-James Pr; Published: 2010-02-15; Paperback; Book
Best price: $9.62
Price in other shops:
Selling a Screenplay: The Screenwriter's Guide to Hollywoodby Syd Field
Delta; Published: 1989-11-01; Paperback; Book
Best price: $3.98
Price in other shops:
Four Screenplays: Studies in the American Screenplayby Syd Field
Delta; Published: 1994-08-01; Paperback; Book
Best price: $9.27
Price in other shops:
The Screenwriter's Bible: A Complete Guide to Writing, Formatting, and Selling Your Scriptby David Trottier
Silman-James Pr; Published: 2010-08-16; Paperback; Book
Best price: $15.25
Price in other shops:
Story: Substance, Structure, Style and The Principles of Screenwritingby Robert McKee
It Books; Published: 1997-11-25; Hardcover; Book
Best price: $21.74
Price in other shops:
The Screenwriter's Workbook (Revised Edition)by Syd Field
Delta; Published: 2006-10-31; Paperback; Book
Best price: $9.36
Price in other shops:
Screenplay: The Foundations of Screenwritingby Syd Field
Delta; Published: 2005-11-29; Paperback; Book
Best price: $9.13
Price in other shops: