Screenplay: The Foundations of Screenwriting

Yeah, it's a must-have for anyone contemplating screenwriting (or any other kind of writing).On the first read-through, I filled a notebook with ideas generated by the nuggets of information and suggestions, and it's all stuff we've seen but never realised. And... it's all stuff you need to know to make your writing work.To call it clever is to understate it.Brilliant.

The main thing to say about this book is that it's repetitive. Really, really repetitive. Phenomenally repetitive. You think the start of this review is repetitive? No, my friend. Compared to the book, my review is not remotely repetitive.Sentences are repeated. Quotes are repeated. Advice is repeated ad infinitum. The book has 308 pages without the index. I reckon you could boil that down to less than half the size if you just took out all the bits that are said more than once. You may find this hard to believe but there are things in here that are repeated more than four times.So why do I still give it four stars?Well, I think the repetition works. OK, it goes a little too far on that point. And there will be some readers (though none who can argue I haven't done my utmost to warn them) who get really worn down by the repetition. But for me, since this is only my second screenwriting book and I haven't been to any classes, I have probably benefited from the repetition.It really hammers its points home. If you don't remember the main points after being told again and again and again, then when will you learn them?So this book is like being taught by a teacher who doesn't trust you to remember the key points. He hits you over the head with them. Then again. Then again. And then one more time, just to be sure.In my case, it's probably a good thing that he does. For other people, though, it may be much too much.

I have no intention of writing a screenplay but I do of writing novels and I wanted to understand the three act structure. I've found it has helped me a great deal in understanding it properly. I didn't read three chapters including: Screenplay Form, On Collaboration and After It's Written, because they're not relevant to what I'm doing.The chapters on character etc are good too.As other reviewers have stated, it is repetitive but I found this helpful for me. I'm not slow or anything but when I'm learning something new, sometimes I need to read the same information many times for it to sink in. This books really helps if you're OK with that.I'm combining this book with Plot and Structure by James Scott Bell to give me a thorough understanding of the three act structure.There are sections of screenplays throughout the book, I found this helpful, even though it's novels that I'm concentrating on. And I understand that I need to adapt some of his advice, for it to fit working on novels.Overall, a good book.

Screenplay: The Foundations of Screenwriting is an excellent book from screenwriting guru Syd Field who wrote several books on the subject of screenwriting. He also conducted workshops and seminars on the subject of producing salable screenplays. Hollywood film producers have increasingly used his ideas on structure as a guideline to a proposed screenplay's potential.Although this book gives tips on writing scripts for films, I believe it also serves as a good book for people wanting to write scripts for television as well as for film. An example of tips given in this book includes writing cue cards for his paradigm "Three act structure" (Act I, Act II and Act III) and how many cue cards to write for each act of your film and/or TV drama (whether the TV drama be a one-off or a series).I very highly recommend this book because it can help people with how to write a good screenplay, whether it be for film or television.

A step in the right direction for newbies

Anyone interested in the art of screenwriting should read this book, preferrably before they start a script. I started mine beforehand and now I wish I'd had this first.Every aspect of your writing and your attitude towards what you will get out of writing will be improved with reading this book. Everything from structure (the famous paradigm) and your expectations of how to seel your script are covered.This book is so effortlessly written (at least it seems so) that reading it is very easy and you may well finish it in a few sittings.This guy is a master in his field and you can get a lot of expertise from him for a very small sum of money. BUY IT!!

This is the most comprehensive book on screenwriting I have read with lots of films exampled with script excerpts to clarify some of the points. I highly, highly recommend. Even if you are an actor rather than a writer it is a fascinating read and gives a great understanding of film making.

Step by step guide for screenwriter. Easy to follow and logical