The art and craft of screenwriting is constantly changing, always in motion. The motion picture evolves constantly, forever will, into what unknown future we can only guess.
How is technology effecting the screenwriter and how has it already effected the screenplay form?
What interests me is how modern screenwriting is starting to challenge
the classical structure and its paradigm. Screenplays such as Pulp Fiction, The Usual Suspects, Memento, Run Lola Run, 21 Grams, Mulholland Drive, Vanilla Sky, Magnolia, Inception, The Player, American Beauty, Training Day, Lost in Translation, defy the classical (Old School) teachings on structure, conflict, and even sometimes drama and characterization.
As a screenwriter or soon to be screenwriter, you might be thinking about purchasing your first book on screenwriting or adding to that small collection scattered about on your bookshelf, and on the floor next to your desk.
So, what books should you be considering? Which ones can keep you in step with the ever-changing craft of screenwriting? There are many books out there on screenwriting, below are my personal favorites that have either inspired, structured or withstood time over the years. If you have any other recommendations, please leave a comments so we others can benefit too.
How is technology effecting the screenwriter and how has it already effected the screenplay form?
What interests me is how modern screenwriting is starting to challenge
the classical structure and its paradigm. Screenplays such as Pulp Fiction, The Usual Suspects, Memento, Run Lola Run, 21 Grams, Mulholland Drive, Vanilla Sky, Magnolia, Inception, The Player, American Beauty, Training Day, Lost in Translation, defy the classical (Old School) teachings on structure, conflict, and even sometimes drama and characterization.
As a screenwriter or soon to be screenwriter, you might be thinking about purchasing your first book on screenwriting or adding to that small collection scattered about on your bookshelf, and on the floor next to your desk.
So, what books should you be considering? Which ones can keep you in step with the ever-changing craft of screenwriting? There are many books out there on screenwriting, below are my personal favorites that have either inspired, structured or withstood time over the years. If you have any other recommendations, please leave a comments so we others can benefit too.
- Harold Ackerman, The Ackerman Method...
- Linda Aronson. Screenwriting Updated: New (and Conventional) Ways of Writing for the Screen, 2000.
- Paul Chitlik, Rewrite: A Step-by-Step Guide to strengthen Structure, Characters and Drama in your Screenplay, 2008.
- William Froug, Screenwriting Tricks of the Trade (Los Angeles: Silman-James Press, 1992), see pages 56 to 59.
- Paul Gulino, Screenwriting the Sequence Approach (Bloomsbury Academic, 2013).
- Michael Hauge, Writing Screenplays That Sell (New York: Harper Collins, 1991), see pages 113 to 152.
- Robert McKee, On Story
- Linda Seger, Advanced Screenwriting: Raising Your Script to the Academy Award Level, 2003.
- Linda Seger, Making a Good Script Great, 1994.
- Blake Snyder: Save the Cat! The Last Book on Screenwriting You’ll Ever Need, 2005.
- Michael Tierno, Aristotle’s Poetics for Screenwriters, 2002.
- John Truby, The Anatomy of A Screenplay, 2008.
- Christopher Vogler, The Writers Journey: Mythic Structure for Writers, 3rd Ed., 2007.