Screenwriting Books
The market of screenwriting books and advice has exploded in recent years, and there are hundreds of books available now. At
one point, they became an addiction to me – I owned more than thirty books, and ever time I'd start a new project,
I consulted my favorites for a refresher on structure, plot, dialogue, etc.
One thing is for sure: Reading a few good books on screenwriting (especially proper structure and format) is essential before starting your first screenplay. I wish that more
writers would read some books before writing their first script.
"500 Ways to Beat the Hollywood Reader"
by Jennifer Lerch is a great primer to test your story's viability,
point-by-point, and avoid common amateur mistakes.
Please don't submit a script to Scripts-and-Coverage.com before you've read at least two or three books on screenwriting!
Looking back, I don't think I learned as much as I think I did, reading the sixth, seventh, eighth book and so forth. A
lot of the books contain the same information, presented in a slightly different way.
A lot of
screenplay books have a "false enlightenment" effect. You feel smarter
because the book clarified what you already knew. Good movies ring true because they demonstrate truths about
life that we've experienced ourselves – screenwriting books work exactly the same.
You believe you can write a much better movie, now that you've consciously re-iterated this information.
But the truth is, you could've applied
your story instincts and give the story time to develop in your mind before committing anything to paper, and the result would've
been just as good, or even better.
I guess the risk of reading a lot of screenplay books (besides the hazard to your wallet) is the impression that you know
more than you really know. You start believing that your storytelling abilities are better than they are.
You become overconfident. You read negative writing examples in those books and feel "oh, I'd never write that way!"
That's how I felt back then. But here's what happened: Receiving professional coverage of my scripts made me realize that
I was still committing a lot of glaring mistakes. The ones I had read to avoid a thousand times.
That's the big downfall of reading screenwriting books: it's a very passive endeavor. You're more likely
to learn the lesson with hands-on training, either by writing yourself, or by actively judging another person's script
(what was good? what was bad?) and comparing your own judgement with that of a professional reader.
You'll probably realize that there are a lot of things you still miss. A lot of "theoretical rules" you fail
to apply. You realize how easy it is, even for a good writer, to commit serious missteps in storytelling.
Maybe you get second thoughts, and decide to tread more lightly on your path to writing that six-figure-deal spec script.
Maybe you'll hesitate to send out that script that you wrote "following al the rules." Second thoughts like that
would have a much more positive effect on the long run than the cheerleading "you can do it!" attitude
of many screenwriting books.
Too many books suggest "Hollywood needs great
stories, you can write one if you just follow these rules..." and give the impression that you're just a bit of
training away from creating that masterpiece.
Reading books is useful, but learning the art of screenwriting needs a lot more.
Hollywood doesn't judge your script like your toughest high school teacher...
it judges your script like a
congregation of the hundred toughest high school teachers in the country.
Scripts-and-Coverage.com provides the chance of a hands-on learning experience.
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