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Title: The Complete Book of Scriptwriting by J. Michael Straczynski ISBN: 1582971587 Publisher: Writers Digest Books Pub. Date: July, 2002 Format: Paperback Volumes: 1 List Price(USD): $19.99 |
Average Customer Rating: 4.74
Rating: 5
Summary: Excellent resource for budding scriptwriters.
Comment: This is the first book I bought when I began my foray into the world of screenwriting, and I have to say, it's been my best investment. In one book you get all the tricks and rules for writing, marketing and making the sale on scripts for radio, television, stage and screen. JMS, the man behind the TV series "Babylon 5", is an excellent teacher and his writing style is both comfortable and informative. With the inclusion of the full script of his television episode "The Coming of Shadows", this is an incredible bargain. If you plan on writing any kind of script, you won't regret purchasing this book.
Rating: 5
Summary: Scriptwriting, or the Tinseltown FAQ?
Comment: Salted with script excerpts and script layouts in equal measure, THE COMPLETE BOOK OF SCRIPTWRITING is written with humour and a prose style which makes it almost as easy to read as fiction. It even includes the award-winning Babylon 5 script, "The Coming of Shadows" as an appendix. But is it an effective textbook?
The book covers the areas of film, screen, radio, animation and stage play scriptwriting in detail. It will show you how to develop a script in each genre from original idea through synopsis, then outline, to first draft, demonstrating at each stage who you'll be dealing with on the production side, and what you should expect to receive in payment. The pitfalls and the cynical traps some companies use are well signposted.
A significant failing, though, is that it does not cover as much of the art and technical aspects of scriptwriting as one might like - jms, as he's universally known on the Internet, seems to have the approach that the best teacher is practice. He devotes much more space to the layout of scripts (crucial to acceptance), their development and their marketing, with many anecdotes to illuminate, entertain and illustrate.
This is all very well, but layout and marketing details are local to the US. If you are intending to live in L.A. and write for the local market, this book is essential reading. If you live or work abroad, you may find the scriptwriting tips in the Complete Book a little incomplete for the cover price, although many Babylon 5 fans have bought it simply for the full episode script at the back.
None the less, this is a very well-written book (as one would expect from jms). It is not remotely starchy - unlike many books for writers - and it covers areas of scriptwriting which most other tomes on the subject fail to address, or at least in such detail. If you need to learn from scratch how to write, or to write a script, you'll find plenty of books already out there. But if you need a guide through the almost inpenetrable jungle of L.A., jms is your man, and the Complete Book is your map.
Jon Green ([email protected]
Rating: 5
Summary: All Purpose
Comment: Scriptwriting is a great all purpose review of both the creative and business sides of writing for TV, movies, animation, radio drama, and the stage. Straczynski is the perfect authority to write on these subjects, having garnered success in all those fields.
The book is a how to manual, with plenty of examples to follow. It also traces out the business side of selling what you write. Straczynski writes in a personable style, but pulls no punches. He helps a potentional writer separate his dreams from reality without crushing one's ambition. This book has been used in colleges as a textbook and upon reading it, yu'll see why. It's a handy reference tool that I have thumbed back through scores of times over the last 3 years. I give it the highest praise. It should be the starting point for anyone serious about writing in the performing arts.
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Title: The Screenwriter's Bible: A Complete Guide to Writing, Formatting, and Selling Your Script by David Trottier ISBN: 1879505444 Publisher: Silman-James Press Pub. Date: August, 1998 List Price(USD): $19.95 |
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Title: How Not to Write a Screenplay: 101 Common Mistakes Most Screenwriters Make by Denny Martin Flinn ISBN: 1580650155 Publisher: Lone Eagle Publishing Company Pub. Date: August, 1999 List Price(USD): $16.95 |
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Title: Crafty Screenwriting: Writing Movies That Get Made by Alex Epstein ISBN: 0805069925 Publisher: Owl Books Pub. Date: 08 October, 2002 List Price(USD): $15.00 |
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Title: Creating Unforgettable Characters by Linda Seger ISBN: 0805011714 Publisher: Henry Holt (Paper) Pub. Date: July, 1990 List Price(USD): $15.00 |
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Title: Story: Substance, Structure, Style and The Principles of Screenwriting by Robert McKee ISBN: 0060391685 Publisher: HarperCollins Pub. Date: November, 1997 List Price(USD): $35.00 |
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