The Screenwriter's Workbook Author: Syd Field | Language: English | ISBN:
B001O1O73K | Format: EPUB
The Screenwriter's Workbook Description
At last! The classic screenwriting workbook—now completely revised and updated—from the celebrated lecturer, teacher, and bestselling author, Syd Field: “the most sought-after screenwriting teacher in the world”*
No one knows more about screenwriting than Syd Field—and now the ultimate Hollywood insider shares his secrets and expertise, completely updating his bestselling workbook for a new generation of screenwriters. Filled with new material—including fresh insights and anecdotes from the author and analyses of films from Pulp Fiction to Brokeback Mountain—The Screenwriter’s Workbook is your very own hands-on workshop, the book that allows you to participate in the processes that have made Syd Field’s workshops invaluable to beginners and working professionals alike. Follow this workbook through
to the finish, and you’ll end up with a complete and salable script!
Learn how to:
• Define the idea on which your script will be built
• Create the model—the paradigm—that professionals use
• Bring your characters to life
• Write dialogue like a pro
• Structure your screenplay for success from the crucial first pages to the final act
Here are systematic instructions, easy-to-follow exercises, a clear explanation of screenwriting basics, and expert advice at every turn—all the moment-to-moment, line-by-line help you need to transform your initial idea into a professional screenplay that’s earmarked for success.
The Perfect Companion Volume to Syd Field’s Revised and Updated Edition of Screenplay: The Foundations of Screenwriting
*Hollywood ReporterFrom the Trade Paperback edition.- File Size: 1026 KB
- Print Length: 320 pages
- Publisher: Delta; Rev Upd edition (December 18, 2008)
- Sold by: Random House LLC
- Language: English
- ASIN: B001O1O73K
- Text-to-Speech: Enabled
X-Ray:
- Lending: Not Enabled
- Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #82,351 Paid in Kindle Store (See Top 100 Paid in Kindle Store)
- #87
in Books > Humor & Entertainment > Movies > Screenwriting
- #87
in Books > Humor & Entertainment > Movies > Screenwriting
I've written my share of short stories, and even had some of them published. I couldn't tell you how many times I've started a story and after a strong opening scene and some character development, got completely flummoxed and didn't know what to do or where to take it. After reading this book, I may dig them back out...
This book, I found to be a great distillation of storytelling. Some may be put off by the "formula" or what has been called a "paint by numbers" approach that this book takes, which is far from accurate. Joseph Cambell distilled all world mythologies into his "Hero's Cycle" in THE HERO WITH A THOUSAND FACES, and you can apply any myth from any continent to his pattern. Syd Field has just done the same thing to what could be argued is the only active myth system left to Western Culture, film. Take a two-hour myth and distill it down to its raw elements. That's his book. His pattern fits.
How do I create my own screenplay/myth? I have a great idea for this scene... Well, this book will force you to focus on the bits you have to think about to turn that great idea into a full screenplay.
This book was perfect for where I am as a storyteller. I know how to craft a good tale - sometimes it just all comes out one paragraph at at time until the ending scene... but sometimes, you need a tool to help you think about the whole structure to get to that next part. This book? A good tool for that.
You are writing your own characters and plot. All this book does is help you focus on the "why's" and "when's" of the "what happens" in YOUR script. It is not a "paint by numbers." You don't fill in the blanks like a mad-libs! It gives you a pattern to help you refine your ideas.
Syd Field's The Screenwriter's Workbook (Revised Edition) makes an excellent companion to his Screenplay: The Foundations of Screenwriting, published in 1979, the first book ever on the subject. In his memoir, GOING TO THE MOVIES -- A Personal Journey Through Four Decades of Modern Film, published in 2001, he says: "There were three printings within the first six months of publication, and it wasn't long before many of the major college and universities across the land were using it as a text (p 239)."
Introducing the SCREENPLAY book, Syd Field writes, "This not a `how-to' book....I call it a 'what-to' book, meaning if you have an idea for a screenplay, and you don't know what to do or how to do it, I can show you (p 8)." Very well, let's see.
Write down your answers to the following three questions. First: What is your story about? Who is the main character? What is the dramatic situation? ("You've got approximately ten pages of screenplay or approximately ten minutes of screen-time to establish this.") Second: What is your screenplay's ending? Third: What is your screenplay's inciting incident? -- which he defines as the incident "that sets the story in motion; it is the first visual representation of the key incident, what the story is about, and draws the main character into the story line (p 129)."
The major structuring form, Syd Field emphasizes is the classic three-act paradigm: Act I, set-up; Act II, confrontation; Act III, resolution.
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