CRAFTY
SCREENWRITING
Alex Epstein brings a screenwriting professional's honesty, skill and expertise to a field otherwise crowded with how-to-write quacks.John Badham, director Saturday Night Fever, Stakeout
Crafty Screenwriting distills what I know about screenwriting. It's only ten bucks at Amazon, and it fits in your coat pocket!
Here's a review of it. And here are some more nice things writers, directors and producers have said about it. Below are
excerpts. If you
like them, buy the book!
Table of Contents
Hook
What Is A Screenplay?
How Hookless Movies Get Made
How Do You Come Up With a Hook?
Paying Attention
Stealing
Other Hooks
Duplicate Hooks
How Long Should You Spend Thinking Up a Hook?
Your Title
Pitching Your Idea
Query Letters
How To Get Your Hookless Movie Made
What Is Crafty Screenwriting?
Plot
Telling Stories
Adapting True Stories and Novels
What's Wrong With Your Pitch?
The Essential Elements of a Dramatic Story
A Main Character
Stakes
Jeopardy
Obstacle
External Antagonist or Obstacle
Intimate Opponent
Tragic or Comic Flaw
All the Elements, All the Time
Theme
Surprise and Inevitability
The Myth of Three Act Structure
Flashbacks
Writing Down Your Pitch
The Step Outline
Reading Your Step Outline
Characters
The Two Sides to Characters
Reverse Engineering Your Characters
Reverse Engineering The Mummy
Freshness
The Devil is in the Details
The Ghost
The Secret Lives of Characters
Don't Betray Your Characters
Casting Your Movie
Some Development Executive Myths
"The Dialog is Flat"
"We Don't Know Enough About Your Hero"
The Rubber Ducky
"The Hero Isn't Likable"
"It's Episodic"
Character Names
Introducing Your Characters
Action
Transparency
Only Write What You Can See or Hear
How to Direct Without Seeming To
Montages
Editing Your Scenes
Pacing, and the Clock
Point of View
Writing Style
Dialog
Moving the Story Forward
Drama Is Conflict
"I didn't come here for an argument." "Yes, you did!"
Believability versus Realism
Realistic vs. Snappy Dialog
Finding Your Character's Voice
Trim Your Dialog
Testing Your Dialog
Bad Language
Spare vs. Flat Dialog
Technical Considerations
Parentheticals
(beat)
Foreign Language and Accents
Foreigners Speak Their Own Language, with Subtitles
Foreigners Speak English
Foreigners Speak Their Own Language, No Subtitles
Foreigners Speak Their Own Language, Someone
Translates
Voiceovers
Images Versus Sound; Action Versus
Dialog
Genre
What is Genre?
Delivering the Goods
The First Reel Contract
Some Notes on Specific Genres
The Unreal Genres, and Why They Are So Hard to Write
Get Help!
Reading Other Scripts
Books You Should Read
Writing Groups
Why a Writing Group?
Who Should Be in Your Group?
How to Find Fellow Writers
How to Run A Writing Group
A Useful Phrase
Getting Feedback
Friends
Film Fans
Professionals
Other Kinds of Help (no, not that kind!)
Screenwriting Software
Writing Workshops, Seminars and Classes
Staged Readings
Screenwriting Consultants
Just Write It
Rewrite
Sell No Wine Before Its Time
Kill Your Darlings
Screenplay Format
Screenplay Length
How to Bind Your Script
Your Title, or The Most Important Phrase In Your Script
Explanatory Titles
Mysterious Titles
Neutral Titles
Suggestive Titles
Literary Titles
Get it Made!
Getting Access
Agents
Copyright
What Is Copyright?
What Can Be Copyrighted?
How Do I Enforce My Copyright?
Sending Your Script
Waiting
Getting It Back
An Agent Says Yes
What To Do If You Don't Have an Agent
A Producer Says Yes
The Deal
Writing For Hire
How Television Is Different
Never Write From Hunger
A Sample Option Deal