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Scream: A Screenplay 45 reviews
Kevin Williamson
Miramax Books, 1997
SCARY!!!!!!!!!!!
I Like this book! Its like the movie! Its Scary!!!!!!!!! Cool! And If You are a big scream fan read it! It has pictures from scream 1 and 2 in it!
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Life is Beautiful/La Vita E Bella: A Screenplay38 reviews
Roberto Benigni, Vincenzo Cerami
Miramax, 1998
pathos and humor = LIFE
Guido, the central character in Life is Beautiful, is one of the most poignant characters in literature. He chooses to create an illusionary world for his son so that Giosue will survive the horrific conditions in a concentration camp. It becomes clear to the reader that Guido makes a decision as soon as he and Giouse are taken to the camp that he will, if necessary, go so far as to sacrifice his ...
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Your Screenplay Sucks!: 100 Ways to Make It Great23 reviews
William M Akers
Michael Wiese Productions, 2008
The Ultimate Checklist For The Serious Screenwriter!
I'm relatively new to the craft of screenwriting, but I'm passionate about creating a great work that has a legitimate chance at making it to a theater near you. It seems that the trademark start for every aspiring screenwriter is to stock up on a library of books that explain screenwriting from every imaginable angle; only to find a few that truly make the difference. Rare are the books that ...
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The Writer Got Screwed (but didn't have to): Guide to the Legal and Business Practices of Writing for the ...24 reviews
Brooke A. Wharton
Collins Living, 1997
#1 BOOK FOR FILM & TV WRITERS
There are a lot of books out there on writing for the entertainment industry, but this was the one book that got me started. A lot of writers tend to pass around gossip and poor information, but this book set me straight from the beginning, and is now joined by Wharton's website/blog: brookewharton.com(rated in top 10 for film blogs). This is the one book that anyone writing for film or ...
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How to Write a Selling Screenplay38 reviews
Christopher Keane
Broadway, 1998
Impeccable
Unless you enjoy battering your head against the wall, read Keane's book before embarking on your project. Soup to nuts and three desserts - he gives the reader everything.
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The Hollywood Standard: The Complete and Authoritative Guide to Script Format and Style27 reviews
Christopher Riley
Michael Wiese Productions, 2005
Very good
I only disagreed with the format used for montages. You don't need alphabetized bullets for each montage sequence. Readers aren't that dumb. Otherwise I refer to it constantly.
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Shakespeare in Love. A Screenplay. (Lernmaterialien)28 reviews
Marc Norman, Tom Stoppard, ...
Reclam, Ditzingen, 2000
LOVE IS A STORM OF WORDS AND THUNDER
Marc Norman and Tom Stoppard wrote the screenplay of Shakespeare in Love. The film is marvellous and so powerful that no one can resist that love drama. The story of Romeo and Juliet is itself so frightfully emotional that no one can resist the charm of the tragedy and the pain of the love story. So many artists, in so many genres and arts, have tried themselves at adapting this story, this ...
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Save the Cat! Goes to the Movies: The Screenwriter's Guide to Every Story Ever Told33 reviews
Blake Snyder
Michael Wiese Productions, 2007
The Secret to Screenwriting Exposed!
This book is awesome!
If you want to write a spec script that will get sold then READ THIS BOOK and it's companion (the original Save the Cat book). This book literally blows the roof off the "secrets" behind successful screenwriting.
My collection of screenwriting books is ridiculous. The problem with ALL of those other books (with the exception of those by Cynthia Whitcomb) is that they ...
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Brokeback Mountain: Story to Screenplay132 reviews
Annie Proulx, Larry McMurtry, ...
Scribner, 2006
Brokeback - story to screenplay - Absolutely Fabulous!!!
This is an excellent addition to anyone's book collection - not only do you receive Annie Proulx's wonderful story, but you can experience Larry McMurtry's and Diana Ossana's sweet, lilting and poignant screenplay. Ennis and Jack jump off the page, fictional characters who have somehow become real, as we are transported with them through the most beautiful twenty years of their star-crossed ...
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Magnolia: Screenplay27 reviews
Paul Thomas Anderson
Bloomsbury Publishing PLC, 2000
"Magnolia: The Shooting Script" is Awesome!
Paul Thomas Anderson is a very vulnerable & giving author!He really nurtures the reader with secrets that aren't even revealed in the wonderful "making of" additional feature on the DVD. Get both & you will be powerfully inspired by a true artist, who went against the rules & won brilliantly. Thank God award season appreciated the wonderful work of art Magnolia was, and still is in my collection.
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Rushmore (Classic Screenplay)16 reviews
Wes Anderson, Owen Wilson
Faber & Faber, 1999
A must for Max Fischer fans
Happily, this is an original script/shooting script, not the final filmed version so there are plenty of scenes and lines included here that did not appear in the movie. After reading I have a new appreciation for the subtle, nearly flawless directing and acting in this amazing film. Buy it!
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The Writer's Guide to Writing Your Screenplay: How to Write Great Screenplays for Movies and Television15 reviews
Cynthia Whitcomb
The Writer Books, 2002
If you can't even spell screenwriting but want to, read this book!
Top of the line. Easy to read and pleasant-toned in layman's terms. Organized and simple. Demonstrates the usefulness of 3x5 index cards for story-plotting. Tells you how to make good characters, scenes, dialogue, plot, etc. by demonstrating good and bad examples in movies that we are very familiar with. Simplifies the Three Act Movie formula by telling you how many minutes in the movie you ...
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Writing a Great Movie: Key Tools for Successful Screenwriting17 reviews
Billboard Books, 2006
The One Book to master them all ...
There is a multitude of books that have recently become standard over the last twenty to thirty years regarding the mastery of screenwriting. Viki King's book "How to write a Movie in 21 days" is probably one of the most well known, as is "Screenplay" by Syd Field.
I think the truth about a lot of these books is that most people are looking for small, concise manuals that are easy to read and ...
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The Shawshank Redemption: The Shooting Script (Newmarket Shooting Script Series)15 reviews
Frank Darabont
Newmarket Press, 2004
Great in depth exploration
As a rule, don't buy shooting scripts if you want to write a screenplay. Shooting scripts are finished products.
That said, screenwriters can learn from this exploration of the classic movie (yes, folks, it is a classic, it's been shown a billion times on TNT), by reading the deleted scenes (my personal favorite is one about the publicity of Warden Norton's prison-to-work scheme, in which ...
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Henry V (Lorrimer Classic Screenplays)18 reviews
William Shakespeare, Laurence Olivier
Harpercollins, 1985
A popular play in an edition fabulously rich in helps
This play is best known for the St. Crispian's Day "Band of Brothers" speech given by King Henry just before the battle at Agincourt. It is a powerful speech that rallies people at all times and everywhere. Sir Lawrence Olivier made a film version in 1944 during WWII and Kenneth Branagh made another as recently as 1989. You can count on there being more versions. Epecially so when computers ...
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Writing the Romantic Comedy19 reviews
Billy Mernit
Collins, 2001
Great Book for All Writers
I recommend this book for all writers - not just screenwriters. He has a way of making it so clear all the clever ways not to fall into the usual traps of a typical scene.
Whether you are writing a book or a movie the information he presents how to establish relationships between characters is tremendous. It's also a fun read.
I refer to it often when building characters, ...
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The Treasure of the Sierra Madre (Wisconsin / Warner Bros. Screenplay Series)21 reviews
John Huston
The University of Wisconsin Press, 2002
a very special piece of writing
If you have seen and enjoyed the John Huston film of the same name, and believe it to be one of the greatest films ever produced, then it is mandatory to procure and read this book.
This review is written from the perspective of someone who has seen the film at least a half dozen times before reading the novel for the first time. The film is mostly faithful to the novel, so no nasty surprises ...
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Hot Property: Screenwriting in the New Hollywood15 reviews
Christopher Keane
Berkley Trade, 2003
The best book on screenwriting
I've found both of Chris Keane's screenwriting books (Hot Property and How to Write a Selling Screenplay) to be invaluably helpful to me. They take the reader through the entire process of starting, completing, and selling a script. It's a very encouraging and optimistic source and does a lot to motivate and educate the reader. Of the dozens of screenwriting books that I've read, these have ...
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Blade16 reviews
Mel Odom, New Line Productions
HarperEntertainment, 1998
BLADE KICKS ASS
Blade was a kick ass book, completely different from the movie. The movie had more fighting and you didn't get to see the true meaning of the novel. The movie described Blade as a cold blooded slayer with no mercy. The novel describes Blade as someone who risks his life everyday to save the human race in spite of the fact that the human race thinks he's a murderer and wants him dead. He uses ...
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Opened Ground: Poems, 1966-9617 reviews
Seamus Heaney
Faber & Faber, 1998
He who makes English get up and dance...
If you have not read Seamus Heaney, then you are not in touch with what the English language is in its heart. Heaney's simple, unstrained word usage, coupled with a deep knowledge of the rich Anglo-Saxon which is our cornerstone, evokes a strength which comes not so much from what we see and know as from something which is rooted deeply in our psyches as Anglo-Europeans (or at least those living ...
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