The Horowitz System shows how to turn an idea into the first draft of a screenplay in 10 weeks or less - 80 percent of students who have used the method have completed original, well-structured scripts, many of which have gone on to win screenplay competitions, be optioned, or get produced. Used as a textbook at New York University for over 10 years, How to Write a Screenplay in 10 Weeks Using the Horowitz System teaches screenwriters to better fulfill their creative vision by giving them a clear, focused method. The Horowitz System uses a series of intuitive, visual exercises combined with a nonlinear approach to traditional three-act structure-the result is an organic, finely tuned first draft with high stakes and memorable characters.
This #1 Bestseller in Screenwriting is now COMPLETELY UPDATED AND EXPANDED! The Step-By-Step Course That Shows You How to Write Your Screenplay in Just 10 Days! "If you want to write screenplays for a living, there is nothing more valuable for a writer than being able to produce a quality screenplay quickly. We created this course to give you all the tools you need to accomplish exactly that. This system is laid out in a way that we hope writers of all experience levels will find easy to use. Our promise is simple: follow this system and in 10 days, you'll have a powerful scriptfinished!" - Travis Donnelly, writer & producer of Medium,co-author of The 10-Day Screenplay Some of the most famous movies in history were written in 10 days or less. Sylvester Stallone wrote Rocky in just three days. The movie became one of the most successful of all time and made Stallone an international superstar. Kevin Williamson wrote Scream in four days. The script created a hot bidding war and made Williamson one of the highest-paid screenwriters in Hollywood. John Hughes, one of the most successful screenwriters ever, loved to write fast. He wrote National Lampoon's Vacation in seven days, Ferris Bueller's Day Off in four days, Planes, Trains, and Automobiles in three days, and The Breakfast Club in just two days. Joe Eszterhas wrote Basic Instinct in 10 days. When he was finished, he shipped the script to his agent and sold it three days later for $3 million. Not only is it possible to write a great screenplay in 10 days or less, but spending too much time on a script is actually one of the worst mistakes a screenwriter can make! It can lead to boring, dull, and unoriginal scripts. Stop wasting so much time and energy trying to write your next screenplay. Simply follow this program and in as little as 10 days, you'll finish the screenplay that could just launch your screenwriting career! The 10-Day Screenplay system works like this: STEP 1: The 10-Day Screenplay shows you how to evaluate your initial idea using the five requirements of every great movieidea. Is your idea unique? Is it big enough? Will it make for a compelling two-hour movie? What can be done to make your idea bigger and better? STEP 2: The 10-Day Screenplay system forces you to flesh out your characters. Contrary to anything you may have heard, great characters make great movies. You need to really know your characters and let THEM dictate your plot, NOT the other way around. Amateur screenwriters come up with a plot and then plug in forced characters to play it out. This is a huge mistake and you'll never succeed this way! STEP 3: Once you have your idea and your characters, it's time to write your script following The 10-Day Screenplay course. Each day of the course includes an important lesson on what your story objective should be for that day along with a manageable writing assignment. If you simply follow this course, at the end of the 10 days, you will have a finished script! To make this process easy to understand, The 10-Day Screenplay breaks down 10 blockbuster movies along the way - Rocky, Braveheart, Home Alone, My Big Fat Greek Wedding, There's Something About Mary, Bridesmaids, Toy Story, Back to the Future, Die Hard, and Scream. You'll see how our plot and charactertechniques worked in each movie and how they can be applied to your screenplay. It's time to stop dreaming and start writing! This book will show you theway.
In this classic bestselling screenwriting guide—now revised and updated—author and film consultant Viki King helps screenwriters go from blank page to completed manuscript through a series of clever and simple questions, ingenious writing exercises, and easy, effective new skills. Viki King's Inner Movie Method is a specific step-by-step process designed to get the story in your heart onto the page. This method doesn’t just show how to craft a classic three-act story but also delves into how to clarify the idea you don't quite have yet, how to tell if your idea is really a movie, and how to stop getting ready and start. Once you know what to write, the Inner Movie Method will show you how to write it. This ultimate scriptwriting survival guide also addresses common issues such as: how to pay the rent while paying your dues, what to say to your partner when you can't come to bed, and how to keep going when you think you can't. How to Write a Movie in 21 Days, first published in 1987, has been translated in many languages around the world and has become an industry-standard guide for filmmakers both in Hollywood and internationally. For accomplished screenwriters honing their craft, as well as those who have never before brought their ideas to paper, How to Write a Movie in 21 Days is an indispensable guide. And Viki King's upbeat, friendly style is like having a first-rate writing partner every step of the way.
"Are you finally committed to writing that novel or screenplay, but have no idea how to get started? Or are you a published author, but know you need some plotting help to move your books and career up to that next level? In this workbook, award-winning author/screenwriter Alexandra Sokoloff will show you how to jump-start your plot and bring your characters and scenes vibrantly alive on the page by watching your favorite movies and learning from the storytelling tricks of great filmmakers."--Page 4 of cover.
Offers a technique for composing, writing, and editing a screenplay based on four questions about the main character's underlying motivations and goals.
If there is one skill that separates the professional screenwriter from the amateur, it is the ability to rewrite successfully. From Jack Epps, Jr., the screenwriter of Top Gun, Dick Tracy, and The Secret of My Success, comes a comprehensive guide that explores the many layers of rewriting. In Screenwriting is Rewriting, Epps provides a practical and tested approach to organizing notes, creating a game plan, and executing a series of focused passes that address the story, character, theme, structure, and plot issues. Included are sample notes, game plans, and beat sheets from Epps' work on films such as Sister Act and Turner and Hooch. Also featured are exclusive interviews with Academy Award® winning screenwriters Robert Towne (Chinatown) and Frank Pierson (Dog Day Afternoon), along with Academy Award® nominee Susannah Grant (Erin Brockovich).
A structured perspective on the crucial interface of director and screenplay, this book encompasses twenty-two seminal aspects of the approach to story and script that a director needs to understand before embarking on all other facets of the director’s craft. Drawing on seventeen years of teaching filmmaking at a graduate level and on his prior career as a director and in production at the BBC, Markham shows how the filmmaker can apply rigorous analysis of the elements of dramatic narrative in a screenplay to their creative vision, whether of a short or feature, TV episode or season. Combining examination of such fundamental topics as story, premise, theme, genre, world and setting, tone, structure, and key images with the introduction of less familiar concepts such as cultural, social, and moral canvas, narrative point of view, and the journey of the audience, What’s The Story? The Director Meets Their Screenplay applies the insights of each chapter to a case study—the screenplay of the short film Contrapelo, nominated for the Jury Award at Tribeca in 2014. This book is an essential resource for any aspiring director who wants to understand exactly how to approach a screenplay in order to get the very best from it, and an invaluable resource for any filmmaker who wants to understand the important creative interplay between the director and screenplay in bringing a story to life.
The Film Novelist is the first primer on writing film novels- whether you are a beginning novelist, a seasoned writer wanting to cross over into script/novel writing, or a creative writing teacher looking for proven ways to launch new writers. So, what is the difference between a screenplay and a film novel? Screenplays indicate solely what the audience is to see or hear on screen. Film novels are short, and take about as long to read as a feature film takes to watch. The description, dialogue, and narration of a film novel can simply be lifted out and used as the description, dialogue, and voice-over narration for a script. The author has devised a fifteen week program starting from a one-sentence pitch to the novel itself, which includes filming a scene from your script/novel. He grounds the discussion of early film novels, like The Maltese Falcon, Of Mice and Men, and The Misfits, to provide historical and theoretical background while detailing the practical, sequential approach for completing a short novel and script.
"A hilarious and helpful insider's guide to launching a successful writing career in Hollywood. . . . The only compass readers will ever need to navigate the treacherous waters of filmmaking"--("Kirkus Reviews," starred review).
The Book of Zev is a political thriller that tells the story of two gentle people who change the course of history. Zev Bronfman, a strapping 32-year old-virgin, angry atheist, refugee from a religious Jewish life, and former engineer for the U.S. Patent Office in Alexandria, Virginia, drives a cab and sleeps around in New York City. After a bitter divorce, Sarah Hirshbaum, a beautiful, redheaded, depressed, God-hating kosher chef, seesaws between yoga and too much red wine. Independently, the two consult the same psychic who inadvertently sends Sarah Zev's session tape. When Sarah contacts Zev to pick up the recording, a series of events forces them to connect with a powerful terrorist in order to thwart his plans to destroy the UN and Israel.
