A Scriptwriter's Library
September 4th 2006 11:45
When you can’t access educational facilities, and still have the burning urge to write, how can you learn what you need to know to even begin getting it right? because them bigwig types aren’t gonna read any old thing. It has to have ingredients, it has to have format, it has to have style, preferably your own. Some of this can be learned from the books and websites I name below. This isn’t all of them (I’ll do another post with more suggestions later), but it’s a good starting point. All these books are, to the best of my knowledge, available through Amazon or your local bokshop.
JM Straczynski
The Complete Book of Scriptwriting
This is the book I’ve learned the most from. It covers all types of scripting, not just TV and film, but radio, animation and stage. This will give you a good flying start in writing, and for the US based reader, some solid information about who to contact and so on.
William Goldman
Adventures In The Screen Trade
Which Lie Did I Tell? (More Adventures In The Screen Trade)
Not strictly speaking about writing (though there is some discussion in the second half of the second book), but it does give you a feel for the strange world you’re trying to enter.
Lew Hunter
Screenwriting 434
Robert McKee
Story
These two are based on famous college courses. Here, the authors distil their wisdom down into dense but useful books, They aren’t an easy read, but definitely worthwhile.
George MacDonald Fraser
The Light’s On At Signpost
Stephen King
On Writing
These two are primarily about writing, though Fraser’s joy of writing film scripts is apparent in each article. There is a minor caveat in that his writing stories alternate with Seriously Grumpy Old Man essays on the state of the nation, but I don’t begrudge him that, the man’s a full legend, as ‘editor’ of the Flashman Papers and his stories about his time in the Army just after WW2 (collected in ‘The Complete McAuslan’), not to mention his novel ‘The Pyrates’ Really, they’re all worth reading, they have a strong sense of the visual. As Terry Pratchett (Discworld) said, “Any day ha book of his is published is a good day”.
As for King’s book, it’s very illustrative of how a writer manages to overcome a tough start and rise to the top of the literary world, and then overcome further problems again, in the shape of drug abuse and the horrific car accident from a few years ago. His description of the day he learns about the publication of ‘Carrie’ is very moving.
Star Trek Scriptbooks
To the best of my knowledge there are only two, one containing the scripts about the character Q, the other Seven of Nine. The advantage here is you can read high-production-value series scripts, match them with the final product on video or TV, and can clearly see what is industry standard. The stories aren’t bad either.
Ian McKellen
Shakespeare's Richard III
McKellen took Shakespeare’s tragedy and turned it into a movie set it in a 1930s Britain under the control of a totalitarian regime. He goes into some detail on the art of adapting a three hour plus stage play into a two hour movie, and it works very well. Richard delivers his opening soliloquy at a party celebrating the end of the war, illustrating just how malleable and timeless Shakespeare is, as well as revealing a powerful actor at the top of his game, years before Lord Of The Rings.
1001 Films You Must See Before You Die
Simply a wealth of great and obscure films that are the epitome of the film maker’s art. At the very minimum, you should be able to look at any selection in this book up and say, “Can I come up with something as inventive as that?”
And two websites to visit regularly:
Terry Rossio and Ted Elliot
Wordplay
Better known these days for ‘Pirates of the Caribbean’, the guys have been building up this site over some years, giving a lot of insights into why they are where they are today.
Craig Mazin
The Artful Writer
Another fast-rising writer, full of wit, insight and useful tips.
If you can take most of the advice here to heart, then there is a chance, faint but distinct, that you might make it. Note the qualifier – ‘most’. You won’t agree with everything they say, and you aren’t supposed to. You take what works for you, and make it work hard. That’s all any of us can do.
And aside from these, read everything you can get your hands on: scripts, novels, short stories, magazines. You never know where you’ll find a story that inspires you or you can adapt. It’s all grist tot the mill, all fuel to the flame.
JM Straczynski
This is the book I’ve learned the most from. It covers all types of scripting, not just TV and film, but radio, animation and stage. This will give you a good flying start in writing, and for the US based reader, some solid information about who to contact and so on.
William Goldman
Adventures In The Screen Trade
Which Lie Did I Tell? (More Adventures In The Screen Trade)
Not strictly speaking about writing (though there is some discussion in the second half of the second book), but it does give you a feel for the strange world you’re trying to enter.
Lew Hunter
Screenwriting 434
Robert McKee
Story
These two are based on famous college courses. Here, the authors distil their wisdom down into dense but useful books, They aren’t an easy read, but definitely worthwhile.
George MacDonald Fraser
The Light’s On At Signpost
Stephen King
On Writing
These two are primarily about writing, though Fraser’s joy of writing film scripts is apparent in each article. There is a minor caveat in that his writing stories alternate with Seriously Grumpy Old Man essays on the state of the nation, but I don’t begrudge him that, the man’s a full legend, as ‘editor’ of the Flashman Papers and his stories about his time in the Army just after WW2 (collected in ‘The Complete McAuslan’), not to mention his novel ‘The Pyrates’ Really, they’re all worth reading, they have a strong sense of the visual. As Terry Pratchett (Discworld) said, “Any day ha book of his is published is a good day”.
As for King’s book, it’s very illustrative of how a writer manages to overcome a tough start and rise to the top of the literary world, and then overcome further problems again, in the shape of drug abuse and the horrific car accident from a few years ago. His description of the day he learns about the publication of ‘Carrie’ is very moving.
Star Trek Scriptbooks
To the best of my knowledge there are only two, one containing the scripts about the character Q, the other Seven of Nine. The advantage here is you can read high-production-value series scripts, match them with the final product on video or TV, and can clearly see what is industry standard. The stories aren’t bad either.
Ian McKellen
Shakespeare's Richard III
McKellen took Shakespeare’s tragedy and turned it into a movie set it in a 1930s Britain under the control of a totalitarian regime. He goes into some detail on the art of adapting a three hour plus stage play into a two hour movie, and it works very well. Richard delivers his opening soliloquy at a party celebrating the end of the war, illustrating just how malleable and timeless Shakespeare is, as well as revealing a powerful actor at the top of his game, years before Lord Of The Rings.
1001 Films You Must See Before You Die
Simply a wealth of great and obscure films that are the epitome of the film maker’s art. At the very minimum, you should be able to look at any selection in this book up and say, “Can I come up with something as inventive as that?”
And two websites to visit regularly:
Terry Rossio and Ted Elliot
Wordplay
Better known these days for ‘Pirates of the Caribbean’, the guys have been building up this site over some years, giving a lot of insights into why they are where they are today.
Craig Mazin
The Artful Writer
Another fast-rising writer, full of wit, insight and useful tips.
If you can take most of the advice here to heart, then there is a chance, faint but distinct, that you might make it. Note the qualifier – ‘most’. You won’t agree with everything they say, and you aren’t supposed to. You take what works for you, and make it work hard. That’s all any of us can do.
And aside from these, read everything you can get your hands on: scripts, novels, short stories, magazines. You never know where you’ll find a story that inspires you or you can adapt. It’s all grist tot the mill, all fuel to the flame.
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