Writing Movies: The Practical Guide to Creating Stellar Screenplays

To break into the screenwriting game, you need a screenplay that is not just good, but great. Superlative. Stellar. In Writing Movies you'll find everything you need to know to reach this level. And, like the very best teachers, Writing Movies is always practical, accessible, and entertaining.
The book provides a comprehensive look at screenwriting, covering all the fundamentals (plot, character, scenes, dialogue, etc.) and such crucial-but seldom discussed-topics as description, voice, tone, and theme. These concepts are illustrated through analysis of five brilliant screenplays-Die Hard, Thelma & Louise, Tootsie, Sideways, and The Shawshank Redemption. Also included are writing assignments and step-by-step tasks that take writers from rough idea to polished screenplay. Written by Gotham Writers' Workshop expert instructors, Writing Movies offers the same winning style and clarity of presentation that have made a success of Gotham's previous book Writing Fiction, which is now in its 7th printing.
Named the "best class for screenwriters" in New York City by MovieMaker Magazine, Gotham Writers' Workshop is America's leading private creative writing school, offering classes in Manhattan and on the Web at www.WritingClasses.com. The school's interactive online classes, selected as "Best of the Web" by Forbes, have attracted thousands of aspiring writers from across the United States and more than sixty countries.

ISBN-13: 9781596911451

Media Type: Paperback

Publisher: Bloomsbury USA

Publication Date: 09-19-2006

Pages: 400

Product Dimensions: 5.50(w) x 8.20(h) x 1.45(d)

Founded in 1993 by Jeff Grae and David Fligelman, Gotham Writers' Workshop is the leading writing school in New York and in the United States. Based in New York City, it reaches more writing students than any other school, offering more than 400 courses to 6,000 students each year. Its distinctive technique has won raves from alumni and from the media. Gotham has published two previous books with Bloomsbury, the very popular Guide to Writing Fiction and Fiction Gallery.

Table of Contents

1. Screenwriting: Inventing a Myth, Alexander Steele

2. Plot: The Path of Action, Daniel Noah

3. Characters: The Lifeblood, Paul Zimmerman

4. The Page: Words That Move, John Glenn

5. Scenes: Exploring and Exploding Moments, Tal McThenia

6. Dialogue: Making More of Less, Michael Eldridge

7. Subplots: A Side of Story, Helen Kaplan

8. Plot II: Like a Roller Coaster, Tommy Jenkins

9. Tone and Theme: The Overlay & Underlay, Jason Greiff

10. Revision: From Rough to Ready, Amy Fox

11. Slipping Past the Velvet Rope, Christopher Momenee

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