On Story & Screenplay Writing
Lisa Cron: Wired for Story - how to hook the audience from the very first sentence
Joseph Campbell: The Hero of a Thousand Faces - the story of the hero’s journey
Madeline DiMaggio: Writing for TV - on TV, video
Lajos Egri: The Art of Dramatic Writing - the basics of writing any story
Syd Field: Screenplay, The Foundations of Screenwriting - the “Old Testament” of screenplay writing
Syd Field: The Screenwriters’ Workbook - guided workshop for beginners
William Froug: The Screenwriter Looks At The Screenwriter - top screenwriters talk about their craft
William Goldman: Adventures In The Screentrade - as the title says...
Michael Hauge: Writing Screenplays That Sell - all aspects of screenwriting
Robert McKee: STORY: Substance, Structure, Style and the Principles of Screenwriting - everything you need to know in one volume
Linda Seger: Creating Unforgettable Characters - everything you need to know about characters
Linda Seger: Making a Good Script Great - gives an overview of scriptwriting
Linda Seger: The Art of Adaptation: Turning Fact and Fiction into Film - on adaptation
Ronald B. Tobias: 20 Master Plots - how to develop plot in fiction
Christopher Vogler: The Writer’s Journey - how to use mythic structure
Jürgen Wolff & Carry Cox: Successful Scriptwriting - insights on skills, writing, treatment, pitch and the realities of today's film & TV industry
Jennifer M. Lerch: 500 Ways To Beat the Hollywood Script Reader - how to make them read your screenplay
Chris Whener: Sccreenwriting on the Internet - researching and selling your script on the web
John Robert Marlow: Make Your Story A Movie - adapting your book or idea for Hollywood
Rene Gutteridge & Cheryl McKay: Novelizations - how to adapt scripts into novels
If you feel you need to understand what story is and how it works, – read Lisa Cron’s Wired for Story.
A good place to start with if you are a beginner: – read Syd Field’s The Foundations of Screenwriting.
(Click on the image on the right and it will download a pdf. version of the book.)
You can get these books from the following places:
SCREENWRITING TOOLS
are embedded in the software you need to be able to write a professionally formatted screenplay
The 6 most used software programs are:
(Click on the pix on the left to learn more.)
(Click on the pix on the left to learn more.)
MOVIE MAGIC SCREENWRITER 6
The most widely accepted film industry standard - production companies, studios and their writers use it, because Movie Magic Scheduling and MM-Budgeting software work in tandem with it to quickly break down a screenplay and create an accurate budget..
The most widely accepted film industry standard - production companies, studios and their writers use it, because Movie Magic Scheduling and MM-Budgeting software work in tandem with it to quickly break down a screenplay and create an accurate budget..
FINAL DRAFT
Film industry standard - most writers use this. Submitting a screenplay in this format says you "must be a pro".
Celtx
Great tool for amateurs and indie professionals. Established writers may not use it, but only because they have workflows that predate Celtx's integrated approach.
Celtx
Great tool for amateurs and indie professionals. Established writers may not use it, but only because they have workflows that predate Celtx's integrated approach.
FADE IN
A modern and intuitive alternative to the ubiquitous film industry standards. Excludes most of the superfluous tools that tend to gunk up other screenwriting applications.
WriterDuet SCREENCRAFT
A user-friendly screenwriting software with advanced outlining options. Any number of writers can work together at the same time.
And there is one amazing software for writers of long texts like novels, research papers or screenplays.
SCRIVENER
A word processor and project manager tool for writers, bringing together all your research and information to one place.
If your click on SCRIPT READER PRO's logo below,
it will take you to their comparison page to check the above 5
main intercompatible Screenplay Writing programs out in detail:
it will take you to their comparison page to check the above 5
main intercompatible Screenplay Writing programs out in detail:
You may want to check out other options for writing Screenplays:
Fountain for Screenwriters APP - add-on to text editors
Amazon StoryWriter - online writing application
Trelby - Screenplay Writing software
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“What a miracle it is that out of these small, flat, rigid squares of paper unfolds world after world after world, worlds that sing to you, comfort and quiet or excite you. Books help us understand who we are and how we are to behave. They show us what community and friendship mean; they show us how to live and die.”
Anne Lamott
