Secrets of Film Writing

Name: Secrets of Film Writing
Price: 4.77 USD
Availability: InStock
ISBN: 9780312269081

ISBN-10: 0312269080

ISBN-13: 9780312269081

Edition: 3rd 2001 (Revised)

Authors: Tom Lazarus

List price: $19.99

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Description:

Most books about screenplays instruct on three-act structure, character arcs, and how to format a script. But you already know all that. Secrets of Film Writing reveals a working writer's secrets-the tips, short cuts, tricks, and insider advice that will get your story down on paper, maximize your idea, and seduce your readers. Do you know why actors pick scripts out of a stack? Why montage sequences don't work? Why the traditional three-act structure is obsolete? Lazarus lifts the veil with dozens of secrets like these. Lazarus's insights and techniques will smooth and improve any screenwriter's process and will make any script more readable and ultimately more salable. Secrets of Film…

Book details

List price: $19.99
Edition: 3rd
Copyright year: 2001
Publisher: St. Martin's Press
Publication date: 6/2/2001
Binding: Paperback
Pages: 256
Size: 5.50" wide x 8.50" long x 0.75" tall
Weight: 0.484
Language: English



Acknowledgments


Introduction



Organization Is Freedom



The Log Line



Telling the Story Through the Characters



Rising Action



The Mathematics of Film Writing



Less Is More



More Is More



Script Presentation



Show Not Tell



Write Short



Rewriting--A Survival Course


A Personal Rant


Some Other Notes on Rewriting


Rewriting--An Example (Five Drafts)


Rewriting: A Case History



Cut to the Heart of the Scene



It's a Process



It's About Character, Stupid


Character Description


The Protagonist


The Antagonist



Dialogue


Dialogue--An Example


Dialogue--Another Example



Openings


Openings--Some Examples


Stigmata


Basic Instinct


Christopher



Scene Descriptions from Hell



Endings


The Pitfalls



All the Other Stuff


Surprises, Wrinkles, Twists and Turns


Text Versus Subtext


Using the Wrong Words


Phone Conversations


Signs of an Amateur


Flagging Problems


The Writer's Mantra


Pitching--Six Minutes of Hell


Reader's Hate


Getting into the Business


Pre-Writing


Shooting Yourself in the Foot


Getting Out of Your Own Way to Write


Don't Stop Momentum to Describe


I Hate Montages


Transitions


Geography


Metaphors and Similes


Sex and Violence


Dialects


Exposition


Shooting Yourself in the Foot, Part Two


Reviews


Coverage


The Hook


Cliches


The Sun to Yolk of Fried Egg Dissolve


More Uncinematic Stuff


Action Sequences


Turning in Your Script


Turning Things on Their Ear


The Best Friend


Characters Who Speak Out Loud When No One's Around


Coincidences


What Should You be Writing?


And if You Don't Have an Idea?


The Writer Who Doesn't Finish


Television


Fooled Them Again


Addendum


Much More than a Glossary


The Final Secret


End Titles