This book has many reviews on Amazon, which give it five stars across the board. What gives? I'll tell you - page one offers a free Raindance DVD worth £15 for everyone that puts up a positive review on Amazon, and asks you to send them the link with your address!!!
It's the most appallingly written piece of trash I've ever come across that was non fiction. It's so bad, I don't even know where to start. There are typos on just about every paragraph, he's talking nonsense from start to finish, it's laid out for little kids with boxes to be filled in, etc. He frequently forgets the difference between a movie and a screenplay after spending the intro telling you that the writer must appreciate that they are not the same. I only read the first 12 or so pages and couldn't believe my eyes. He tells an anecdote about a DJ who performs at 3am every morning, and in the next paragraph he talks about no one listening to his show 'that evening'. An anecdote about Mozart shows that Mr Grove doesn't even know the composer's name! And my favourite: 'Every screenplay starts with a script.' It's that bad.
I leafed through the rest of it and found another corker that tells you everything you need to know about this guy. He has a page showing the writers guild minimums for scripts, then across from it tells you that he's actually a producer, not a writer (surprise, surprise), and he'll always try to get away with paying less. 'Am I exploiting writers? You must answer this question. If you don't like the deal, you can always walk away.' In other words, I will rip you off, and if you don't like it go **** yourself.
I normally wouldn't bother posting comments on Amazon. But given the fact that people are buying this for all the wrong reasons (reviews written for a free DVD), I feel I have to.