- Paperback: 144 pages
- Publisher: Batsford Ltd (30 Jan 2004)
- Language English
- ISBN-10: 0713488336
- ISBN-13: 978-0713488333
- Product Dimensions: 23.4 x 16 x 1.1 cm
- Average Customer Review: 3.5 out of 5 stars See all reviews (2 customer reviews)
- Amazon Bestsellers Rank: 759,475 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
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More About the Author
Product Description
Product Description
In the book, successful scriptwriter and lecturer Pat Silver-Lasky takes the reader through the basics and beyond. As she freely admits, she can't teach talent, but she can teach techniques and concepts that will make it easier for you to use your own vision and creativity successfully in today's market. The book includes: - Writing techniques: elements of the screenplay; constructing a scene; character vs. characterisation - Genres - How comedies translate in the international market - Translating a novel into a script - changing a cerebral work into a visual one - Formula writing, but good formula writing, how to break up the formula structure successfully - Procedures for getting your script accepted in the UK and in the US - Marketing and the marketplace in the 21st century, how to protect your material
About the Author
Pat Silver-Lasky has been a scriptwriter for over 20 years. She has lectured on scriptwriting at several American Universities and was the script consultant and guest lecturer at the London International Film School for eight years until 1999. She is on the Executive Council of the Writers Guild of Great Britain, a member of BAFTA and a member of the Writers Guild of America. Born in Seattle, Washington and a former actress. She now lives in London.
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First Sentence
What are the defining images of the 21st century? Read the first page
Front Cover | Copyright | Table of Contents | Excerpt | Index | Back Cover
What are the defining images of the 21st century? Read the first page
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Front Cover | Copyright | Table of Contents | Excerpt | Index | Back Cover
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Customer Reviews
Most Helpful Customer Reviews
3 of 3 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback
There is a wealth of helpful material in this book, aimed at people who want to write screenplays. The problem is that the book is poorly written and organised. The author begins discussing one topic, only to drift onto other subjects, which should be properly dealt with elsewhere.
There are also a lot of typos and badly written sentences that should have been edited out. I don't think the following sentence would have escaped the attention of any observant editor:
"The layout for a single colunm [sic] layout for script is shown on the following pages."
That is just sloppy writing. And there's a lot more of it. I may be wrong, but I got the impression that the book had been pasted together from a lot of lecture notes. There are also some typographical errors in the sample screenplay layouts (confusing use of different fonts, mostly)
It's true that the author gives a lot of examples from recent films, but often it is not clear what we should learn from them. Far too much space is wasted paraphrasing the plots of movies to no great purpose. And why reproduce an irrelevant, scribbled note from Cecil B DeMille to the author's father-in-law, unless it is mere name-dropping?
Don't get me wrong - there's a lot of valuable advice in this book, but it's hemmed in on either side by elliptical, irrelevant comments, or platitudes such as the following:
"The audience may 'suspend disbelief', but don't try their patience. If they get ahead of you, it's heads down and popcorn time for them, and curtains for you!"
Well, what does that really mean, apart from, "Make it believable"? Surely, everybody knows that - it's how to make it believable that's the tricky part.
With the help of some stringent rewriting, editing and restructuring, this book would probably be worth 4 stars. As it stands, this is far from an ideal introduction to screenwriting.
2 of 4 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback
This is the best book on screenwriting I've ever seen. Ms. Lasky is not only highly thorough and analytical, but she explains each point with a wry sense of humour - the result of fifty years experience as a professional screenwriter and teacher. Insider secrets are revealed with an informal clarity rarely found in academic texts. Each technique is illustrated with copious examples from movies. The book encourages the study of the work of many great screenwriters scince the dawn of the silver screen. If you want to kick start your writing, this book will show you why certain things work and others don't. She also give valuable advice about the business side of show business. Following Ms. Lasky's advice will save any would be writer years of time-wasting mistakes.
Most Helpful Customer Reviews on Amazon.com (beta)
Amazon.com:
2 reviews
0 of 1 people found the following review helpful
Required reading for anyone interested in film.
12 April 2005
Format:Paperback
I found this book extremely useful in better understanding the screenwriting process. Even though I have no interest in being a screenwriter, as a film/television buff, I found the book very informative in anaylizing script construction, the ingredients of a quality script, and understanding the relationship of the scriptwriter to the producer, the director, cast, etc. I took a screenwriting course in college, and the text book used in the class was totally useless compared to what Pat Silver-Lasky has written. Every aspect of the scriptwriting process is covered in this book, and the material is logically presented in language that is understandable to even the novice scriptwriter. Nevertheless, even season scriptwriters will find this book useful as well. Ms. Silver-Lasky draws from her personal experience as a successful scriptwriter, instructor, and film enthuasist to create this must have read. At less than $15, one cannot go wrong purchasing this book.
0 of 3 people found the following review helpful
Review of Screenwriting in the 21st Century
31 Mar 2004
Format:Paperback
This is a great book for anyone who is interested in screenwriting either as a hobby or as a professional. It gives a straightforward and easy to understand explanation of how to develop your initial idea into a fully blown screenplay. It also includes antidotes, stories and references by the author who has an excellent insight into writing for this medium from her own experience. Pat Silver-Lasky makes you feel that you are being taught on a one-to-one basis, which is something that is rarely achieved from books in this category. Go out, buy it, read it, then start to write that screenplay you have always had at the back of your mind.
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