Screenwriting For Dummies

Screenwriting For Dummies

Screenwriting For Dummies

Screenwriting For Dummies

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Overview

Write a great script and get it into the hands of the Hollywoodplayers!

So you want to be a screenwriter? Whether you want to write afeature film or a TV script or adapt your favorite book, thisfriendly guide gives you expert advice in everything from creatingyour story and developing memorable characters to formatting yourscript and selling it to the studios. You get savvy industry tipsand strategies for getting your screenplay noticed!

  • The screenwriting process from A to Z — from developing aconcept and thinking visually to plotline, conflicts, pacing, andthe conclusion
  • Craft living, breathing characters — from creating thebackstory to letting your characters speak to balancing dialoguewith action
  • Turn your story into a script — from developing an outline andgetting over writer's block to formatting your screenplay andhandling rewrites
  • Prepare for Hollywood — from understanding the players andsetting your expectations to polishing your copy and protectingyour work
  • Sell your script to the industry — from preparing your pitchand finding an agent to meeting with executives and making adeal

Open the book and find:

  • The latest on the biz, from entertainment blogs to top agentsto box office jargon
  • New story examples from recently released films
  • Tips on character development, a story's time clock, dramaticstructure, and dialogue
  • New details on developing the nontraditional screenplay — frommusicals to animation to high dramatic style
  • Expanded information on adaptation and collaboration, withexamples from successful screenwriting duos

Product Details

ISBN-13: 9780470345405
Publisher: Wiley
Publication date: 07/08/2008
Series: For Dummies Books
Pages: 368
Sales rank: 933,696
Product dimensions: 7.30(w) x 9.10(h) x 0.80(d)

About the Author

Laura Schellhardt holds an MFA in Literary Arts from BrownUniversity and degrees in Theatre and Creative Writing fromNorthwestern University in Chicago. Her scripts have been producedin New York (SPF, The Hangar, The Exchange Theatre), Seattle(Seattle Repertory Theatre, ACT), Chicago (Northlight Theatre,Serendipity Theatre, New Leaf Theatre, Citadel Theatre), WashingtonDC (The Kennedy Center, Woolly Mammoth), Providence (TrinityRepertory Company, Brown University), Minneapolis (Theatre Limina),North Carolina (Center for Performing Arts), and Provincetown,Massachusetts (Provincetown Repertory Theatre, Provincetown TheatreCompany).
Original works include The K of D, The Chair, CourtingVampires, Shapeshifter, The Apothecary’s Girl,Inheritance, and Je Ne Sais Quoi. Adaptationsinclude The Phantom Tollbooth, The Mysteries of HarrisBurdick, The Outfit (Jeff Award Nominee), and CreoleFolktales.
Laura is a recipient of the Theatre Communications Group2007–8 Playwriting Residency, The Jerome Fellowship, the NewPlay Award from ACT in Seattle, and a Dramatist Guild PlaywritingFellowship. She has participated in the SoHo Rep. Writer/DirectorLab and the O'Neill National Playwright’s Festival.Laura has assisted in the development of new work at The Goodman,Steppenwolf Theatre, Northlight Theatre, and Trinity RepertoryCompany. She has studied writing with the likes of Paula Vogel,Maria Irene Fornes, Erin Cressida Wilson and has taught alongsideOscar-nominated John Logan of Aviator andSweeney Todd fame.
Laura currently heads the playwriting program at NorthwesternUniversity in Evanston, Illinois and teaches workshops across thecountry.

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Table of Contents

Foreword.

Introduction.

Part I: So You Want to Write for Pictures.

Chapter 1: Introducing the Art of Screenwriting.

Chapter 2: Preparing to Think Visually.

Chapter 3: Diving In to the Screenwriter's Mind.

Chapter 4: Approaching Screenwriting as a Craft.

Part II: Breaking Down the Elements of a Story.

Chapter 5: Unpacking Your Idea.

Chapter 6: Plot Part I: Beginnings.

Chapter 7: Plot Part II: Middles.

Chapter 8: Plot Part III: Endings.

Chapter 9: Character Building.

Chapter 10: Say What? Constructing Dynamic Dialogue.

Chapter 11: The Nontraditional Film.

Chapter 12: Maintaining an Audience's Trust.

Part III: Turning Your Story into a Script.

Chapter 13: Mapping Out Your Screenplay.

Chapter 14: Surviving Writer's Block.

Chapter 15: Formatting Your Screenplay.

Chapter 16: Putting It Together: Structuring Your FirstDraft.

Chapter 17: Take Two: Rewriting Your Script.

Chapter 18: Adaptation and Collaboration: Two Alternate Ways toWork.

Part IV: Selling Your Script to Show Business.

Chapter 19: Before You Send It: Premarketing Considerations.

Chapter 20: Getting Your Screenplay Noticed.

Part V: The Part of Tens.

Chapter 21: Ten Screenwriters You Should Know.

Chapter 22: Ten Screenwriting Myths.

Index.

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