Product Description: Finally, what may be the last screenwriting book a writer will ever need to buy! Written by a Hollywood screenwriter, How NOT to Write A Screenplay carefully identifies and examines the common mistakes screenwriters invariably make when writing a screenplay.
Amazon.com Review: How Not to Write a Screenplay is an invaluable addition to any aspiring screenwriter's shelf--and you'd best make the shelf within arm's reach of the computer. Author Dean Martin Flinn, an experienced script reader, details the common rookie mistakes that drive script readers crazy. Flinn makes no pretense of being able to teach anyone how to write the next Great American Film--or for that matter the next Stupid Summer Blockbuster. Instead he offers information that will help keep the novice screenwriter's opus from being immediately tossed on the trash pile (arguably a more valuable service). As Flinn says in his introduction, if you follow the advice in this book, "you may not write a particularly good screenplay, but you won't write a bad one." Flinn offers practical advice on formatting, such as the proper form for a slugline and where to set your margins, and more general rules of thumb on giving the actors room to interpret their roles and avoiding dictating camera angles to the director (who will ignore them anyway). The second half of the book deals with content, also in a remarkably pragmatic way--structure, pacing, plot resolution, and dialogue that really stink are all handily dealt with. Flinn illustrates almost all his points with excerpts from screenplays both good and bad (names have been changed to protect the guilty), giving the reader concrete examples of the difference between poorly and well-structured scenes. Not sucking is an unusual goal for a screenwriting manual, but any script reader will agree it is a noble one. --Ali Davis
Customer Reviews
Average Rating:
Rating: - Best for more intermediate level screenwriters
I found the book extremely helpful - but I would NOT recommend for beginning screenwriters.
I've written almost 3 screenplays, and had them critiqued in class. So, I would say that I am an ... Read More
Rating: - The Difference
I agree with another reviewer. This is better to read while you're in the middle of your first screenplay, or after you've written it.
Rating: - A good book, but just good.
While this book does tell you some of the basic stuff it takes not to write your script, it also goes back and forth and gives examples of bad scripts and then good scripts doing almost the same thing. It seems ... Read More
Rating: - A good read!
This guy is funny. I burned through this book in short order. A little heavy on the inclusion of other writers work, but it does illustrate his points. That is the only reason I didn't give it five stars.
... Read More
Rating: - Less negative than I hoped, but very effective.
The writing examples used in this book were mostly from quality scripts, when I expected the book to focused on tearing apart bad scripts. I believe the jacket's assertion that there's much to be learned this way, ... Read More
- Best for more intermediate level screenwriters
- A good book, but just good.
- A good read!