The Money Run The Screenplay

What is it that makes humans engage with a dramatic narrative? Is it linked to our primitive selves, contained within our instinctive experience? This innovative text argues that understanding how and why our human instincts are brought into play as we watch screen drama is the key to writing it. Analysing four powerful instincts – willpower, logic, morality and emotion – Sam North explores how they determine our level of involvement in their drama, and how screenwriters can use them to develop their craft. Including a variety of both well-known and less famous examples, from The Shawshank Redemption to Samira Makhmalbaf's The Apple, this book offers a fresh new approach to thinking about, discussing and writing screenplays.

- Breaks Down the Business of Screenwriting - Explains What the Buyer Looks For - Shows You What to Do to Get in the Door - Tackles the Pitching Process - Provides Personal Insights from Famous Screenwriters Everybody has a story to tell. Everybody wants to write the great American screenplay. But what do you do after it’s written? How do you sell it? Studio honchos. Development Executives. Independent Producers. What do they want? Do you need an agent or manager to get it into production? Selling a screenplay can mean earning $250,000 or more, so competition is fierce. Syd Field gives you an insider’s look at the movie and TV industry, packed with essential tips from the pros. Selling a Screenplay is a must-have guide for every screenwriter, filled with frank real-life advice from Hollywood’s most powerful deal makers and most celebrated screenwriters. They all started somewhere.

The Best Resource Available for Getting Your Fiction Published For more than 30 years, Novel & Short Story Writer's Market has provided aspiring authors with the most complete and up-to-date information they need on publishing their work. This edition is the best yet, with more than 1,500 listings and more Edited byial content than ever before—with interviews and articles from industry insiders on pertinent topics like the importance of developing your prose style, creating a voice and authentic dialogue appropriate to your genre, strategies for self-publishing, and tips and tools to help you manage the time you spend on perfecting your craft. You also gain access to: • Thorough indexes that make choosing the best potential markets easier • A 1-year subscription to WritersMarket.com's searchable online database of fiction publishers (comes with print version only) • A free digital download of Writer's Yearbook featuring the 100 Best Markets Includes an exclusive 60-minute FREE WEBINAR with the staff of Writer's Digest Books that will teach you how to write query letters that get results "I can't imagine a fiction writer of any stripe not having this in their library." —James Scott Bell, author of The Art of War for Writers and Write Great Fiction: Plot & Structure "This invaluable writer's resource is the foundation on which real dreams are built. A wise and necessary investment." —River Jordan, author of The Miracle of Mercy Land

Publisher Description

Published here for the first time, the scripts to "The Book of Daniel, Ragtime" and "Loon Lake" reveal a new aspect of Doctorow's remarkable talents and offer film students insight into the complex relationship between literature and motion pictures.

Screen-writing is a unique literary form. Screenplays are like musical scores, in that they are intended to be interpreted on the basis of other artists performances rather than serving as finished products for the enjoyment of their readers. They are written using technical jargon and tight, spare prose to describe set directions. Unlike a novella, a script focuses on describing the literal, visual aspects of the story rather than on its characters internal thoughts. In screen-writing, the aim is to evoke those thoughts and emotions through subtext, action, and symbolism. Prominent Hollywood script doctors include Steve Zaillian, William Goldman, Robert Towne, Mort Nathan, Quentin Tarantino etc., while many up-and-coming screenwriters work as ghost writers. This book is a modest catalogue of some of the most prominent screenwriters, listed from A to Z. The good are sometimes bad, and they can be even... Ugly. Many comments herein included were googled in deference to the multiplicity of information available today, yet they reflect exactly - or almost - what I thought. An amazing thing today is how anonymous commentators on the Internet rival and even surpass the poor quality of professional media and specialised literature. It all comes down to watching the truth 24 times per second, to quote Jean-Luc Godard s phrase. Not to mention that such truth may include sex scenes, violence, pedophilia, etc. We know that a literary masterpiece like Henry James Portrait of a Lady became a film of very poor quality as scripted by Laura Jones. We know, conversely, that a mediocre writer like Mickey Spillane inspired at least one film as remarkable as Kiss Me Deadly, thanks to A. I. Bezzerides script. Asa former screenwriter, Mr. Correa must avow that he found the job most gratifying. Writing that looks effortless is often hellish to write and revise. It was something he did have to slog through, but it proved particularly pleasing. Editing, discussing & finishing your work is particularly gratifying. Identifying your flaws and working to mitigate them is also gratifying. It is a general perception that creative careers are more interesting and fun than others. But the privilege of earning money through imagination and creativity is effectively hard-won. Please comment at will. Please disagree at will. Be facetious in your remarks, but please be neither vicious nor mean-spirited.

This guide outlines time saving tools to hone your writing, so you can attract Hollywood agents and producers. You will discover how to create (and stick to) a timeline and deadline, whether writing your screenplay is a full- or part-time job. Writing and pitching a screenplay is nothing like writing a novel, and this book presents screenplay-specific information vital for any aspiring film writer. This book discusses how to write great openings and endings -- the vital elements of a successful screenplay (and eventually movie) -- and how to create characters that grow and evolve as the plot thickens. One of the hardest parts of writing a screenplay is developing a solid dialogue, and this book takes you through, step-by-step, how to fine-tune your characters' dialogue so it is not only believable but also well-written. Once your script is polished and perfect, you will need to pitch it to the public, and this book shows you how. You will grasp how to write a compelling query letter that is specifically geared to what agents are looking for, so your chances of getting represented are increased. Veteran screenwriters, television and film producers, agents, and directors have been interviewed for this book, and their experiences are showcased here, giving you their insider secrets on how to best write and sell your script. This book also contains an extensive resource section of production companies that are eager to receive and package your script, including the genre they are looking for, so you know exactly who to contact. If you are eager to jump into Hollywood as the next big thing in screenwriting, this guide will help you to get there.