Write Screenplays That Sell The Ackerman Way

Hal Ackerman offers a treasure trove of information on the writing of quality, saleable screenplays by teaching the art of story structure, substance and style.

You don't have to attend film school to take a screenwriting course with the master teacher in the field -- it's all in his book! Meet Hal Ackerman, up close and personal, just as hundreds of his students have known him through the years. Hal Ackerman offers a treasure trove of information on the writing of quality, saleable screenplays by teaching the art of story structure, substance and style. Over the last quarter century, dozens of screenplays written in his classes have been sold and several have become films, including ones starring Tom Hanks (directed by Steven Spielberg), Gwyneth Paltrow, Christian Bale, Hilary Swank and Diane Lane. They have won accolades in many prestigious contests and have been the gateway scripts to writing jobs in feature films and TV including HBO, Showtime, TNT, OWN, ABC, NBC, CBS, Disney, and more. With this book every professional writer gets a lifetime collaborator and every aspiring writer has a teacher in residence on his or her shelf. *Newly Revised and Updated edition featuring Pose, Moonlight, La La Land, Juno, Breaking Bad, Better Call Saul, among others. *Top-selling screenwriting book for almost 20 years -- 20th Anniversary Edition

Publisher description

An essential handbook featuring never-before-published writing exercises from the acclaimed screenwriters of Raging Bull, Ali, Terminator 2, Fame, Groundhog Day, Cape Fear, "Lost", "True Blood", "The Shield", and many other hit films and television shows. Now Write! Screenwriting-the latest addition to the Now Write! writing guide series-brings together the acclaimed screenwriters of films like the Oscar-winning Raging Bull, Oscar- nominated Ali, era-defining blockbuster Terminator 2, musical classic Fame, hit series "Lost" "True Blood" and "The Shield," Groundhog Day, Cape Fear, Chicken Run, Reversal of Fortune, Before Sunrise, Mystic Pizza, Indecent Proposal, and many more, to teach the art of the story. *Learn about why it is sometimes best to write what you don't know from Christina Kim ('Lost') *Find out how Stephen Rivele (Ali, Nixon) reduces his screenplay ideas down to their most basic elements, and uses that as a writing guide *Learn why you should focus on your character, not your plot, when digging yourself out of a plot home from Danny Rubin (Groundhog Day) *Take tips from Karey Kirkpatrick (Chicken Run, The Spiderwick Chronicles) on how to give an inanimate object intense emotional significance *Let Kim Krizan (Before Sunrise, Before Sunset) teach you how to stop your internal critic dead in his tracks This lively and easy-to-read guide will motivate both aspiring and experienced screenwriters. No other screenwriting book offers advice and exercises from this many writers of successful, iconic films.

Sometimes it seems like everybody’s writing a screenplay. But who reads those screenplays? Professional story analysts, that’s who. Screenplay Story Analysis explains exactly how to become a professional story analyst. Along with a basic how-to on writing a story analysis—or "coverage"—this book explains the techniques and thought processes involved in reading and evaluating a screenplay. Get familiar with terms, techniques, and general story elements. Master standard coverage format and content. Find guidelines for practicing coverage and getting work as a professional story analyst. With a foreword by Craig Perry, producer of American Pie, Final Destination, and other successful movies, and quotes from industry pros from top entertainment companies including ABC and Paramount Pictures, this is the essential guide for breaking into the business. Allworth Press, an imprint of Skyhorse Publishing, publishes a broad range of books on the visual and performing arts, with emphasis on the business of art. Our titles cover subjects such as graphic design, theater, branding, fine art, photography, interior design, writing, acting, film, how to start careers, business and legal forms, business practices, and more. While we don't aspire to publish a New York Times bestseller or a national bestseller, we are deeply committed to quality books that help creative professionals succeed and thrive. We often publish in areas overlooked by other publishers and welcome the author whose expertise can help our audience of readers.

A unique anthology devoted to a single story–“Signs and Symbols” by Vladimir Nabokov–which exposes the way we read and interpret short stories.

A STUDY OF THE THREE ACT STRUCTURE - THE WIZARD OF OZ, CITIZEN KANE, CASABLANCA, CHINATOWN covers the history of cinematic practice of the three act structure during both the World War II period (1938-1945) and the Post-War period (1945-present). This is accomplished through a pure and comprehensive analysis highlighting the most popular classical films during the period and Hegelian dialectics which vigorously analyses the narrative development of each film in detail. Ryota explains narrative factors leading to stability and dynamics in Hollywood cinema tales and includes close analyses of plot points, sequences and Acts. As it ranges across decades, examining classics like The Wizard of Oz, Citizen Kane, and Casablanca as well as Roman Polanski’s masterpiece Chinatown, this book provides a vivid and engaging interpretation of how Hollywood moviemakers have adapted Western tradition of cinematic storytelling that continues to engage audiences around the world. Moreover, throughout this book the author treats the three-act structure as film narrative structure in completed form. Thus, it differs from ordinary screenplay-instruction books.

This book covers a brief history of the Health Humanities Consortium and contains a toolkit for those academic leaders determined to launch inter- and multi-disciplinary health humanities programs in their own colleges and universities. It offers remarkable discussions and descriptions of pedagogical practices from undergraduate programs through medical education and resident training; philosophical and political analyses of structural injustices and clinical biases; and insightful and informative analyses of imaginative work such as comics, literary texts, and paintings. Previously published in Journal of Medical Humanities Volume 42, issue 4, December 2021 Chapters “Reflective Writing about Near-Peer Blogs: A Novel Method for Introducing the Medical Humanities in Premedical Education”, “Medical Students’ Creation of Original Poetry, Comics, and Masks to Explore Professional Identity Formation”, “Reconsidering Empathy: An Interpersonal Approach and Participatory Arts in the Medical Humanities” and “The Health Benefits of Autobiographical Writing: An Interdisciplinary Perspective” are available open access under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License via link.springer.com.