The Screenwriter’s Bible: A Complete Guide to Writing, Formatting, and Selling Your Script Review
When I mentioned to a friend, a man with many years’ experience in the movie industry, that I was working on a script, he (figuratively) twisted my arm behind my back and told me in no uncertain terms that I /had/ to have at least one book on scriptwriting, if only to know how to correctly format the script. He recommended several, including this one.
Given the near-reverence in which this book is held, I bought a copy of the current edition. It’s a near-perfect example of how a “how-to” book should be written. It’s divided into sub-books, each of which covers a particular aspect of writing and selling a script completely and in depth. The organization is outstanding, and contrary to another reviewer (writing five years ago), you won’t find yourself flipping from one page or section to another. What little overlap there is, is necessary, and not the fault of poor organization.
It’s also extremely well-written. Trottier explains everything in a simple (but not simple-minded) fashion, without fuss, without constantly repeating himself, almost as if he were talking directly to you. (No surprise; he teaches courses in scriptwriting.) If you don’t understand this book, the problem is with you.
However… you should be warned about David Trottier’s biases, and what is /missing/ from the book. Though the book is a “guide to writing, formatting, and selling your script”, Trottier’s view is that there is no point in writing a script that won’t sell. To put it a rudely… Trottier cares about the artistic quality or originality of your script only to the extent that they make the script marketable. If you’re looking for advice on how to write the next “Amadeus”, * you won’t find it here.
Nor does Trottier spend much time discussing /why/ particular scripts are poor. ** This is perhaps significant, because the samples he provides from his own scripts, though well-illustrating the points he’s making, are dreadful commercial hackwork. If there were ever an example of “those who can, do; those who can’t, teach”, Trottier is it.
He is, however, an excellent teacher. Read this book and learn.
* A high-quality film can be both a popular and critical success. “Amadeus” took in almost three times its production costs in the US alone.
** One of his criteria for a “good” script is terseness (with which I agree). I was therefore surprised that, although “Hook” is mentioned in passing (for some reason I don’t remember), he doesn’t point to it as an example of a horribly over-written script.
The Screenwriter’s Bible: A Complete Guide to Writing, Formatting, and Selling Your Script Feature
- ISBN13: 9781879505841
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The Screenwriter’s Bible: A Complete Guide to Writing, Formatting, and Selling Your Script Overview
This is six books in one. Book 1 – A screenwriting primer that provides a concise presentation of screenwriting basics. Book 2 – A workbook that walks the writer through the writing process, from nascent ideas through revisions. Book 3 – A formatting guide that presents correct formats for both screenplays and TV scripts. Book 4 – A spec writing guide that demonstrates today’s spec style through sample scenes and analysis. Book 5 – A sales and marketing guide that presents proven strategies to help you create a laser-sharp marketing plan. Book 6 – A resource guide that provides addresses and contacts for industry organisations, schools, publications, support groups, services, contests, etc. Among its wealth of practical information are sample query letters, useful worksheets and checklists, hundreds of examples, sample scenes, and straightforward explanations of screenwriting fundamentals.
The Screenwriter’s Bible: A Complete Guide to Writing, Formatting, and Selling Your Script Specifications
How does a spec script differ from a shooting script? What kind of fasteners should one use to bind a script? How did the term MOS come to mean without sound? You’ll find the answers to these pressing questions and much more in David Trottier’s eminently usable Screenwriter’s Bible. The avuncular Trottier–a writer-producer, script consultant, and seminar leader–has written a friendly guide through the Hollywood morass. He touts it as six books in one: it’s “a screenwriting primer, a screenwriting workbook, a formatting guide, a spec writing guide, a sales and marketing guide, [and] a resource guide.”
Much of Trottier’s advice is common sense: “Don’t write anything that cannot appear on the screen”; to keep casting options open, don’t make your physical descriptions too specific; “don’t say Ron Howard is looking at the project if he is not.” But there are things to know about Hollywood that are, well, quirkier. Don’t write the title of your script on the front cover or side binding; present action sequences using the “stacking action” style; in query letters and scripts alike, avoid “big blocks of black ink.” Trottier’s guidance–from character development and revision to queries and pitches–is invaluable. Getting in the door can seem impossible, but it’s not, necessarily. “If you write a script that features a character who has a clear and specific goal,” says Trottier, “where there is strong opposition to that goal leading to a crisis and an emotionally satisfying ending, your script will automatically find itself in the upper five percent.”
(By the way, MOS is said to have “originated with German director Eric von Stroheim, who would tell his crew, ‘Ve’ll shoot dis mid out sound’”). –Jane Steinberg
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