The Screenwriter's Bible: A Complete Guide to Writing, Formatting, and Selling Your Script

The Screenwriter's Bible: A Complete Guide to Writing, Formatting, and Selling Your Script
by David Trottier

The Screenwriter's Bible: A Complete Guide to Writing, Formatting, and Selling Your Script
List Price: $22.95
Our Price: $14.50
You Save: $8.45 (37%)
Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days
Buy Used: from $3.86 (click here)
Category: Book
See more book details and other editions


or

Book Summary Information

Author: David Trottier
Edition: Paperback
Audio: English (Unknown); English (Original Language); English (Published)
Published: 2005-09
ISBN: 1879505843
Number of pages: 426
Publisher: Silman-James Press

Summary of The Screenwriter's Bible: A Complete Guide to Writing, Formatting, and Selling Your Script

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.
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

Movies Books

Book Subjects
Most talked about in Movies Books
David Lean: A Biography ImageDavid Lean: A Biography
by Kevin Brownlow
St Martins Pr; Published: 1997-09; Paperback; Book
Best price: $55.00
The New Biographical Dictionary of Film: Fifth Edition, Completely Updated and Expanded ImageThe New Biographical Dictionary of Film: Fifth Edition, Completely Updated and Expanded
by David Thomson
Knopf; Published: 2010-10-26; Hardcover; Book
Best price: $22.46
Price in other shops: $40.00
Placing Shadows, Third Edition: Lighting Techniques for Video Production ImagePlacing Shadows, Third Edition: Lighting Techniques for Video Production
by Chuck Gloman, Tom LeTourneau
Focal Press; Published: 2005-02-21; Paperback; Book
Best price: $37.04
Price in other shops: $46.95
Placing Shadows, Second Edition: Lighting Techniques for Video Production ImagePlacing Shadows, Second Edition: Lighting Techniques for Video Production
by Chuck Gloman, Tom LeTourneau
Focal Press; Published: 2000-04-12; Paperback; Book
Best price: $11.89
Price in other shops: $38.95
Stars in My Eyes ImageStars in My Eyes
by Don Bachardy
University of Wisconsin Press; Published: 2011-02-06; Paperback; Book
Best price: $11.98
Price in other shops: $19.95
Behind the Curtain: Making Music in Mumbai's Film Studios ImageBehind the Curtain: Making Music in Mumbai's Film Studios
by Gregory D. Booth
Oxford University Press, USA; Published: 2008-10-13; Paperback; Book
Best price: $17.71
Price in other shops: $24.95
Time Out Film Guide, 6th Edition ImageTime Out Film Guide, 6th Edition
Time Out; Published: 1998-01-01; Paperback; Book
Best price: $10.00
Price in other shops: $22.95
Natasha ImageNatasha
by Suzanne Finstad
Random House; Published: 2002-07-04; Paperback; Book
Best price: $12.42
The Writer Got Screwed (but didn't have to): Guide to the Legal and Business Practices of Writing for the Entertainment Industry ImageThe Writer Got Screwed (but didn't have to): Guide to the Legal and Business Practices of Writing for the Entertainment Industry
by Brooke A. Wharton
Harper Perennial; Published: 1997-03-14; Paperback; Book
Best price: $4.12
Price in other shops: $14.99
JOHN WAYNE: AMERICAN ImageJOHN WAYNE: AMERICAN
by Randy Roberts, James S. Olson
Free Press; Published: 1995-09-11; Hardcover; Book
Best price: $64.99
Similar Books and other products
The Writers Journey: Mythic Structure for Writers, 3rd Edition ImageThe Writers Journey: Mythic Structure for Writers, 3rd Edition
by Christopher Vogler
Michael Wiese Productions; Published: 2007-11-01; Paperback; Book
Best price: $12.87
Price in other shops: $26.95
Making a Good Script Great ImageMaking a Good Script Great
by Linda Seger
Silman-James Pr; Published: 2010-02-15; Paperback; Book
Best price: $9.64
Price in other shops: $14.95
Final Draft Version 8 ImageFinal Draft Version 8
Final Draft; Final Draft, Inc.; Release date: 2009-05-04; Windows Vista; Software
Best price: $169.00
Price in other shops: $299.00
How Not to Write a Screenplay: 101 Common Mistakes Most Screenwriters Make ImageHow Not to Write a Screenplay: 101 Common Mistakes Most Screenwriters Make
by Denny Martin Flinn
Lone Eagle; Published: 1999-05-01; Paperback; Book
Best price: $6.97
Price in other shops: $16.95
Your Screenplay Sucks!: 100 Ways to Make It Great ImageYour Screenplay Sucks!: 100 Ways to Make It Great
by William M Akers
Michael Wiese Productions; Published: 2008-08-01; Paperback; Book
Best price: $12.09
Price in other shops: $19.95
Screenplay: The Foundations of Screenwriting ImageScreenplay: The Foundations of Screenwriting
by Syd Field
Delta; Published: 2005-11-29; Paperback; Book
Best price: $9.13
Price in other shops: $16.00
How to Write a Movie in 21 Days: The Inner Movie Method ImageHow to Write a Movie in 21 Days: The Inner Movie Method
by Viki King
HarperCollins Publishers; Published: 1993-09-15; Paperback; Book
Best price: $5.82
Price in other shops: $15.99
Story: Substance, Structure, Style and The Principles of Screenwriting ImageStory: Substance, Structure, Style and The Principles of Screenwriting
by Robert McKee
It Books; Published: 1997-11-25; Hardcover; Book
Best price: $21.74
Price in other shops: $40.00
Essentials of Screenwriting: The Art, Craft, and Business of Film and Television Writing ImageEssentials of Screenwriting: The Art, Craft, and Business of Film and Television Writing
by Richard Walter
Plume; Published: 2010-06-29; Paperback; Book
Best price: $9.08
Price in other shops: $16.00
Save The Cat! The Last Book on Screenwriting You'll Ever Need ImageSave The Cat! The Last Book on Screenwriting You'll Ever Need
by Blake Snyder
Michael Wiese Productions; Published: 2005-05-25; Paperback; Book
Best price: $12.07
Price in other shops: $19.95