Best Books about Screenwriting and TV Writing

Whether you are a beginning screenwriter or have been honing your skills during the past decade, you are most likely always ready to read the best books on screenwriting. Sometimes, it's for inspiration, other times for motivation to stick to the craft despite the years of tenacious efforts seeking the first break into the business.

I have compiled a bibliography of the best screenwriting books I know about and use, and have made the list available on my Web site, AcademicBib.com. There are books on screenwriting and books on TV writing, each with a link to Amazon so you can get some information about the piece, read reviews and see if it's a book that interests you.

AcademicBib.com is a work in progress, so navigating the site is still a bit rough. However, using the links directly to the books on screenwriting and TV writing should make the search easier. Missing a book you're looking for? Let me know! You can post here in a blog comment or email the information to TheWriteScript@Yahoo.com.

Happy reading and, better yet, happy writing!
TWS

#Scriptchat

I'm a relative newcomer to Twitter. Fortunately, one of the first things I discovered was #scriptchat. Every Sunday there is a EURO chat and a US chat. It has been entertaining and enlightening about scriptwriting, and breaking into the business of writing, for TV and film. For someone like me -- a Hollywood outsider -- it has been priceless.

Tonight's guest host was TV writer/producer Jane Espenson. It is incredible to have a forum where anyone can ask the guest any question and get such honest answers, not just the usual "write" and "you can do it" b.s. It's worth an hour each week or you can read the transcript that's posted on the Scriptchat site the same night. Tonight's chat was progressing so fast, I'll have to read the transcript to pick up all the info I missed.

Whenever I find myself thinking that I'm wasting time on Twitter, all I have to do is remind myself of scriptchat and how much I've learned.

Go Into The Story

A huge thanks to Scott Myers at Go Into The Story for linking The Write Script on his blog. If you haven't read GITS, check it out. For a beginning screenwriter, his site is enormously helpful.

Thanks, Scott!

Editing from the Ivory Tower

My students get tired of hearing my lectures on writing/editing. Most will write, few will edit. The percentage of students who will proofread their material...even less. Most are happy to turn in an assignment on time. Most don't care what they've actually written, just that they've met the page/length requirement. They're checking off a list of minimum expectations and, in their minds, meeting each one is a success in itself. I laugh at myself when I get into this mentality with grad school...just get the papers in on time, get the reading done, keep up on the research. I know how it is. The difference in perspective is that as an undergrad, I'm only requiring them to read about 35 pages a week. Never more than 50. One grad class alone amounts to nearly 500 pages a week. At three classes it's an insane amount of material to not only read and write a coherent paper on, but then to show up for a three-hour interrogation (seminar) for an adversarial discussion and debate on the merits (if any) of the material. My kids are getting off so easy. They spend more time editing their Twitter updates than any paper.

After three drafts of the TV pilot, I'm now looking at the fourth run-through. I love it. I love my characters and how they've developed in this pilot and how they can further develop over the course of a season. I love the scenes and the other characters encountered during the 30-min. time-span. I love how the funny stuff creeps in and leaves me laughing. But now it's time to be brutal. This edit is about getting things so tight, so on-the-money and making sure every word is necessary, every scene is the right scene in the right place and time, and that even though I may love something, there will be some things that will have to go.

Many writers hate to edit. Hell, many writers hate to write, it's just something they feel they need to do. Writing for me is exercise...I'm more apt to write than go work out in a gym. The editing is part of the process. I am always aiming to be precise and concise. Editing is where those two qualities are achieved.

I'll be back after the fourth draft. The bloodletting begins!

There's reading, and then there's writing.

Lew Hunter's Screenwriting 434: The Industry's Premier Teacher Reveals the Secrets of the Successful Screenplay
This is probably my favorite book for the screenwriting. I have other books, but this is the one I turn to most often. Frankly, I don't want to read too much about screenwriting, I just want to know enough to get by but I don't want to lose my voice or change my style too much to conform in ways that would make me too much like the pack. I want to DO screenwriting, not worry about what others are doing or what they think.

Learning the mechanics is like learning grammar.

Yet at a certain point, you either write the screenplay or become paralyzed because of too much screenwriting advice. I can't afford that. I may have technical issues with my screenwriting, but no one can tell my story like I can. No one else has my distinct voice.

Massage = Creativity

As I'm planning out my summer and writing/study schedule, I'm now adding "massage" to the list of "things that promote good writing and creativity," joining the usual suspects: coffee, chocolate, tiramisu or a walk around the block.

This morning I had a massage and it was probably the most creative 60 minutes I've had in weeks. I was able to think about the characters and the big events. Not only did I end up relaxed, but also excited about the progress.

How to tell if your scene is "a crock of shit."

On writing drama. Quotes from David Mamet:

ANY TIME TWO CHARACTERS ARE TALKING ABOUT A THIRD, THE SCENE IS A CROCK OF SHIT.

ANY TIME ANY CHARACTER IS SAYING TO ANOTHER “AS YOU KNOW”, THAT IS, TELLING ANOTHER CHARACTER WHAT YOU, THE WRITER, NEED THE AUDIENCE TO KNOW, THE SCENE IS A CROCK OF SHIT.

DO *NOT* WRITE A CROCK OF SHIT. WRITE A RIPPING THREE, FOUR, SEVEN MINUTE SCENE WHICH MOVES THE STORY ALONG, AND YOU CAN, VERY SOON, BUY A HOUSE IN BEL AIR *AND* HIRE SOMEONE TO LIVE THERE FOR YOU.

If grad school has taught me anything, it's reading a very long article and finding the few sentences that are the most important as take-aways. In this article, however, there were quite a few. This one is my favorite.

The Power of Idealism

Here's some words from "Idealism Wins at the Oscars" @ EBT Screenwriting:

Pixar won the 2009 Oscar for Best Animated Feature with Up. All seven Pixar films released since the creation of the category have been nominated. Five have taken home the Oscar: Finding Nemo, The Incredibles, Ratatouille, WALL-E, and Up. Three of those five Oscar winners— Up, The Incredibles and Ratatouille— are Power of Idealism films.

A character driven by the Power of Idealism wants to stand out from the crowd, to be extraordinary, unique and special. Power of Idealism stories are about youthful rebellion, heroic sacrifice, loss and transcendent love.The protagonist in Power of Idealism film wants to stand out from the crowd, to be unique or special or to live an extraordinary life. These characters often play the role of the rebel, the romantic, the outsider, the iconoclast, the artist, or the maverick. Power of Idealism stories are about rebellion, loss, longing and transcendent love.

I've added the emphasis on the points I want to remember.