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Product Description
From Amazon
How Not to Write a Screenplay is an invaluable addition to any aspiring screenwriter's shelf--and you'd best make the shelf within arm's reach of the computer. Author Dean Martin Flinn, an experienced script reader, details the common rookie mistakes that drive script readers crazy. Flinn makes no pretense of being able to teach anyone how to write the next Great American Film--or for that matter the next Stupid Summer Blockbuster. Instead he offers information that will help keep the novice screenwriter's opus from being immediately tossed on the trash pile (arguably a more valuable service). As Flinn says in his introduction, if you follow the advice in this book, "you may not write a particularly good screenplay, but you won't write a bad one." Flinn offers practical advice on formatting, such as the proper form for a slugline and where to set your margins, and more general rules of thumb on giving the actors room to interpret their roles and avoiding dictating camera angles to the director (who will ignore them anyway). The second half of the book deals with content, also in a remarkably pragmatic way--structure, pacing, plot resolution, and dialogue that really stink are all handily dealt with. Flinn illustrates almost all his points with excerpts from screenplays both good and bad (names have been changed to protect the guilty), giving the reader concrete examples of the difference between poorly and well-structured scenes. Not sucking is an unusual goal for a screenwriting manual, but any script reader will agree it is a noble one. --Ali Davis
Book Description
All good screenplays are unique, but all bad screenplays are the same. Flinn's book will teach the reader how to avoid the pitfalls of bad screenwriting and arrive at one's own destination intact.
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Most helpful customer reviews
5.0 out of 5 stars
The Bad Before The Good,
By BadFun (Toronto, ON Canada) - See all my reviews
This review is from: How Not to Write a Screenplay: 101 Common Mistakes Most Screenwriters Make (Paperback)
My rating parameter is not based on comparison to other books, but to how much I personally enjoyed this one, and what I got out of it. I read this entire book through in one sitting, staying up until 3am, with a smile on my face the whole time.The author is making an argument for READABILITY. The bulk of that theme is taken up by technical details in formatting. The rest is how to tell a great story. Basically Martin Flinn is telling you how to get your script into the right hands by making as few mistakes as possible in its readability. Many aspiring screewriters fail to appreciate that the producers, directors and actors they are hoping to impress will not even be aware of their script until it has passed through many sets of eyes first. The first readers are people who do nothing but read screenplays all day, so you don't want a bunch of technical mistakes getting in the way of your story.
5.0 out of 5 stars
Great technical book,
By Laura Hesse "-Horse Lover Forever" (Vanoucouver Island, British Columbia) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)
This review is from: How Not to Write a Screenplay: 101 Common Mistakes Most Screenwriters Make (Paperback)
I found the technical merits of this book with regards to format and basic "dos" and "donts" to be very helpful. I am currently working with a mentor to polish off my screenplay and this book became one of my main resources.As the author of five novels, it was difficult to cut down on my literary fiction. I had many questions regarding how to handle certain formats ie. timelines and plot points, without sacrificing story, that this book helped me out. Thanks...
5.0 out of 5 stars
The Best of the Best,
By A Customer
This review is from: How Not to Write a Screenplay: 101 Common Mistakes Most Screenwriters Make (Paperback)
Well, just reading the first few pages was even very helpful, let alone the whole book! I have read some books that have a few helpful things in them, but that's the problem, "a few". This book is filled with stuff that you should NOT do. He tells you so much and it is very easy to read and has many illistrations from other famous screenplays. It will help you to write the right way and also gives you different ways to do it. This book is not a "should have", it's a "must have".As I said it is very easy to read and very helpful. You shouldn't have problem reading unless per se, you are from Rotchester, NY or some place that has problems reading past the 3rd grade. Basically, it's a great book and you have to read it.
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