How to build a great screenplay : a master class in storytelling for film / David Howard.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Howard, David, 1947-

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Motion picture authorship.

Physical Description:

xvi, 445 pages ; 25 cm

Edition:

First edition.

Place of Publication:

New York : St. Martin's Press, 2004.

Summary:

As founding director of the graduate screenwriting program at the University of Southern California, David Howard has mentored the authors of some of the most successful movies of our time. His new book painstakingly deconstructs the craft of writing for film, and reveals how to build a solid storyline and convincing characters from the ground up. Chapters focus on: -- Story arc-- Plotting and subplotting-- Classical vs. revolutionary screenplay structure-- Tone, style, and atmosphere-- The use of time-- The creation of drama and tension.

How to Build a Great Screenplay concludes with examples from some of Hollywood's most successful script-oriented films, including Pulp Fiction, The Sixth Sense, and American Beauty. For beginning and experienced writers alike, this is primed to become the classic text on screenwriting.

Contents:

Story and storytelling

The story

The telling of the story

Building stories

The creation of drama

Foundations

Carpentry and craftsmanship

Time and storytelling

Basic dramatic structure

What is drama?

The three acts

Sequences

Crucial moments

Subplots

The classical screenplay structure

Beyond classical dramatic structure

The single unbreakable rule of drama

Anything but classical screenplay structure

The limits of classical, the beginnings of revolutionary

How to shake up classical structure

and why

Writing and work strategies

Before the first draft

The first draft

After the first draft.

Notes:

Includes index.

ISBN:

0312252110

OCLC:

56835092

Publisher Number:

9780312252113