How to Write It, How to Sell It: Everything a Screenwriter Needs to Know about Hollywood

by Linda Palmer and Linda Palmer

A former studio head and successful screenwriter who knows all of Hollywood'strade secrets shares them with readers in this knowledgeable guide that tellshow to get a screenplay into the right hands. This description may be from another edition of this product.

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0312187262
• ISBN13: 9780312187262
• Release Date: May 1998
• Publisher: St. Martin's Griffin
• Length: 336 Pages
• Weight: 0.70 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.9" x 5.5" x 8.2"

Customer Reviews

It's Fool-proof

Okay, I admit that I read it as required reading for my screenwriting class at UCLA, but now this book has become my bible. If you don't read anything else, use Chapter 4 as a checklist  before you think a script is ready to go out. I read it before my scripts got submitted to my instructors (and I have earned all "A''s so far!)

Comprehensive, accurate, from the shoulder.

With all the books out there on screenwriting, Palmer's book shines from the pinnacle. It's direct, it's voice is genuine, it's useful. What makes it truly unique is Palmer's experience and insight from both sides of the production fence: she's a writer and knows writers' dilemmas with scripts, she's been an executive and knows how those scripts are perceived from the "other side of the desk." Perhaps this breadth of experience is what makes this more than a handbook; it's got savvy, and it's got heart.

Writer-friendly practical handbook demystifies screenwriting

After reading "How to Write it, How to Sell It" by Linda Palmer and applying what I learned from her teachings, the first producer who read my very first screenplay wants to produce it. I owe it all to Linda Palmer. This book takes you through the craft of format, the art of writing, how to pitch your story, some about the business side of show business, and then sends you confidently to your keyboard.

"Best of the best": Comprehensive,insightful,accessible

As a published author, making the transition to screenwriting, I have no doubt that Palmer's book is destined to become the "Bible for Film Students" everywhere. It's all here-- the nuts & bolts of formatting, insightful discussions about "good dialogue vs. bad dialogue," character development in relation to story, and my favorite-- popular misconceptions about "Structure." (Palmer, who makes her living as a screenwriter & script doctor, and who knows the industry, inside and out, has total disdain for the formulaic "paint-by-the numbers" writing techniques, fostered by typical Screenwriting books. I know (groan)-- I've read them all-- written by "writers," who (a)purport to teach writing, and (b)have never sold a single screenplay. Not even one. Guess why.

Have a story idea, the book tells how to get it sold!

I've spent a number of years trying to write a script worth buying. Reading "How to Write it, How to sell it" would have saved me a lot of wasted years. Ms. Palmer sure seems to know what she's talking about! Her step-by-step method makes script writing almost easy! (I did say almost). I went out and bought 5 more copies to give to my friends who are always saying they should write a movie script. I hand them the book and say "Do it!"