The Writer's Guide to Writing Your Screenplay: How to Write Great Screenplays for Movies and Television

by Cynthia Whitcomb

Book Overview

With the average payment for a screenplay over $100,000, every writer knows that screenwriting is where the money is. In this guide, successful screenwriter and teacher Cynthia Whitcomb shares her... This description may be from another edition of this product.

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0871161915
• ISBN13: 9780871161918
• Release Date: January 2002
• Publisher: Watson-Guptill Publications
• Length: 221 Pages
• Weight: 0.95 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.5" x 7.5" x 9.3"

Customer Reviews

Informative, thorough, easy to read; a great tool to have!

I recently purchased Cynthia's book and am about two-thirds done reading it. What an informative and helpful book. Cynthia does a fantastic job of presenting the methodologies she has incorporated in her successful career, and balancing them with very practical, real-world examples. (ie. Equally balanced protagonist/antagonist like in the movie "Face-Off") As a rookie in the screenwriting world, I have found page after page of helpful hints and can already see a ton of ways I can improve a script I had previously written. For purchasers of this book living in the NW, Cynthia also teaches a screenwriting class through Portland State University [...] I begin these classes in just over a week and can hardly wait to tap into this wonderful resource. If my plan continues and you see me winning an award for Best Original Screenplay in the next few years, just know that after God and my wife/family the next person on my list to thank will definitely be Cynthia Whitcomb!! Enjoy the book and good luck with your screenwriting!

EZ read, intro, overview, methods to writing screenplays

This is an easy to read introduction to screen writing by someone who has successfully written scripts and has taught at UCLA Film School. The author, Cynthia Whitcomb, provides a detailed, step-by-step method to turn your story ideas into a screenplay. The book quickly gives you an overview of the process that she teaches in classes and seminars and then spends a chapter on each topic she considers important to developing your script. For example, in Chapter 1, the author has you running your story idea against a 16 point checklist to make sure it is a likely to be accepted and produced. In Chapter 2, she's giving you hints on how to do your research. Her thoughts on "lunch interviews" were very interesting. In Chapter 3, she reviews the 3 act structure weaving in examples from the movie Erin Brockvitch. Then in Chapter 4, she has you filling out 3x5 cards for the scenes in your story. Although the use of 3x5 scene cards is not new, she proposes some unique ways to develop and go through the cards as you develop your story. After that, in Chapter 5 she provides very clear material involving sub-plots, and how to integrate those with your 3x5 cards. Chapter 6 was quite interesting to me and covered the topic of characterization and how to analyze and develop the character's transformation. From this point forward, the book continues on to other important topics - one chapter for each. Some are: the ticking clock, keeping scenes tight, set-ups in order to prepare your audience for logical and big emotion events (pay-offs). She provides many references and a great list of videos to watch at home if you are going to analzye the various aspects of screen writing. The book is aimed at the introduction through the intermediate level. The author works hard to present an orderly process for you to follow in screen writing. John Dunbar Sugar Land, TX

Second-best only to being in Cynthia's class is her book.

Ask me my candidates for the desert-island scenario, and I'd tell you Robert McKee's "Story" and Cynthia Whitcomb's "Writing Your Screenplay." No others. OK: Shakespeare and the Bible. Unique in this volume are Cynthia's levels of evolution in character transformation, her clear-sighted personal knowledge of what keeps Hollywood readers submerged in your story, and illustrative excerpts from her own screenplays. Of all the publications in my screenwriting library, this is the one I most frequently revisit in support of my own work when I want to widen choices of character action, invent an unexpected direction, strengthen a subplot. Cynthia creates seeds I mentally plant for the gigantic orchid fireworks that make screenwriting an experience Hollywood has yet to duplicate.

She knows her stuff

I've been a working television writer-producer for nearly a decade, and have taught screenwriting through UCLA Extension. So I've probably read most if not all of the screenwriting books out there, and tried to teach from more than a few. Cynthia Whitcomb's is by far the best one I've ever seen. I recently moved to Portland, Oregon, and met the author, but I'd been using her "Writers Digest" columns in my classes for some time, simply because they contained the best advice I could find for my students. I'm thrilled that her good sense and honest advice are now in a book -- if I were teaching this quarter, it would be required. Why? Several reasons. First, she knows what she's talking about. This is no "those who can't do, teach" author. Her credits include the Emmy-nominated "I Know My Name is Steven" as well as the adaptation of "Buffalo Girls" and an uncredited but substantial rewrite on the "Sinatra" bio mini-series, and numerous movies of the week. Compare her credits to other screenwriting book authors, and you'll see why what she's giving you is so much more useful. This is someone who has been, and continues to be, there, and it shows. Second, her own students have written very successful features, including "Face Off." What she says is not only useful (and correct), it's also explained well.Third, the lists of scenes available on videotape or DVD for study are worth the price of the book all by themselves. The hardest part about writing scripts is getting a feel for what they look like on the screen, understanding why something does or doesn't work, and being able to translate that into your own script. Instead of simply asking you to read script pages (although she does that, too), Ms. Whitcomb leads you to the filmed scenes and sequences that will show you exactly what works.So if you're serious about writing scripts, this is the book you'll want to pick up, study, and rely on.

It's All Here

Ms. Whitcomb is a pro all the way. Not only are her credentials long and impressive as a screenwriter, it's clear from this book that she's a marvelous teacher. She takes a complicated process and breaks it down in ways that are easy to understand and remember. The concepts flow logically for a first reading and at the same time the material is organized in such a way that you can use the book as a checklist repeatedly throughout your writing process. I wouldn't attempt a screenplay without it sitting close at hand. As a bonus, it's fun reading. Full of personality and entertaining in its own right.