Writing Movies: The Practical Guide to Creating Stellar Screenplays

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Bloomsbury Publishing USA, Dec 19, 2008 - Language Arts & Disciplines - 400 pages
To break into the screenwriting game, you need a screenplay that is not just good, but great. Superlative. Stellar. In Writing Movies you'll find everything you need to know to reach this level. And, like the very best teachers, Writing Movies is always practical, accessible, and entertaining.
The book provides a comprehensive look at screenwriting, covering all the fundamentals (plot, character, scenes, dialogue, etc.) and such crucial-but seldom discussed-topics as description, voice, tone, and theme. These concepts are illustrated through analysis of five brilliant screenplays-Die Hard, Thelma & Louise, Tootsie, Sideways, and The Shawshank Redemption. Also included are writing assignments and step-by-step tasks that take writers from rough idea to polished screenplay. Written by Gotham Writers' Workshop expert instructors, Writing Movies offers the same winning style and clarity of presentation that have made a success of Gotham's previous book Writing Fiction, which is now in its 7th printing.
Named the "best class for screenwriters" in New York City by MovieMaker Magazine, Gotham Writers' Workshop is America's leading private creative writing school, offering classes in Manhattan and on the Web at www.WritingClasses.com. The school's interactive online classes, selected as "Best of the Web" by Forbes, have attracted thousands of aspiring writers from across the United States and more than sixty countries.
 

Contents

The Path of Action
33
Chart of Major Events
66
Words That Move
103
Exploring and Exploding Moments
136
Beat Sheet
174
A Side of Story
216
Like a Roller Coaster
238
The Overlay and Underlay
265
From Rough to Ready
291
Slipping Past the Velvet Rope
320
Format Guide
359
Cheat Sheet
373
Copyright

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About the author (2008)

Founded in 1993 by Jeff Grae and David Fligelman, Gotham Writers' Workshop is the leading writing school in New York and in the United States. Based in New York City, it reaches more writing students than any other school, offering more than 400 courses to 6,000 students each year. Its distinctive technique has won raves from alumni and from the media. Gotham has published two previous books with Bloomsbury, the very popular Guide to Writing Fiction and Fiction Gallery.

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