Screenwriting Books
You cannot deny the fact that screenwriting is an art that cannot be mastered by anyone and everyone. Don't get disheartened, though. It indeed is a craft, but if you are a passionate storyteller who wants the stories to make it big amongst people, then nothing can stop you. All you need is a little guidance to reach the sky. Coming back to earth, you might be a person with many ideas and a great storyline. However, we must accept the fact that it ain't enough to make a successful career in Hollywood. When you are looking to make a career as a screenwriter, it is imperative to understand whether your ideas realistically have the potential to transform into a screenplay and whether it can make it on the big screen. Screenplay, remember, is where your story gets a life! If you think you have it in you then you must begin with learning about the basics of screenwriting. Familiarize yourself with screenplay writing techniques, formats and jargon. One easy way to do that is reading good books.
Importance of Reading the Best Screenwriting Books
This article will give you a list of some of the best books written by highly successful screenwriters who have terrific knowledge about, and an intense effect on, the industry. Reading such top books by top-notch influential experts will definitely act as creative inspiration, further reflecting in your work. As a screenwriter, one has to have intensive knowledge about the industry, box office successes, and market preferences, besides having a knack of storytelling. Hence, reading these books will also help you understand the business aspects of this art form. Although success of films and movies are mostly based on the box-office success and movie reviews, for a screen writer, it is the producer and audience who play an important role to make their screenplay a success. Only if the producer is convinced with the screenplay, will he/ she agree to make a movie, and of course the audience, as they are the ones who judge your film. Now, I'm no producer, so I'll leave for you a list of some of the best screenwriting books that explain the business perspective, but, I'd like to give you a brief on the audience perspective, me being one of them.
Audience Perspective to Screenwriting
There is no doubt that you'd want people to watch your film/ movie and fall in love with your story/script but, expecting that they will accept any random script by you is not merely over confidence, but it also clearly shows that you are not passionate about your work. Having said that, you cannot satisfy each class of audience. Films are something that lets you escape from your monotonous life, gives you another life rather. There are many of us, including established and aspiring screenwriters, who wish to watch films to which we can either relate our lives to or find rescue and solace in a character or a movie that is completely different to ours. We think, we wish we could get to live the life we see on-screen. What does all that mean then? It means that movies have a great impact on the audience. They are the ones making your movie/story a success and hence, cannot be ignored. I assume, to get a positive audience reaction, observation and analysis is the key. As in, you must know your audience and be well aware of their expectations. For example, if you are writing a screenplay for an action movie, you must analyze what draws them to watch action movies, do they only like to watch weird and crazy stunts or are they the kind who look for an intellectual story line teamed up with some decent stunts and action. The best place to observe the audience is movie theaters, where you can notice the audience's reactions and expressions. No, please don't stare at people, that is absurd! You can reckon it with their reactions like laughs/cries/sighs, etc. You can communicate with people of different intellects with different tastes of movies, while some like comedy movies, the others might be in love with horror movies. That was my personal take but, you'll find many others in the list of screenwriting books given below.
Best Screenwriting Books
Here is a list of some of the best written screenwriting books, written by the best in the industry and is handy for an aspiring screenwriter looking for inspiration, techniques, formats and elements and essentials of screenwriting.
- Screenplay: The Foundations of Screenwriting by Syd Field
- The Screenwriter's Bible by David Trottier
- Writing Screenplays That Sell by Michael Hauge
- Adventures in the Screen Trade by William Goldman
- Story: Substance, Structure, Style and the Principles of Screenwriting by Robert Mckee
- The Anatomy of Story: 22 Steps to Becoming a Master Storyteller by John Truby
- The Writer's Journey: Mythic Structure for Writers by Christopher Vogler
- The Whole Picture: A Screenwriters Handbook by Richard Walter
- Making a Good Screenplay Great by Linda Seger
- Screenwriting is Storytelling: Creating an A-List Screenplay That Sells! by Kate Wright
