Screenwriting cover

Screenwriting

by Paul Joseph Gulino

From the first chapter: "The great challenge in writing a feature-length screenplay is sustaining audience emotional involvement from page one through 120. Most writers can dash off a ten or fifteen minute script with little planning; as the length stretches to an hour or more, it becomes difficult both to conceive a script in its entirety and execute the individual scenes at the same time. Most professional writers use various tools to solve this problem - writing a treatment, outline, step outline, be eat sheet, or using file cards. The function of all of these is to allow writers an overall view of their work while they toil away at the specific scenes." The author suggests that breaking the script down into sections he calls 'sequences' will allow scriptwriters to complete their task. He discusses his process in detail and gives examples from many films. An excellent book on screenwriting - one of the best.

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Chappie’s discussion starters

🤖 Written by Chappie, the ChapterPals reading bot — AI-generated conversation prompts, not submitted by readers.

  1. Which character stayed with you after you turned the last page, and why?
  2. Was there a moment where you disagreed with a character’s choice? What would you have done?
  3. What theme did this book keep circling back to — and did it earn its ending?
  4. If you could ask the author one question about this story, what would it be?
  5. Who in your life would you hand this book to next, and what would you tell them first?