Customer Reviews

Alternative Scriptwriting, Third Edition: Successfully Breaking the Rules

5 star:		(8)
4 star:		(2)
3 star:		(5)
2 star:		(0)
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If you have already read the "how-to" books from Syd Field, Linda Seger, and others, then you must know that the three most important things you should be doing to enhance your craft are: reading screenplays, watching movies, and writing screenplays. After that, if you still need some motivation to write, then reading an exceptional book such as "Alternative Screenwriting" might be just the kick in the pants you need to keep you going. It's presentation is clear and fresh. And it does not just emphasise "alternative" approaches, either. In fact, it presents some of the most useful and succinct summaries of "mainstream" dramatic screenplay structure I have ever seen. This is not just another "how-to" book.

I already had the earlier edition of this book, but bought the update, thinking that it could even help my writing by osmosis. My god, I was right. This is not a book to be taken lightly, nor is it a "new" edition by virtue of adding a couple of new words, an updated comment here and there. These authors take their task very seiously, including taking to heart comments they'd received about the first edition, and making sweeping and important changes for this new version. Buy this book. It couldn't hurt. It could change your life. At the very least, it will give you a new list of rentals for the video store. And you'll understand why you like them.

As a screenwriting instructor who's been looking a long time for a good book on the craft, I can heartily recommend this book for an in-depth discussion of advanced screenwriting principles. The academic perspective provides concrete methods for successful deviation from conventional form, and chapters on genre and structure are a must-read for any serious screenwriter.

Having had co-author Jeff Rush as a professor at Temple University, I decided it was in my best interest to read his book before I took my next class with him. I thought it was worth my time, because it put into words a great many concepts that my mind has seen and comprehended so many times. It talks about the relationship of the main character to the secondary characters, how to flatten the acts of your story to pack a bigger punch later on, and it makes good use of scripts, both well-known and otherwise. It also has a chapter that explains WHY scripts are formatted the way they are. It's easy to just say, "This is how it is. We can't say why, but we can tell you how to copy it." But these authors explain in detail why certain terms are used and why certain formats make more sense than others. It's one of the better books out there on scriptwriting, well worth the investment in money and time. Fourth edition is coming out in 2006, too.

Successfully breaking the rules is the subtitle of this wonderful book by Dancyger and Rush. If you are tired of the typical three-act structure screenplay based on Act 1 being set up, Act 2 being the confrontation and Act 3 the resolution this book is for you. Before jumping to conclusions Alt. Scriptwriting will not provide you a format ahem template for creating unorthodox screenplays. This is exactly what Alt. Scriptwriting is about, getting away from these rules that bogged down many great aspiring and established screenwriters with details, plot points, reversals, camera angles etc etc...

Not to say that such details are not unimportant to creating a screenplay they are very important to say the least but oftentimes more attention is given to them than to what is the most important aspect of a creating a screenplay and that is the writing. Seems simple, but it often the most overlook aspect of creating a screenplay. So in Alt. Scriptwriting Dancyger and Rush take you on refreshers course in traditional three act screenplay structure, remember know the rules before you break them. After touching on the usual suspects plot, exposition, point of view and concept Dancyger and Rush get down to business. Explaining the pro and cons of a two act or even an one-act screenplay. Tarantino would be proud! From there much emphasis is given in explaining screenwriting structures of other cultures Europe, Asian and Australian.

Dancyger and Rush with great care explain the subtleties of mixing genres citing Wolf and Blade Runner as excellent examples. Word of note this is very important section of the book in our age of globalization, world economies, international conglomerates and of course the ability to almost customize anything we want learning how to blend genres is an important skill to possess.

Which leads to the most important aspect of the book to me and that is screenwriting in the digital age. The digital revolution has taken filmmaking by storm by empowering the ever growing independent movement and the often overlook niche filmmaking that is emerging. This is where Alt. Scriptwriting takes off by delving into the differences in creating a screenplay with a dramatic voice or narrative voice, the importance of creating believable characters, creating a screenplay based on a real events and of course making your screenplay believable to a reader.

Alt. Scriptwriting is definitely the book to have for all independent filmmakers or aspiring filmmakers who are thinking about writing as well as directing their own movies. Now for the novice screenwriter Alt. Scripting may not be the book for you and if you give a try you may want to read from to back to front. However, once you understand the concept of creating a screenplay or you have already written a few screenplays, attending workshops, purchased screenwriting help books and screenplays this book is a must have. It will provide you with a different outlook on screenwriting yes an alternative...

I like reading books on screenwriting as they teach you how to install the skeleton of story...have three acts, a clear premise based on conflict for the main character, someone or thing to fight against and you are away once you have chosen the genre. So in a western it's the lone flawed hero against the cattle baron struggling to find his place between the call of the wild and the lure of the town as he fights his way to the big showdown before riding off in the sunset. Or in a horror film, it's the lone victim and her family/friends trapped in the house on the hill fighting against evil sub-human monster who kills indiscriminately until finally defeat as the dawn of a new day breaks.

What Alternative Scriptwriting by Ken Dancyger and Jeff Rush does is to show the rules so you can break them. They give a detailed breakdown of 14 genres and how they use the individual building blocks before discussing such things as how to:

* mix and match genres and what works and what doesn't;
* change structures so 4 Act or two Act stories;
* reframe the roles of passive/ active characters; and
* use tone or narrative voice.

Its not done in a dry way as the discussion is linked to case studies or comparisons of different Directors and international styles but it does help if you have seen the films or have them on DVD! The important thing is that they argue that screenwriting is part of the tradition of storytelling/writing and so need to draw on the full range. Its not a book to read if you want a how to layout a film script but it is one if you want to explore the narrative force of a book.

An interesting alternative take on genres and the film narrative is The Writers Journey by Christopher Vogler. He explores how the mythic Hero's journey shapes plots and characterisation and so genres are merely different aspects of the journey. Again the rule is know the rules to break them.

So read both and enjoy the Saturday movie more but also check why the book works or doesn't

If you are already aquanited with basic screenwriting techniques regarding structure and character, then this is a must read. The "alternative" methods presented include examples from films, both mainstream and independent. By analyzing alternative methods, the reader not only learns new approaches to writing screenplays, but because of the contrast, learns what "traditional" screenplays should contain.

This is a GREAT book on methods of alternative screenwriting, that is for sure. The authors certainly know what they're talking about. You'll learn alot.

BUT...

My issue with this text is that it often becomes almost too professorial and theoretical in approach. This is not inherently negative, but sometimes more concise, brief, to the point explanations of how to subvert traditional screen writing is called for. Instead, the authors sometimes create an atmosphere that reminded me of being in a classroom, listening to an interesting but somewhat 2 Dimensional lecture. This is personal opinion, of course. But I know some out there would absorb the information better if it had been presented in a less wordy and more "doey" manner. Not enough balance in their approach to getting the reader to take in the info.

With that said, to pass up this book would be a mistake, I think, if you want to create alternative screenplays. I've learned alot and it was worth the purchase.

First off, let me just say that Alternative Scriptwriting isn't a book for the novice screenwriter. It's not a how-to book, but more of a collection of suggestions and examples of how you can take your writing beyond the conventional approach put forth in most books on the subject. You'll get far more out of this book if you've already written a few screenplays and have the basics of story structure down.

The problem I have with most screenwriting books is that the authors are too enamored with conventional three-act structure. They tend to praise movies that aren't that great (I cannot count how many times Tootsie is used as an example in various books, nor can I fathom why the late Blake Snyder loved Miss Congeniality so freaking much), or they try to shoehorn a movie into the old Syd Field paradigm. One book I read literally tried to restructure Memento so that it fit the template.

What I liked about Alternative Scriptwriting was that the authors try to impart that nothing in storytelling is really written in stone. The characters don't have to be active, there doesn't have to be three acts, the genre conventions can be mixed and altered, etc. Even better, they show example after example of mainstream and arthouse films that pull off these convention-breaking ideas. For example, Full Metal Jacket's use of two acts and a passive main character, or Spike Lee's She's Gotta Have It using two acts so that the character reaffirms her ways instead of changing into something else.

The only downside to the book is that it is written pretty dryly, as if it were intended for the college classroom. This makes sense, as authors Ken Dancyger and Jeff Rush are both university professors. While I wouldn't want the book to be written in the dumbed-down, super breezy style you find in the Dummies' Guide books, the text could use just a little personality. That being said, the dryness of the writing is a small detraction from a good book that shows writers that they don't have to be bogged down by the "rules" of conventional screenwriting.

If you've written a few scripts and are looking at how to take your own writing to new levels, this is a book you must read.

Very clearly written. Very handy if you want to pursue screen writing as a career, or just want to understand the myriad of ways that a story can be told. Essential.