And the Best Screenplay Goes to...Learning from the Winners - Sideways, Shakespeare in Love, Crash [Paperback]

Linda Seger (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: February 1, 2008

This book provides a CSI (Crime Scene Investigation) approach to Academy Award-winning screenplays, giving you the nitty gritty details of how an Academy Award script was created.

Editorial Reviews

About the Author

Linda Seger runs a leading film script consultancy, and is author of ten books. She is an international authority on screenwriting. She has a number of earned degrees and a doctorate in Drama and Theology. A practicing Quaker, she lives in Colorado Springs.

Product Details

• Paperback: 312 pages
• Publisher: Michael Wiese Productions (February 1, 2008)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1932907386
• ISBN-13: 978-1932907384
• Product Dimensions: 8.9 x 6.1 x 0.8 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.4 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (12 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #76,894 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

I have an unusual background - since my degrees are in both drama and theology. I've combined the two through my work in the film industry since 1981, writing books on screenwriting, but have also been giving speeches about theology for the last ten years. My most recent book is called JESUS RODE A DONKEY, and is about Christian values from the perspective of the Democratic Party. That will be published in August, 2006.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

12 of 12 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars And the best review goes to..., March 4, 2008

By 

StoryPros.com (Hollywood, CA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: And the Best Screenplay Goes to...Learning from the Winners - Sideways, Shakespeare in Love, Crash (Paperback)

Linda Seger, screenwriting guru and author of the seminal Making A Good Script Great, gives you a nice head start on the process in her latest book And The Best Screenplay Goes To..., which examines in detail the biology of three Oscar-winning scripts: Sideways, Shakespeare In Love, and Crash.

Each film is subjected to a minute analysis, broken down into specific categories relevant to the particular story involved. The analysis is followed by 10 study questions to get you thinking. Then you'll find interviews with each of writers of the scripts, and finally, there's a story beats breakdown on each, with setups, turning points, and climaxes all clearly noted.

The real strength of this book is how each movie is investigated in a different way. They're such different movies, and they present different challenges to the analyst. Seger takes all this into account, and doesn't try to cookie-cutter them with any sort of canned metrics. Each gets a custom treatment, keyed to the movie's specific personality.

Screenwriters will get their fill of tips and gambits here, not only from Seger but from the writers themselves, from their discussions of their own processes. You'll get lots of ideas on your approach to story and how to go about realizing your vision.

This book can also be read as work of critical analysis with background included...appealing to movie lovers everywhere!

6 of 6 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Like Going To Screenwriting Camp, March 24, 2008

By 

John Gaspard - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: And the Best Screenplay Goes to...Learning from the Winners - Sideways, Shakespeare in Love, Crash (Paperback)

This book is like going to screenwriting camp with some of the world's top screenwriters ... all while staying in the comfort of your own home.

The book is actually like two books in one: Insightful commentary by Dr. Seger on three Academy Award-winning screenplays ("Crash," "Sideways," and "Shakespeare in Love") .... followed by in-depth interviews with the screenwriters themselves.

Who hasn't always wanted to know where Marc Norman stopped and Tom Stoppard started on "Shakespeare in Love"? Or the true genesis of "Sideways" as it made its (sorry) sideways journey through Hollywood? Or how Paul Haggis successfully navigated multiple story-lines in "Crash"? The answers are all here.

This book is a must-have for anyone serious about the art of the screenplay.

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Linda Seger Does It Again: Better Than Ever, March 20, 2008

By 

Christopher Keane (Cambridge, MA USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: And the Best Screenplay Goes to...Learning from the Winners - Sideways, Shakespeare in Love, Crash (Paperback)

There are perhaps a handful of people in the vast motion picture industry who know more about what makes a script work, and not work, than Dr. Linda Seger. But I don't know who they are.

In her new book, AND THE BEST SCREENPLAY GOES TO... Learning from the Winners - Sideways, Shakespeare in Love, Crash, Dr. Seger breaks down these top notch scripts intro myriad categories: the directing process, theme, nuance, story structuring, rewriting, etc., as they specifically pertain to the three scripts she uses. What an advantage: to see how the points can actually be applied. Theory and practice in abundance.

Reading AND THE BEST SCREENPLAY GOES TO... made me realize how much, as writers, we truly are responsible for -- if we are provided with the awareness of the opportunities themselves. Dr. Seger does just that. Her book opened so many roads into making my script better I needed teams of horses to keep me away from my script until I finished this masterful book.

An added bonus, and a big one, is her voice. Dr. Seger makes it seem as if we're sitting in a room together. Reading AND THE BEST SCREENPLAY GOES TO... has already led to many improvements in my own work, and I know the best are yet to come.