Customer Reviews

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

5 star:		(10)
4 star:		(0)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

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!

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.

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.

The newest addition to my bookshelf is Dr. Linda Seger's AND THE BEST SCREENPLAY GOES TO...LEARNING FROM THE WINNERS -- SIDEWAYS, SHAKESPEARE IN LOVE, CRASH. Love all 3 of these films, but was amazed at all the nuances that bubbled up to the surface, thanks to Seger's thoughtful and thorough deconstruction. From exploring the theme to utilizing sound and music to interweaving each character's point of view and more -- this book helps us all to understand the importance of going beyond the basics and digging deeper. An added bonus are the personal perspectives of the writers themselves which provide another welcome layer of knowledge & insight. Final words: And the Best Book on Screenwriting this year goes to Dr. Linda Seger!

I found this book disappointing. It was more of an instructual manual for unqualified creative executives than it was for practicing screenwriters. I found Lisa Seger's last book more informative. I know this book received rave reviews in Hollywood, but I found it very obvious with little new to offer than I've read from other books on the subject. The bulk of the book is just notes on the three scripts covered with Lisa's actual notes and analysis written down. I found her statements were directed to the novice writer and was let down overall. The best advice I got from the book was that the entirety of the first act should create the second act which is a little more definition of the term that every page has to advance the story. And one I am not sure if I completely agree with. I think your time would be better spent on reading a book about subtext or thumbing through a friends noted version of this book.

A truly unique and endlessly valuable explication of the art and science of screen-writing. Liinda Seger, the Godmother of the craft, directs her genuinely brilliant analytic eye on three modern classics--SIDEWAYS, SHAKESPEARE IN LOVE, AND CRASH. For each she provides a detailed critical analysis coupled with long, satisfying interviews with the writers, bringing to life their experience from first glimmer to finished work. Through it all, Dr. Seger's enduring faith in the "grace of labor" provides a soothing salve to the bloody work of the writing process.

I could write an entire essay on the merits of Dr. Seger's book, but it can be boiled down to this: forget film school and read this!

It is a master course on how to analyze, write, rewrite, and make great movies. Just the insider experience of what it took to get these movies made is worth the read.

After absorbing yourself in Seger's process, you'll never look at movies the same; you'll begin to see so much more on the screen or in the script -- and that will translate into writing better screenplays yourself.

The depth of wisdom, insight, and instruction in these pages is in a completely different class compared to the majority of books on the subject. Study it, absorb it, and take your craft and career to the next level!

-- Derek Rydall, screenwriter, author, "I Could've Written a Better Movie than that!", "There's No Business Like Soul Business: A Spiritual Path to Enlightened Screenwriting, Filmmaking, and Performing Arts," Founder ScriptwriterCentral.com

Did you know that in the early drafts of "Shakespeare in Love" it was about Will struggling with his homosexuality? Did you know that "Sideways" was written in book form originally based on ideas first implanted in the authors brain in 1990?

Dr. Linda Seger has done it again. She's made another great and accessible book about the screenwriting industry by going to the script's roots after seeing what fruit the script brought forth (wealth, fame and an Academy Award).

You see them at your book store. Screenplays in print. I bought the screenplay to "Gangs of New York" in book form for $1 at the Dollar Store. But, most likely, what you find when you buy a book about a screenplay containing a screenplay is no story behind how it became a screenplay. That is what this book is about. Or, as the subtitle says: "Learning From the Winners: Sideways, Shakespeare in Love, Crash."

This is where the book excels. This is what this book offers that no other book does. And then some... Not only does it take you into the story of how the script got turned into a film, but Dr. Seger had access to early drafts, to see how the script was transformed into what was eventually put on the screen. Interviews with the writers, directors, the major players as to how writing partnerships worked, what the director put in, how scenes were re-written or removed entirely. And some of the struggles to achieve the eventual success.

Why these three scripts? Well, first, they are all winners of the Academy Award. But Dr. Seger chose them for particular reasons. "Sideways" for how it approached a "Road Movie" type of film in a different way, a simple film in a complex way. "Shakespeare in Love" for the struggle to get a very unique film made, how the creative process worked. And "Crash" for how it tackled its overall theme through different paths, different story lines and multiple characters.

Then, if that weren't enough, she takes it another step forward including dialogue, pages and pages of insightful commentary and then, finally with writing out the story beats for each script. She has taken script analysis to another level.

If I had any issue about this book, it is that she chose scripts written by multiple people. Granted, no lone screenwriter ends up with working alone - it's his vision along with a myriad of others, but it would have been nice if she found an award winning script by a sole author and the struggles that one author had to endure to get the script written and made.

This is an excellent book on screenwriting but now I'm waiting for the companion book: "And the Razzie for Worst Screenplay Goes To..." I would LOVE to hear how Alexander Payne and Jim Taylor (authors of "Sideways") went on to write a universally reviled film: "I Now Pronounce You Chuck and Larry" My guess is that Adam Sandler had something to do with it...

Linda takes you on an in-depth study, sharing valuable insights, into the creative screenwriting process by examining the details of three Academy Award-winning films.

She explores a variety of elements and some rare techniques used in the creation of these honored screenplays such as: dialogue as a metaphor to reveal character, the Interweaving Structure, theme as the driving force, and connecting within yourself, with the audience, and through props.

While Linda analyzes these Oscar prized screenplays, she also refers to a wealth of other movies as examples. Following each analysis are revealing interviews with the writers and directors of the films; they explain the writing, directing, marketing, selling, and production stages they went through from the initial concept of their stories to casting to receiving the Academy Award.

Great screenwriting is achieved in large part through a keen observation and understanding of ourselves, others, life, and the successful films. I highly recommend And THE BEST SCREENPLAY goes to... for screenwriters who have a true passion for the art of film and want to be their very best.

Everybody wins who reads Linda Seger's latest book: AND THE BEST SCREENPLAY AWARD GOES TO... And if you apply the insights and practical information in her book, your audiences will win, too, because you'll be using storytelling tools both profoundly basic and amazingly effective.

Exploring Structure and Story Development, Theme, and Character through the lens of three Oscar-winning films, Seger analyzes the inherent challenges involved, how the writers approach them, why these approaches work, and how you can apply them in your own stories.

Seger's clear eye for the process of writing helps you better understand how to craft your own artistic ideas into winning stories.

Though familiar with all three films, I found new perspectives on Linda's pages, and got many "aha's!" and useful suggestions as I read through her smart and lively look at the crafting of these winning scripts.

Pamela Jaye Smith
Award-winning producer-director. Story consultant, speaker, author.Inner Drives: How to Write and Create Characters Using the Eight Classic Centers of Motivation and THE POWER OF THE DARK SIDE: Creating Great Villains, Dangerous Situations, and Dramatic Conflict