From School Library Journal
Grade 7 Up–Admitting that he is now a bit too long of tooth to profit from his own advice, Lawrence encourages young people to seek their fortunes in that mythical place where youth itself is the most prized commodity: Hollywood. Writing from an "if I only knew then what I know now" perspective, he neatly lays out the essentials of writing and selling a "kick-butt" screenplay, artfully dangling the shining carrot of major booty that accompanies screenwriting success as he does so. Once he has established the glitzy dream of Tinseltown glory, the author is careful to temper the message with reality checks about the necessity of endless rewriting and peer reviewing, and stresses attention to critical screenplay formatting conventions. He manages to carry off this sobering portion of craftsmanship tips with just enough hopeful momentum to propel a wunderkind or two over the most daunting hump of all in the process: actually getting a screenplay read and sold. Lawrence is refreshingly candid about the extreme difficulty of breaking into the business, but he equips readers with an insider's toolkit of resources that they can use to help pry their way in. In the end, he reminds aspirants that the movies are pure illusion and that, to be successful, new screenwriters must also create an illusion–that they are, definitively, "the next big thing." A lively, compelling, and concisely concrete guide for creative kids with big-screen dreams.
–Jeffrey Hastings, Highlander Way Middle School, Howell, MI Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.
Gr. 6-9. With Hollywood desperate to appeal to teens, this guide to writing a big-budget Hollywood blockbuster reasons that young screenwriters have age on their side. After all, 2003's film
Thirteen was cowritten by a teenager. In breezy fashion, Lawrence introduces every facet of writing for the movies, from the treatment to the screenplay to the agonizing process of revision, closing with extensive suggestions for getting a script into the hands of a "big fancy Hollywood reader." His advice is solid (avoid expository dialogue, write visually descriptive passages, and show, don't tell), and he provides plenty of screenplay snippets to help readers understand both what Hollywood wants and what it will immediately dismiss as amateurish. Unfortunately, the book is padded with lots of trying-too-hard-to-be-hip slang (which perhaps proves that Hollywood does need authentic teen voices). The conversational tone will appeal to readers, though, and kids dreaming of screenwriting stardom and riches will find this helpful, even if, as Lawrence acknowledges, the odds against getting a big fat paycheck are extraordinarily long.
John GreenCopyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved
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