Customer Reviews

Dr. Format Answers Your Questions, Revised Edition

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

 

 

I read and really like Trottier's SCREENWRITING BIBLE. I also like the column he does in Script Magazine: "Dr. Format." That's why I was dissapointed when I read this book. It seems to be just a cut and paste from his magazine articles. A lot of the information is even redundant, having appeared in more than one article. The advice is sound -- you just don't need to be beat over the head with it.

All of the information in this book is in the SCREENWRITING BIBLE. Save yourself some money and just buy one book.

This is a wonderful guide for new writers. It delivers exactly what it says it will. It contains excellent examples, insights and other information. The only problem I’ve had is it tends to get a bit repetitive at times. However, it just goes to show you that the same mistakes are made by all. No one is perfect!

If you need answers to your fiddly questions in screenwriting read that book. It's like a Standards and Guidelines (S&Gs) book. David Trottier explains the S&Gs by examples. I can highly recommend it.

For a book about formatting, this book itself has a terrible format. Instead of grouping ideas together, it just presents the articles from the author's column in a seemingly random order. It is well-indexed. But all that page turning shouldn't be necessary. It seems not even to have been properly edited/printed - a couple of the pages in the middle are out of order. A more important problem is that a couple of the examples of formatting contain typos or contradict other examples. All of this being said, it still has a wealth of information and is well-worth the read.