How Not to Write a Screenplay: 101 Common Mistakes Most Screenwriters Make [Paperback]

Denny Martin Flinn (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: May 1, 1999

All good screenplays are unique, but all bad screenplays are the same. Flinn's book will teach the reader how to avoid the pitfalls of bad screenwriting and arrive at one's own destination intact.

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com Review

How Not to Write a Screenplay is an invaluable addition to any aspiring screenwriter's shelf--and you'd best make the shelf within arm's reach of the computer. Author Dean Martin Flinn, an experienced script reader, details the common rookie mistakes that drive script readers crazy. Flinn makes no pretense of being able to teach anyone how to write the next Great American Film--or for that matter the next Stupid Summer Blockbuster. Instead he offers information that will help keep the novice screenwriter's opus from being immediately tossed on the trash pile (arguably a more valuable service). As Flinn says in his introduction, if you follow the advice in this book, "you may not write a particularly good screenplay, but you won't write a bad one." Flinn offers practical advice on formatting, such as the proper form for a slugline and where to set your margins, and more general rules of thumb on giving the actors room to interpret their roles and avoiding dictating camera angles to the director (who will ignore them anyway). The second half of the book deals with content, also in a remarkably pragmatic way--structure, pacing, plot resolution, and dialogue that really stink are all handily dealt with. Flinn illustrates almost all his points with excerpts from screenplays both good and bad (names have been changed to protect the guilty), giving the reader concrete examples of the difference between poorly and well-structured scenes. Not sucking is an unusual goal for a screenwriting manual, but any script reader will agree it is a noble one. --Ali Davis

About the Author

Denny Martin Flinn is a produced screenwriter and the author of the successful book "How NOT to Write a Screenplay" (1580650155, GBP14.99).

Product Details

• Paperback: 240 pages
• Publisher: Lone Eagle (May 1, 1999)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1580650155
• ISBN-13: 978-1580650151
• Product Dimensions: 6 x 0.6 x 9 inches
• Shipping Weight: 14.1 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.5 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (78 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #18,467 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
  • #63 in Books > Humor & Entertainment > Television

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

82 of 87 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars SMART, INSIGHTFUL AND PAINFULLY FUNNY, October 11, 1999

By 

FADE-IN MAGAZINE REVIEW (Los Angeles) - See all my reviews

This review is from: How Not to Write a Screenplay: 101 Common Mistakes Most Screenwriters Make (Paperback)

Anyone who reads screenplays for a living knows that ninety-nine out of every 100 are absolutely horrible. And not just because the stories are weak, the characters are bland and the dialogue is inane. No, most scripts are painful to read because they're painful to read. Description is confusing, overwritten, or just plain obtuse. UPPERCASE words POP up OFTEN enough to cause MOTION SICKNESS, or the script is rydled with mispellings and grammaticle errs. Author, screenwriter and story analyst Denny Martin Flinn has written a masterful, must-read book for anyone hoping to get a spec screenplay past production company readers and into the Hollywood pipeline. Since no one can teach talent or originality, he instead tells readers the traps to avoid when assembling their cinematic opuses, ranging from formatting eroors to descriptive gaffs to thematic omissions. Illustrating his points with both horrid and well-written screen passages--all genuine-- Flinn has created a book that is smart, insightful and often painfully funny. Allen B. Ury, Fade In Magazine

56 of 59 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Best Book I've Ever Read on Screenwriting..., October 23, 2001

By 

Thor Vader "Herr Director" (Beverly Hills, CA United States) - See all my reviews

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This review is from: How Not to Write a Screenplay: 101 Common Mistakes Most Screenwriters Make (Paperback)

... and I've read almost all of them. Flinn starts his book with the admission that he has never written any great movies... and then states blatently that he didn't write this book because he can write screenplays, but rather because he has had to read a ton of them.

Well thank god he did, because he distills horribly written screenplays into crystal clear examples of why they are poorly written. This information is wonderful, and I found myself delighting in his revealing why I too am unsatisfied with the screenplays I have written.

The book is broken into two primary sections with a third "final thought section." The first is devoted to form, and he cuts to the chase providing examples of "good writing" and, even more importantly, examples of "bad writing". He examples are very accessible, and will illustrate to any writer, producer, or director why it is that they want to cut their wrists when reading some screenplays, and can't put others down.

The second half of the book is devoted to content. This is not as strong as the first half, but is certainly on par or slightly better than most books on how to write your story. He even quotes from all of the guru's of screenwriting, and shows that they are all ultimately trying to say the same thing.

I am absolutely serious when I say it is the best book on screenwriting I have ever read. I think it should be manditory reading for anyone that ever thinks of giving their screenplay to another individual to read. Happy writing!!!

117 of 134 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Read this AFTER you've written your screenplay, November 20, 2003

By 

Griswel (Rochester, NY) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)   

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This review is from: How Not to Write a Screenplay: 101 Common Mistakes Most Screenwriters Make (Paperback)

Compared to other screenwriting books I have read, this is decent, but falls short in two important respects.

First, the cynical attitude is no doubt honestly acquired, but the book makes for a very bad read for someone who is still struggling with their screenplay. The best how-to books both explain and inspire, this does not.

Second, the liberal use of actual (or slightly altered) bad screenplays (sometimes multiple pages of unbroken screenplay examples) make for (often) difficult (if not confusing) reading of the (sometimes) useful prose. The book feels like 1/3 advice, 2/3 filler. Some of the examples are needed to display the problem being discussed, most are either a trivia contest (how quickly can you spot which movie the example is from?) or dreck which adds nothing to the explanation given.

I recommend that you read the book, or something like it, before you send your screenplay out into the world. There is good advice here for rewriting, format and polishing. However, I recommend that you read THIS book only after you've written your screenplay, unless you're looking for an excuse to quit.