Making a good script great is more than just a matter of putting a good idea on paper. It requires the working and reworking of that idea. This book takes you through the whole screenwriting process - from initial concept through final rewrite - providing specific methods that will help you craft tighter, stronger, and more saleable scripts. While retaining the invaluable insights that placed its first two editions among the all - time most popular screenwriting books, this expanded, revised, and updated third edition adds rich and important new material on dialogue, cinematic images, and point of view, as well as an interview with screenwriter Paul Haggis. If you are writing your first script, this book will help develop your skills for telling a compelling and dramatic story. If you are a veteran screenwriter, it will help you articulate the skills you know intuitively. And if you are currently stuck on a rewrite, this book will help you analyse and solve your script's problems and get it back on track.
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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.
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Most Helpful Customer Reviews
81 of 83 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Indispensable,
By Adam Herz (L.A.) - See all my reviews
This review is from: Making a Good Script Great (Paperback)
Well I was browsing around on Amazon, and I found all these negative reviews of this book -- I am SHOCKED and a bit suspicious of them. There are few things I'm passionate enough about to jump up and defend, but this book is one of them.Seger's book was the ONLY screenwriting book I read before writing "American Pie." Regardless of what you may think of that film, the fact is that this book taught me the things that made the screenplay SELL. Even in a teen comedy, you've got to have proper structure and character development. Seger's book is basic, yes -- _screenwriting_ is basic. Beginning, middle, end. Be original. Have a character or two arc. Have a relatable theme. Done. The fact that most writers get lost in less important details is maybe why some people expected this book to have more. It has everything you need.
30 of 30 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
AS ESSENTIAL AS A DICTIONARY,
By Helene Wong (New Zealand) - See all my reviews
This review is from: Making a Good Script Great: A Guide to Writing and Rewriting by Hollywoods Script Consultant (Hardcover)
As a script consultant, screenwriter and film critic, I cannot recommend this book too highly. It presents craft principles clearly and succinctly with good examples, and enables the reader to approach their own writing much more confidently. The book is especially helpful at two stages in the writing process: the first is at the beginning when you're faced with a mass of story material, ideas, character elements, themes, bits of dialogue ... and you're trying to see the wood for the trees. The book helps you sort them out and develop a structure for the story, as well as defining the function each of these bits of material might perform in the script. The second point at which you can turn to the book for help is after you've written a draft and you need to sit back and look at what you've done with a cold, objective, analytical eye. As you read the book, you find yourself applying the concepts and principles to your own work, and the weaknesses (and of course the successful bits!) are easily apparent. It works as a memory jogger, a kind of touchstone to bring you back to first principles, which often get obscured as you concentrate on the specifics of getting the stuff down in writing. I've read many books on scriptwriting and have gleaned something useful from each one, but Making a Good Script Great is the one I recommend to writers, especially those starting out, and it's the one I personally always go back to as my basic, easy-to-get-around reference text. In fact, writing this review has just reminded me that my own copy is currently on loan to a friend and I'd better get it back!
44 of 50 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
One of the Best,
By
This review is from: Making a Good Script Great (Paperback)
This is an extraordinary book, loaded with useful info. While I respect that it reflects Linda Seger's attitude that you make a good story great by revision, this could also be written as a fantastic book on the art and elements of story creation. Of the books I've read so far, only McKee and Field are as comprehensive in their approach (though I also like the more focused approaches of others.)Linda's book offers such a wealth of information, it's hard to imagine getting serious about the craft of STORY creation without reading it. I am in the process of organizing a conference, StoryCon, on the Art, Science and Application of Story, and so, have been researching dozens of books on story creation, screen writing, crating fiction, the novel, etc. I've acquired over 50 books, so far, for the purpose of identifying potential speakers for the meeting and this book is one of the best. (You see the link to the website in my about me area at amazon.) One thing I've found, in my research, which has included speaking with many of the authors of these books, is that Linda is probably the most well connected of them all, ie., she knows and or has worked with them. When I had dinner with her this summer, I was mesmerized by the knowledge and wisdom on story which she shares so easily. It's like that in the book too. I've gone ahead and bought most of her other books too, and look forward to digesting them. Since I read the books I am nost avid to finish while working out on the treadmill, I give this book a five gallon rating-- for having been sweated over like the best. Other authors/ books on story worth reading include: Michael Hauge's Writing Screenplays that Sell
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