Raindance Writers' Lab, Second Edition: Write + Sell the Hot Screenplay [Paperback]

Elliot Grove (Author)

Book Description

ISBN-10: 0240520793 | ISBN-13: 978-0240520797 | Publication Date: November 25, 2008 | Edition: 2

If you're looking for a straightforward, practical, no-nonsense guide to scriptwriting that will hold your hand right the way through the process, read on! The Raindance Writers' Lab guides you through the tools that enable you to execute a strong treatment for a feature and be well on the way to the first draft of your script.

Written by the creator of the Raindance Film Festival himself, Elliot Grove uses a hands-on approach to screenwriting based on his many years of experience teaching the subject for Raindance training. He uses step-by-step processes illustrated with diagrams and charts to lend a visual structure to the teaching. Techniques are related to real-life examples throughout, from low budget to blockbuster films.

The Companion Website contains interviews with British writers and directors as well as a handy series of legal contracts, video clips and writing exercises.

In this brand new 2nd edition, Grove expands on his story structure theory, as well as how to write for the internet and short films.

The website also contains sample scripts and legal contracts, a writing exercise illustrated with a video clip, a folder full of useful hyperlinks for research, and a demo version of Final Draft screenwriting software.

* Written by the Founder and Director of the Raindance Film Festival - the largest independent film festival in Europe!
* Companion Website contains interviews with top directors, sample scripts, legal contracts, and writing exercises!
* A no-nonsense approach to writing and selling a HOT screenplay
* NEW screenplays to discuss including Eternal Sunshine for the Spotless Mind and Borat

Editorial Reviews

Review

This is an invaluable manual for the first-time screenwriter. A guide that takes in every aspect of the screenwriting process.
--Ayub Khan-Din, Writer for East is East

An authoritative guide full of wit and wisdom, through which Grove's personality shines.
--Justin Bowyer, Total Film

From the Publisher

Elliot Grove uses a hands-on approach to screenwriting based on his many years experience teaching the subject for Raindance training. He uses step-by-step processes illustrated with diagrams and charts to lend a visual structure to the teaching. Techniques are related to real-life examples throughout, from low budget to blockbuster films. The accompanying CD-ROM contains interviews with British directors Declan Lowney (Father Ted), Gillies Mackinnon (Redemption, Hideous Kinky), Pawel Pawlikowski (The Last Resort), producers Nik Powell (The Crying Game) and Nowma Heyman (Dangerous Liaisons, Mary Reilly) and writer Andrew Shea (The Corndog Man)The CD also contains sample scripts and legal contracts, a writing exercise illustrated with a video clip, a folder full of useful hyperlinks for research, and a demo version of Final Draft screenwriting software. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Paperback: 272 pages
• Publisher: Focal Press; 2 edition (November 25, 2008)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0240520793
• ISBN-13: 978-0240520797
• Product Dimensions: 9.1 x 6.1 x 0.6 inches
• Shipping Weight: 14.9 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (4 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #2,036,621 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Elliot Grove has worked intensively with writers and filmmakers at Raindance since 1992. He explains the tricks of the trade from practical experience and reveals some of the latest paradigms through lecture, exercises and video clips.

Elliot Grove founded Raindance Film Festival in 1993, the British Independent Film Awards in 1998, and Raindance.TV in 2007.

He has produced over 150 short films, and 5 feature films. He has written eight scripts, one of which is currently in pre-production. His first feature film, TABLE 5 was shot on 35mm and completed for a total of £278.38. He teaches writers and producers in the UK, Europe. Japan and America.

He has written three books which have become industry standards: RAINDANCE WRITERS LAB 2nd Edition (Focal Press 2008), RAINDANCE PRODUCERS LAB (Focal Press 2004) and 130 PROJECTS TO GET YOU INTO FILMMAKING (Barrons 2009). His first novel THE BANDIT QUEEN is scheduled for publication in 2011.

Open University awarded Elliot and Honourary Doctorate for services to film education in 2009.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars An excellent technical how-to source, November 13, 2001

By 

Midwest Book Review (Oregon, WI USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Raindance Writers' Lab (Paperback)

Raindance Writers' Lab: Write + Sell The Hot Screenplay is a book and CD-ROM created to speed aspiring screenplay writers to critical and financial success. Written from the ground up by Elliot Grove (Founder and Director of the Raindance Film Festival), Raindance Writers' Lab starts with the most basic tenets of how to create a screenplay and how to secure rights to true-life stories, offers extensive advice on how to properly tell a good, captivating story, and concludes with perhaps the most critical lessons of how to pitch a story and secure a deal. The CD-ROM files require Adobe Acrobat Reader 4.0 or higher, and also contain MP3/MPEG-1 audio clips and video interviews that require a media player (Windows Media Player or Macintosh Quicktime recommended). Final Draft demo software is also included on the CD-ROM. Raindance Writers' Lab is an excellent technical how-to source, and highly recommended for film students and aspiring script writers with an interest in writing a commercially viable screenplay.

4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A fat cheque is the best critique., March 8, 2002

By 

Fiona Maher (The Wirral, England) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Raindance Writers' Lab (Paperback)

Elliot Grove's engaging style ensures you'll write your best script yet. Just where other guides stop dead, this book goes on to offer fresh insights on how to sell your hot script.
Energetically written by a true enthusiast - Elliot founded the Raindance Film Festival - it is full of weaselly strategies to get you ahead of the game.
It even comes with a CD Rom featuring interviews with writers and filmmakers, sample contracts and screenplay formats. What more can be said? Beat the competition. Get it. Now.

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Great screenwriting book, January 31, 2012

By 

Alejandro Zárate - See all my reviews

This review is from: Raindance Writers' Lab, Second Edition: Write + Sell the Hot Screenplay (Paperback)

The market for screenwriting books is saturated. Dozens of so-called 'gurus' publish books on story structure, character development and scene analysis every year, and most of them are either useless or say nothing that you couldn't learn by re-reading Syd Field.

This book is different. It includes not only the usual information on the 3 Act paradigm, but alternative story structures. It also includes chapters on pitching ideas and screenplays, writing for short films (VERY useful, since most beginner screewriters should write a couple shorts in my opinion) and how to get yor film actually MADE... basically, it's more about how to BE a screenwriter than how to write a screenplay. And I love that focus, since I aspire to someday make a living out of writing for the screen.

This is one of the best screenwriting books I've ever read, and I've read a few. I wholeheartedly recommend it to any and all aspiring screenwriters.