The Screenwriter Within: How to Turn the Movie in Your Head into a Salable Screenplay [Paperback]

D.B. Gilles (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: May 2, 2000

If you've ever dreamed of writing a screenplay, The Screenwriter Within is the book for you. Insightful, inspirational, and wildly irreverent, it takes you through all the stages of the writing process, using references to hit movies and the author's personal experience to show you how to:
Turn everyday events into big-screen successes
Find the best stories to turn into screenplays
Develop strong characters
Write compelling dialogue
Find your niche as a screenwriter . . . and much more.

Editorial Reviews

Review

"Clever, concise, educational and entertaining. A must for every young writer . . . and some of us older ones, too."
-- Richard Wesley, screenwriter, Native Son

"No book can teach you how to become passionate about screenwriting. No other book can better help you focus that passion than The Screenwriter Within. It captures D.B.'s unique ability to instill technique while evoking big-ass belly laughs."        
-- Andrew Gurland,
1998 Grand Jury Prize Winner, Sundance Film Festival

From the Inside Flap

If you've ever dreamed of writing a screenplay, The Screenwriter Within is the book for you. Insightful, inspirational, and wildly irreverent, it takes you through all the stages of the writing process, using references to hit movies and the author's personal experience to show you how to:
Turn everyday events into big-screen successes
Find the best stories to turn into screenplays
Develop strong characters
Write compelling dialogue
Find your niche as a screenwriter . . . and much more.

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Paperback: 240 pages
• Publisher: Three Rivers Press; 1st edition (May 2, 2000)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0609804952
• ISBN-13: 978-0609804957
• Product Dimensions: 5.2 x 0.5 x 8 inches
• Shipping Weight: 4.8 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 4.6 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (29 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,069,342 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

2011 marks the publication of 2 books by D.B. Gilles. YOU'RE FUNNY! TURN YOUR SENSE OF HUMOR INTO A LUCRATIVE NEW CAREER and THE SCREENWRITER WITHIN: NEW STRATEGIES TO FINISH YOUR SCREENPLAY & GET A DEAL (the 2nd edition of THE SCREENWRITER WITHIN published in 2000 by Random House).

THE PORTRABLE FILM SCHOOL, published in 2005, continues to be a popular book with young filmmakers unable to go to film school.

D.B. Gilles is also one of the most in-demand Script Consultants and Writing Coaches in the United States. He is on the faculty of the Undergraduate Film & Television Department at New York University's Tisch School of the Arts where he teaches screenwriting, television writing and comedy writing.

He has also taught in the Graduate Film Department at Columbia University, The Department of Dramatic Writing and The Gallatin School of Individualized Study at New York University. He is a produced and published playwright, screenwriter and television writer. His most recent play, Sparkling Object, had it's world premier in November 2010 at The Canal Park Playhouse. Four of his plays are published by Dramatists Play Service: Men's Singles, The Legendary Stardust Boys, Cash Flow and The Girl Who Loved The Beatles, a One Act two-character play that has become a standard audition piece for actors.

He wrote the screen adaptation of Spinning Into Butter which starred Sarah Jessica Parker. He has worked in television creating two pilots for CBS: The Late Bloomer and Man of the House. He has also written episodes for Herman's Head (FOX) and My Kind of Town (FOX).

He welcomes Followers on his screenwriting blog: SCREENWRITER'S REHAB: FOR SCREENWRITERS WHO CAN'T GET THEIR ACTS TOGETHER

He is a member of The Writers Guild of America and The Dramatists Guild.

You can contact him by Googling Screenwriters Rehab or directly at [e-mail]

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

10 of 10 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars This is the book to read..., April 30, 2000

By A Customer

This review is from: The Screenwriter Within: How to Turn the Movie in Your Head into a Salable Screenplay (Paperback)

As a professional writer in Hollywood, I have read all the screenwriting books, taken all the courses, and spoken with all the agents, and this is the book to read. The Screenwriter Within is an excellent informative (and entertaining) sourcebook on three-act structure, filled with examples from the author's own life, quick reference tips, and humor. If you ever wanted to write a screenplay, but didn't know how to get it on the page, this is the book to read. Highly recommended.

12 of 13 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Totally unique., July 6, 2000

By A Customer

This review is from: The Screenwriter Within: How to Turn the Movie in Your Head into a Salable Screenplay (Paperback)

I've written two screenplays so far and had trouble with the structure, primarily when it came to the third act. I seemed to run out of steam creatively. I've read Aristotle's Poetics and Joseph Campbell and four other screenwriting manuals that pretty much all said the same thing. The Screenwriter Within says it differently. Gilles makes structuring a story and building a plot easy to understand and, I guess more importantly, easier to undertake. I looked at both of my previous scripts and applied some of the tips that Gilles suggests and realized that the reason my third acts crashed and burned was because my first acts took too long to get started. Instead of feeling happy or at least pleased when I finished my two scripts, I felt defeated. But this book inspired me and motivated me to try and fix one of the scripts. Gilles ends his book with a neat quote that also made me feel writing a good screenplay and even selling it is possible. Highly recommended.

6 of 6 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars What a jewel!, September 29, 2002

By 

Pat C. Ames "Pat C. Ames" (Indiana) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: The Screenwriter Within: How to Turn the Movie in Your Head into a Salable Screenplay (Paperback)

This book is not like Field's, McKee's or any of the zillion others that take you through the basics of screenwriting. It assumes you know most of the basics and concentrates, instead, on polishing and professionalizing your script and does so with a sense of humor that's wonderfully refreshing.

I was exceedingly fortunate to have had DB serve as a consultant on one of my screenplays. He was insightful, encouraging, down-to-earth and funny as hell. His book is written in the same style he uses when consulting and teaching. It will forever have a place on my shelf near my computer and the rest of my important research/reference materials.

Thanks, DB. Hurry up and write the next one!