Customer Reviews

The Screenwriter's Bible; A Complete Guide to Writing, Formatting, and Selling Your Script

5 star:		(131)
4 star:		(26)
3 star:		(9)
2 star:		(4)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

My agent told me to buy this book, and it has helped me tremendously in breaking in. As a working writer, I am pleased to find something that is helping my career. (I sold my script.) The book is endorsed by an academy-award winning writer (William Kelly), some top agents, and other Hollywood types. As for me, it's the best screenwriting book I've ever read--bar none.

The writing primer section presents all of the sreenwriting fundamentals. It's perfect for novices and a good review for professionals. The workbook asks hundreds of questions that I use to keep me on track. I love the Character/Action Grid--an excellent revision tool. The formatting guide is easy to understand--I like it much better than Cole and Haag's classic. The marketing plan is what's helping me the most right now; it's very focused. Obviously the author knows the business. The resources section includes all the contests, script consultants, software, etc.

It's not the last word on s! ! creenwriting, especially for old pros; but it guides you in every aspect of screenwriting in clear, concise language. And it covers the basics. The book is jam-packed with info you can use.

Want to know the difference between "O.S." (off-screen) and "V.O." (voiceover), and when to use each? How about that between "Intercut" and "Match Cut?" Then you want to buy "The Screenwriters Bible," script consultant David Trottier's encyclopedic reference on creating memorable characters, on storytelling, and especially on formatting. I am an optioned writer, who has written several scripts (and TV sitcoms), yet I find Trottier's work an invaluable reference.

"The Screenwriter's Bible" is also useful as a marketing tool, especially his sample project plan and action plan, which all writers will find useful as a template. Remember, your great spec script is a business proposal as much as anything else, for a project which will run well into 8 figures, in most cases. Approach it with the same care and attention to detail that you would if you were trying to sell your garage software development firm to Microsoft.

Unlike many "How-to" screenwriting books, Trottier's sample query letters are actually quite entertaining. If I were a Hollywood suit, I'd bite at the sample "Wizard of Oz" example.

This book won't tell you how to write a great story (that's something that really can't be taught), but it will help you get the mechanics of the trade down. There are many terrible scripts which have been made into movies, but virtually all of them (even those starring Pauly Shore) get the details correct.

In summation, if I had to pick just one screenwriting book, this would be my first choice.

The only reason I gave this book 5 stars is because, frankly, I couldn't give it 6 stars. As a beginning screenwriter, I became very discouraged when I could not find any reference manuals on spec scripts. Many were formal production script manuals that gave you everything you didn't need to know for getting a spec script formated properly. I began thinking anyone interested in screen writing is already working for the production company who already buys scripts for production (There must be a "spec script fairly" out there somewhere). Before this book, there were actually times when I put my writing off for the simple fact that I would have a fear of getting stuck trying to figure out what to include and what not to format-wise and have it interfere with the creative process.

But know thanks to this "Bible," it gives every answer to every to every question asked by a beginning screen writer trying to get his or her spec script in the proper format to get into the market. And that's just for formatting. I haven't even started to look at the last two books of the Screenwriter's Bible on marketing and references and if it's anything like the previous ones, I should be able to find every avenue available for getting my script at least read.

The Screenwriter's Bible is sectioned off into different parts for the different processes of the getting your screenplay off the ground and does a great job doing it. Can't think of anything that was missed. Thank you David Trotteir! I only wish that Hollywood will be as fair as you are.

THE SCREENWRITER'S BIBLE, in one volume, comprises six substantial guidebooks:

Book I: How to Write a Screenplay--A Primer;
Book II: 7 Steps to a Stunning Script--A Workbook;
Book III: Proper Formatting Technique--A Style Guide;
Book IV: Writing & Revising Your Breakthrough--A Script Consultant's View;
Book V: How to Sell Your Script--A Marketing Plan;
Book VI: Resources and General Index.

The book's large format 386 pages, eleven by eight-and-a-half inches, would equal at least 600 pages in the more common format of nine-by-six inches.

Book I: How to Write a Screenplay. Aptly subtitled a primer, it presents a compact introduction to screenwriting. In particular, Trottier focuses on the three-act structure with six key turning or plot points: the catalyst; the big event; the pinch (or midpoint); the crisis (low point); the showdown; the realization. Throughout, the author includes examples from well-known films.

Book II: 7 Steps to a Stunning Script. This workbook includes 25 checkpoint lists and a character/action grid.

Book III: Proper Formatting Technique--A Style Guide. "The spec script is the selling script, sometimes called the writer's draft. You write it with the idea of selling it later or circulating it as a sample. Once it is sold and goes into pre-production, it will be transformed into a shooting script, also known as the production draft. The spec-script style avoids camera angles, editing directions, and technical intrusions" (page 114). To illustrate formatting a spec script, Trottier includes his humorous three-page script "The Perspicacious Professor." This book convinced me to use the author's software "Dr Format" instead of "Final Draft."

Book IV: Writing & Revising Your Breakthrough--A Script Consultant's View. Trottier provides tips on "how to direct the camera without using camera directions" and exercises, based on his clients' scripts, to guide reader in revising to current spec-writing style.

Book V: How to Sell Your Script--A Marketing Plan. In addition to numerous suggestions on marketing, Trottier cautions screenwriters to protect their works. "Registering one's copyright and displaying the copyright notice on the script's title page is no longer seen as something done by paranoid writers." Writers Guild of America will register one-page synopsis, longer treatments, as well as draft(s) of a screenplay.

Book VI: Resources and General Index. This book includes several lists containing "carefully selected entries." I promptly looked up the first entry: "Updates to The Screenwriter's Bible" on the author's website... and found a useful tip on formatting as well as revisions on one of the exercises in Book IV. Presumably these changes will be included in the next edition.

Five shining stars to this book.
-- C J Singh

Trottier's hook for The Screenwriter's Bible is that it's actually six books in one. Not bad for less than $20. Pretty much, this book includes everything you need to know about the screenwriting business -- especially if you're a rookie.

With six completely different books, it's easy to find the information you need to start on the road to screenwriting stardom. The sections cross-reference, so the book can be a tad bit repetitive at times, but this is useful as it grounds important facts into your brain.

One of the things I appreciated about this book was the information on writing for TV as well as the Silver Screen. I also appreciated the detailed treatment of that oh-so-important detail, STRUCTURE of your script.

Because of the price and the sheer amount of information included, I give this book five stars: good value, good information, pleasant writing -- a winner!

That's right, i took away 2 whole stars because of the author's lack of organization in the book. To be fair though, i also took some points away because his writing examples (using his own spec scripts) are so incredibly bad, they had me getting pissed off at the end of the book. So it's not just the organizational problem i'm upset about.

The book is really pretty useful and filled with valuable information about how to structure your story (using many examples of movies past) how to format your script (this time using the author's own writing as a reference) and finally, how to land an agent or sell a script on your own. All of those are really very informative and the author's style works well in getting his point across. I didn't have any trouble understanding the concepts he was presenting from the first page to the last. That's very good.

My problem was, like i've already said, with the lack of organization. Someone else mentionned this in another review but i'd like to say it again. The author has you constantly jumping from one page to the next and back. It's that way throughout the book! You start your read with the first few pages and already, you see things like "i suggest you jump ahead and take a look at this or that". Well, Mr. Trottier, maybe you should have prepared the book in such a way that i could just read it like any other book? Why the hell do i have to keep jumping back and forth because he refused to take the time to get the order right in the first place?? Maybe my next script should involve me indicating to the reader that they should jump to page 64 or they won't understand the plot. Or maybe not.

Second, anyone who actually believes the examples of the author's own writing are good probably don't have a shred of hope of ever becoming a writer. I'm no genius but it doesn't take one to figure out that his script samples reek of crap. The only thing they do effectively is get his point across.

I would suggest that those interested in starting to write buy this book, just don't make it your only book. Whatever you pick up from reading it will be incredibly hard to go back to because the whole thing is so disorganized. I've often found myself wanting to re-read something i knew he had written somewhere, but couldn't find it.

I was already a writer before tackling screenplays, so I was not looking to this book for advice on how to write. I needed help with the dos and don'ts of the screenplay format and that's exactly what I got. "Elements of Style" it isn't, but there are many good tips about how to handle characters and story in the screenplay form. If you are a new writer or a slave to prose, this will help.

The book helped me understand the differences between the scripts you read in script libraries and the spec script you want to write and sell. I found out that even my latest upgrade for Screenwriter 2000 software includes by default things that are not format-appropriate for spec scripts. How much time and trouble did that little tidbit save me? [price]bucks very well-spent.

Author David Trottier's monthly columns on screenplay format for Scr(i)pt Magazine are always a must-read, so I had high hopes for his book, which I probably should have read a long time ago. I wasn't disappointed.

The Screenwriter's Bible presents everything a beginning or novice screenwriter needs to put together a professional script and market it. The information is concise and clearly presented so anybody can grasp it, using lots of concrete examples, some from classic movies and some from the author's own scripts.

The Screenwriter's Bible is divided into six sub-books. Book I outlines story-telling basics, including information specific to movie-making. The second book is a step-by-step workbook putting the Book I knowledge to use. Book III is all about format--and this is, perhaps, the book's greatest strength and the reason most people buy it. The information is current and well-organized. Book IV is about how to make your spec script stand out from the crowd, from a script consultant's point of view, and offers sound advice for revising and polishing. Book V covers how to market a script (an art form in itself). The last book is a list of resources, such as consultants, books and websites, contests, conferences, etc.

If I have one picky comment, it's the made-up script Trottier uses to illustrate the different elements of format. It's intended to be a joke, but it's so bad it's distracting. I would think someone who sets himself up as an expert would come up with a sample that better illustrates his talent and serves as an example to his students.

I usually do not like "How To..." books when it comes to creativity. You can't learn from a book on how to write a great creative work. Sure, you can get tips on what not to do, or get ideas and concepts of what worked for current ideas. But, you need to have your own foundation to have creative ideas spring forth.

Which is why I like this book. This book will not tell you how to write your antagonist and protagonist. It will give you the foundation of your trade. If you want to get into screenwriting, you must know how to present your material. If you don't know that, then there's no way you will even get noticed. It will show you how to open scenes, write action and dialogue, how to do the basic formating of your script.

Not much else to say. If you are curious about the format for screenplays or how to turn your creative idea into a screenplay format, then this is a great place to start.

I recommend this guide two levels. Firstly, it's an excellent guide for beginners. If you need to know formatting, etc, this is exactly what you're looking for. Secondly, it makes an excellent reference to have nearby while writing. It's only a matter of time before you get stuck on something, and this guide is sure to get you out.

I bought 6 other how-to's on this subject before I found this one, and I sure wish I had found this first.