Customer Reviews

The Screenwriter's Problem Solver: How to Recognize, Identify, and Define Screenwriting Problems

5 star:		(10)
4 star:		(1)
3 star:		(2)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(5)

 

 

How useful is it to have extremely vague and rambling prose accompanied by already fixed examples? Answer: not useful at all. If Sid wants us to learn, he has to show us flawed scripts, then what happens when he fixes them. I personally found this book full of lame advice, describing problems only complete fools would run into. Maybe that is the point. The two things I salvaged from this book are: a) Do an outline of your screenplay first, then write around that. NEVER start writing from scratch, no matter how bold an approach it seems. b) Put lots of action in your screenplay, avoid dialogue driven plays. Think Dogma. Apart from that, I liked how Sid harped on cruddy movies like Die Hard 3 and Broken Arrow... but he never shows us how or where they break down... he only says that they do. Now that you have read my review, you got all the good stuff from the book, so I just saved you money. Buy his earlier books, this just seems like it was written solely to make a quick buck.

I had read Field's excellent book Screenplay several years ago, and it helped me tremendously in writing my first screenplay. Since them I have written two more, but neither of them have sold. When I finished my last screenplay, I knew I had some problems, but I didn't know what I could do to fix it. So,I gave it to a few people to read,and then everyone started giving me different advice.The more people I gave it to, the more confused I became. So, I got the Screenwriter's Problem Solver and was absolutely delighted to find a way I could identify and define the problems in my own screenplay.It was like I really felt I could take control of my own writing. When I finished the book,I approached my screenplay with the understanding of how to recognize and analyze the problems, then break them down into the various problem catagories of plot, character and structure. I really feel the book has been instrumental in my understanding of how to approach the solving my problems in the rewrite. Each chapter took me through a different area of the process and I'm happy to say that after I rewrote my script, which took several months, I submitted it to a production company and while they didn't buy it, they liked it well enough to recommend an agent in Hollywood, and he is now showing it around. I'm so happy to have read this book; it is so literate, so clear, I see why Field is called the "meta guru of screenwriters."

Reducing this book's approximately 350 pages to 35 would in my humble opinion have made it a hundred times better, and the price perhaps more in line with the informative value.

Lecturing on about how important it is to adapt one's script to the right format, and constant nagging on about avoiding talking heads, the author himself could have considered checking up on some of his own advice on how to keep the reader's interest, and avoiding dull and uninteresting writing.

I forced myself to continue through the 3-8 chapter (of a total of 22) with the cod-liver-oil-attitude; "I hate this, but I must - it's supposed to be good for me". Repeating sentences every ten minutes might function well in the author's classroom lecturing, but on print it's overly annoying. Especially when nothing really new seems to surface after chapter one. Sorry, but I got the feeling that somebody is trying to "squeeze some extra dollars out of me by using a well selling name", rather than was my hope; a sharing of real knowledge... hopefully made out of the urge to tell something of real value. Isn't this the perfect example of the wrong motivation for writing, the very same as the author is urging his reader no to do?

A much better read, and far more comprehensive, informative and enlightening, I find Linda Seger's book "How to make a good script great" which I am currently enjoying.

Syd Field is the Richard Simmons/Anthony Robbins/Jay The Juiceman of Screenwriting. I say this because he is a master of his craft (script consulting) and proves this in every book which he writes. His video series, which I have seen a little bit of, deserves to be advertised on an infomercial. I love Syd Fields book on rewriting. He goes places where Seger and Deemer combined don't, digging deep into every revision element you could think of. I also think that this is his best book (although Screenplay, Four Screenplays, and Screenwriters Workshop are still in my opinion required reads for any person interested in this area of the fine arts), and I am anticipating the last draft of my soon-to-be-sent screenplay to be complete, of course with the help of this book. Take care!

As a screenwriting instructor, I can say, unequivocally, you need this book! If you've spent time and money perfecting your craft, then you need this book to make sure you do the very best job possible with structure, plot, characterization, dialogue, etc. And you can't go wrong with Field. Many people have tried to put him down by calling him a "guru" but that's just sour grapes! Syd IS the guru of screenwriting and with good reason. He's the best. If you let him, he'll teach you to be the best as well. Highly recommended!

Although written for screenwriters, Syd Field's The Screenwriter's Problem Solver is full of useful advice for any kind of storyteller; as a novelist in the middle of writing my next novel, I found Problem Solver very helpful. Unlike most screenwriting books, which are about building your story from the ground up, The Screenwriter's Problem Solver is for the writer with a story-in-progress, exploring the relationship among character, plot and structure, and how each fit into the whole story -- and ways to troubleshoot if one or more of these elements needs to be strengthened. Field draws examples from screenplays that worked (and those that didn't), with liberal examples from a variety of popular films, including The Shawshank Redemption, Thelma & Louise, Crimson Tide, How to Make an American Quilt and Terminator 2: Judgment Day. The end result is a useful text for any storyteller wanting to build a better story.

Before I read Mr. Field's book, I thought I understood what I needed to do to make a screenplay I had written better. Wrong! After reading this book, I suddenly had a new insight and a new set of tools to trouble shoot my own scripts, as well as others. It truly is the best craft book I have ever read about screenwriting, and I have every one that's been published. Great book! I recommend it to everyone who wants to sharpen the tools of their craft.

This book is the best tool to assist screenwriters in getting the most out of their scenes and characters. Field's simple, straight forward sentence structure allows the reader to easily find and understand any problem he or she may encounter in the screenwriting process. Field tosses out the technical lingo and explains things in a basic way that anyone could comprehend. He makes screenwriting fun.

Admittedly, I already had a feeling for what was wrong with my first screenplay, but this book helped me identify what to DO about it. After reading two chapters, I reorganized my material and turned a bore into a page turner!

Syd Field is, of course, the master teacher when it comes to screenplay writing instruction and story theory. He has written many books about how to develop great characters and put them into an engaging story.

His book, The Screenwriter's Problem Solver, is an attempt to help writers work through story glitches by setting up common story problem scenarios and explaining how to iron them out. Though this book is good in principle, I didn't feel it helped me tremendously.

I have written many screenplays. I also watch and analyze many movies and stories. I think most of what this book teaches is pretty much known to the experienced screenwriter. Though, for a newbie to the craft, it might be a good read. I would recommend some of Field's other books, like Screenplay or The Screenwriter's Workbook.

Hope this helps.

-Craig Nybo, co-author of [ ... ]