Customer Reviews

Selling a Screenplay: The Screenwriter's Guide to Hollywood

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

 

 

Field is an amiable interlocutor, getting copious bon mots from the requisite titans of the film industry -- and they'll tell you WHAT they're "LOOKING FOR" ... but not WHERE to LOCATE THEM WHEN they are LOOKING.

No list of agents, no "these-are-the-steps-you-must-follow-in-submitting-a-script" to ______ or _______ or _______.

It seems that even if "follow all his (genuinely good and accurate, I'm sure) advice" and even if you have the world's best-script in your hands, say, 1 year after having read this book -- you STILL won't KNOW what to DO with it, nor if or how you may get an agent with it, or a meeting, or a sale, or ... anything ....

An initially inspiring, but ultimately, pretty frustrating read ....

At first, I thought this was a book about the nuts and bolts of selling your screenplay. Boy, was I delightfully mistaken. This book shows me how the process works that enables you to sell your screenplay. For that, it's absolutely wonderful!! I never knew how buyers buy and sellers sell. Now, that I understand the process, I can taylor my own scripts to the real world, not some phoney intelluctual garbage about what "the market is."

I have other books of Syd Field's and I find them useful, inspiring and knowledgeable. I've even bought his video and find it extremely valuable and encouraging.

I really can't understand the reviewer from Hollywood who says Syd Field can't. He CAN! And luckily for us he DOES! Syd Field is a creative consultant of many years standing who works on more than one thousand scripts per year and knows the industry inside and out--better than anyone now writing books on screenwriting! In this book, Syd shares his wealth of knowledge with us about how Hollywood works. Exactly how it works. And you have to know if you want to make it in this tough, competitive field. I've learned more from Syd's books than from all the other books on screenwriting combined. You can't go wrong with Syd, believe me! Thanks!

Syd Field is absolutely, without a doubt the best! In this book, he lets us know why Hollywood chooses one script over another. After years of perfecting your craft, you really deserve to know what Syd does. I thought I knew, but boy was I wrong! Syd, however, showed me the way. This is the best book on selling a screenplay ever written. Buy Screenplay and learn your craft. Then buy Selling a Screenplay and you'll be well on your way to success. My students are.

This is a good, solid introduction to selling your screenplay and finding an agent. There's nothing much here that isn't found in a lot of other books, but someone starting will find this really useful.

Great read. I read it twice and enjoyed it much. I learned a lot from this book. Not too elaborate on technicalities of screenwriting, but good all the same.

I think for this book the title: The Screenwriter's Guide to Hollywood is OK.
But, "Selling a Screenplay" ought to be omitted.

The book is great as far as getting a clear idea of how long it takes before a screenplay finally makes it on the screen. It does not address the expectation of the novice screenwriter of what to do after the screenplay is finished and ready to hit the road, knocking on doors.
The novice wants to know where to send it if he has no connections or an agent, what should be included in the package, and how to do it in a professional manner that is proper and acceptable.

Syd Field's advice, as always, is excellent.I certainly intend to follow his suggestions, when the time arrives to promote my screenplay. All of his textbooks are intensely readable, which says alot for his writing skills. The dishes pile up, the bed doesn't get made, because I can't put the damn thing down. Nough said?

This is a concise straight forward guide to everything from packaging your screenplay to getting and dealing with Agents. I have read so many books on this subject, but this one was well worth it.

I am a first time screenwriter and I read this book to get an Idea of whom and how to submit my script to. This book never addresses this at all. The majority of the book is discussing how impossible it is to get something read and or produced. When you finished reading this book you feel like the odds are so against you that it might be easier to finance and produce the movie yourself. Also, who the heck is Syd Field anyway? I went on IMDB and couldn't find a lick about him that is relative to the industry today. AVOID THIS BOOK. Negative vibes.