Customer Reviews

Selling Scripts to Hollywood

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Wow! Herbert's style is informative and easy to read. The book reads like you're talking to your favorite aunt! The resources are WONDERFUL, and she includes a lot of great tips on developing a story the guys in Hollywood will accept. She does all of the leg work--all you have to do is write the script.

What bothered me about this book was at the end I was like, "hm... so, what did I learn from reading this?" and I couldn't come up with a whole lot.

The thing is, a good portion of the information contained in this book I already knew from reading other titles like, "How to Sell Your Screenplay: A Realistic Guide to Getting a Television or Film Deal" and "The Writer's Guide to Writing Your Screenplay: How to Write Great Screenplays for Movies and Television". So, maybe if this were your first introduction to the world of screenwriting it would be more helpful than it was for me.

I'm not sure what Herbert meant to accomplish with this text. It wasn't really on crafting stories, like "Save The Cat! The Last Book on Screenwriting You'll Ever Need"(which I **highly** recommend for any writer, not just screenwriters!) and it wasn't really an introduction to film and screenwriting, like "How to Sell Your Screenplay: A Realistic Guide to Getting a Television or Film Deal" (also highly recommended - this was the first book on screenwriting I read and found it immensely helpful).

One of the issues I had with this book was simply the publication date, which is back in 1999. I was just concerned if the relevancy for things like query submissions, ways to contact agents, etc., were still current given the age of Internet and emails. Still though, insights on how to craft a story aren't as time sensitive, so I could still garner some information from those passages.

Another issue was that Herbert would say things like, "After you submit your query, a number of things could happen" after which she'd list all the possible scenarios. Which, in one respect was great! But I never felt confident in what I should *do* for each situation.

Also frustrating were the lists of things like competitions or agencies followed by something like, "research these competitions and see if they are right for you. This list is not an endorsement." So, I get it -- but also, shouldn't Herbert have a better idea of what is a good, safe, legit competition or agency than New Screenwriter stepping into Hollywood?

But what bothered me most was Herbert's tone for sections of the book. Maybe I'm overly critical of this book because of a passage that appeared right there on the first page, but, here it is: Herbert writes about the lack of publicity and acknowledgment screenwriters receive (fine, I think it is important to bring this to the attention of new writers). But, did she have to say this: "Think about it. Would you really want to exchange your mind for a celebrity's physical endowments--both real and recently discarded silicon? I'm thinking you wouldn't. So let's accept our more subdued role and agree not to worry about it until Dow-Corning comes up with brain implants."
I mean, wow! To me, that sounds like Herbert just said actors are only images on a screen and that they bring no helpful creativity or intelligence to their roles. Ouch. I can't help but wonder why she decided to write for the screen if she believes this is true. (Later on, she does make a comment about actors adding their own creativity to their roles, but I felt it was too little too late). Perhaps I've misinterpreted this, but... it really rubbed me the wrong way.

In addition (or perhaps because of these comments) I felt like the book was more a free zone for Herbert to write out all her jokes and analogies. I don't mind a little of this to keep the feel of a book friendly and easy to read. But, I felt myself tripping over passages and felt at times that the analogies got in the way of the information.

Still, on the plus sides, Herbert does include some helpful tools on formatting your script, abbreviations, camera angles, etc. And she includes some great lists of websites, magazines, directories, etc., which I could really appreciate.

So, there's some good stuff in here, but sadly too much chatter and too many snide remarks hinder it. Herbert makes some good points, but if I were to recommend a book or two on screenwriting, this probably wouldn't be one of them.