Product Details

• Directors: Syd Field
• Format: Color, NTSC
• Language: English
• Rated: NR (Not Rated)
• Number of tapes: 2
• Studio: Tapeworm Video Dist
• VHS Release Date: March 15, 1999
• Run Time: 125 minutes
• Average Customer Review: 4.8 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (10 customer reviews)
• ASIN: B00000JQ67
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #304,403 in Movies & TV (See Top 100 in Movies & TV)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

10 of 10 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Look him up on IMDB.com, July 19, 2001

By A Customer

This review is from: Syd Field's Screenwriting Workshop [VHS] (VHS Tape)

I viewed these tapes recently, and can tell you immediately that the product has been mis-labeled. This is "Screenwriting for Dummies," folks. The extremely basic aphorisms and advice he gives at the beginning make it appear as though he's aiming towards someone who's not only never written a screenplay before, but has never successfully published any written work. He repeats the key points ad nausaeum, until you're sure he thinks you're some clueless yahoo fresh out of college and eager to pound away at the keyboard.

Ironically, upon looking him up on the Internet Movie Database, you'll find Mr. Field hasn't produced a single feature film screenplay. He hasn't done anything save for a bit part as "Patient #1" and a role in a very recent indie flick I've never heard of. There's the inevitable question of, "If this guy knows so much, why isn't he making millions?" Well, read on.

This is my theory: the man is an excellent researcher and instructor, but not actually creative himself. His theories have revolutionized Hollywood. Particularly his 30-60-30 theory of number of pages for each act. It's based on extensive research he's done...but what he's found is a _pattern_, not a _formula_. Mr. Field implies that this is a formula, that this will help you get your screenplay produced, and it might, but only because almost every producer in Hollywood has adopted his pattern as a formula for deciding which script is yes and which script is no. Kind of a vicious cycle. Kinda prevents innovation. But you're gonna need to know Sid's jargon if and when you pitch your project, because they'll use his words and ideas to sound out your screenplay. Just skim over one of his books and read all the italicized and bolded text, I guess.

I recommend Final Draft, however, if you are a professional screenwriter or really serious about becoming one.

5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars This course is great!, September 6, 1999

By A Customer

This review is from: Syd Field's Screenwriting Workshop [VHS] (VHS Tape)

I had toyed with the idea of writing a musical, and when I started using the videos the idea that stage productions are primarily dramatic text using "the language of dramatic action," while movies are "stories told in pictures with dialogue and description placed within the context of dramatic structure," got me to expand my thinking about Oscar Hammerstein's dictum on the unity of song to storyline, that songs must move character/story forward, in ways that my BFA and MA degrees in Creative Writing never quite got rolling. On stage, pictures can also move an audience where I want 'em to go. And that shift in my understanding I owe to Syd Field's excellent presentation.

I have put several of Syd Field's concepts to work in my play-writing and am currently working on a revision of my 1948 Private Eye musical using the pictures of a famous artist as the settings.

Thank you Syd Field for your clarity, your insight and inspiration.

6 of 7 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars THIS IS THE MOST AMAZING COURSE, November 5, 1999

By A Customer

This review is from: Syd Field's Screenwriting Workshop [VHS] (VHS Tape)

I'm a published novelist, and have also been writing screenplays for several years now, but I've always had the feeling that I'm missing something, that I'm really not really grasping the distinctions between a novel and screenplay. Then a friend of mine turned me on to Syd Field's Video. What a revelation! What a miraculous learning experience. He's like my personal mentor. He takes me step by step through the entire process, using examples that make things clear and precise. Then I went out and bought the films he talks about in the course: Shawshank Redemption, Thelma and Louise and Titanic, and now I have a new insight and understanding about the craft of screenwriting. I cannot tell you how much I've learned from this course. It's wonderful.Buy it, buy it, buy it!