Customer Reviews

Syd Field's Screenwriting Workshop [VHS]

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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.

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.

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!

This video takes you from Ground-Zero and explains the structural requirements for a screenplay so that it stands a fair chance of being successful. Syd Field's approach is by way of a paradigm onto which a story's elements are placed so that the resulting movie will involve the audience in the story. This paradigm has been developed from Syd Field's analysis of the historical record of movies, and is presented in the video using Titanic; The Shawshank Redemption; and Thelma and Louise, as illustrative examples. He could have used a legion of others - some of which I would have preferred to watch - but they are a legitimate choice for the exercise, and are pretty current.

Having watched this video I think that Syd has done a really good job in conveying a useful set of guidelines for an aspiring scriptwriter to work with. The only problems that I could identify were that the aspirant would need to be a capable writer, in the first place, of manuscripts, coupled with a huge amount of discipline to follow through on what Syd has to say. Someone diving in to write a screenplay would find it really tough going, since they would have no prior experience of writing and structuring a short story or novel length manuscript.

Previous commentators of Syd's video have slammed the notion of the Paradigm and bolstered this by suggesting that Syd is some kind of no-name/ hack / charlatan. The problem isn't the paradigm; the problem is that tat affixed to the paradigm is still tat, as so many films of today, and yesteryear, clearly are.

It's not the paradigm's fault that the powers in Hollywood are familiar with the paradigm, but are incapable of imbuing the paradigm with quality input, insisting on the endless deployment of stereotypical and worn out content. It's like shooting the messenger because you don't like the message, or filling the paradigm's contextual glass with sewage effluent instead of sparkling water.

The assertion that the Syd Field paradigm has destroyed the modern film industry in comparison to Hollywood's `Golden Era,' is obviously nonsense to any objective person. The better movies from the past are clearly tied to the paradigm, which I think is well worth paying attention to.

The bottom line is this: A poorly written and poorly executed story equals a bad screenplay. So the first thing to do is to learn how to write. I would recommend The Elements of Style, by Strunk and White. And The Art of Fiction and The Art of Non-Fiction , by Ayn Rand. In the `Golden Era,' of movies it was common for a good screenwriter to be capable of writing a good manuscript. A contemporary example would be Harlan Ellison.

Some examples of films worth looking at are: The Fountainhead; Tiefland, by Leni Riefenstahl; Chinatown; The Shining; The Blair Witch Project.

This is a very good instructional video, and provides a huge amount of valuable information to those without access to more direct, or hardly any guidance. It's even more relevant now because of the availability of PC based editing system allied to inexpensive DV equipment. All you need is the ability to write a great script to go and make a great film. Just think of all the artistic freedom that permits.

I've been wanting to write a screenplay for the last several years. I have this really, really great idea, but I would start, then stop, because I didn't know what to do or how to really do it. Then, I got this video, watched it, did the exercises, and it was just the most incredible experience. For the first time I did exactly what I wanted to do.Step by step, the process is laid out and I worked at my own time, and my own pace. THANK YOU, THANK YOU, THANK YOU, SYD FIELD! You are an inspiration, and a great teacher!! I recommend this video to everyone. It's a screenwriter's dream.

Syd Field's Screenwriting Workshop is a magnificent guideline for the beginner, intermediate and advanced screenwriter. He provides the viewer with critical information that would help to push your screenplay in the right direction. I personally like the paradigm because it helps me to keep structure in writing the beginning, middle and end. Although many screenwriters do not necessarily write with this particular arrangement, it is nevertheless helpful for us less experienced screenwriters. So when the novice writer considers the concept of structure and format to be paramount, he or she is able to read or view other schematics, such as "The Megahit Movies" by Richard Stefanik. I believe that Syd Field's name and product "Syd Field's Screenwriting Workshop" is synonymous to excellent film! His approach is easy to learn and fun to practice. I applaud Mr. Field's efforts on this one and recommend it to all aspiring screenwriters. Kudos!

I just got this video and I am so excited! I've read his books before, but this video is so inspiring and so easy to follow, I know I can write the screenplay that I've so often thought about writing. Besides, I loved Titanic, and Shawshank Redemption is one of the greatest movies I've ever seen. It's great - I can rent the movies, then see exactly what Field is talking about when I'm writing. Field uses them with such clarity and insight that I'm just in total awe of this video.

Mr Jeff Shannon (who Hollywood has apprently never heard of) is trying to tell us what is wrong with Syd Field who is a LEGEND in the field as a Teacher, Writing Coach and Script Doctor? That's a laugh. ALL the films of the GOLDEN AGE of Hollywood (whose leavings "modern" Hollywood subsists on) wrote according to the RULES taught by Mr Field and all real Writers. Those who think otherwise will be condemned to airing their scripts on the Webbie Sites for their own vanity and nothing else.

Get this course as I have and learn how to write a Script that not only will sell (given work and persistence as in the past) but which will be written like the GREATS that made Hollywood a magical name around the world.

I'm an experienced writer, but this is my first screenplay attempt. Syd Field has the instructions broken down to the point, that anyone who is serious about writing a screenplay can 'get it.' As he states in the video, "It's so easy it's hard." I've wanted to attempt the film medium for a long time, but I was frightened by it. After watching Mr. Field's video I quickly overcame my fear. I've registered my treatment with the Writer Guild. I'm now working on the first half of the second act. Who knows where it might go?

With all due respect Mr Field says it right. And those who suggest that the current clutch of unproduced and unsold Writing Instructors who tell us that there are now not Beginning, Middle and End but everything BUT know what they are talking about are in for a rude shock. The rules Mr Field talks about in this excellent Video Course are right on and are the ones that SELLING screenwriters follow and that gave us the Golden Age of Hollywood. Do not let anyone give you guff to the contrary.

If their advice resulted in salable screenplays they would be writing for Hollywood -- NOT vanity Webs!