Customer Reviews

Write Screenplays That Sell: The Ackerman Way

5 star:		(18)
4 star:		(4)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(2)

 

 

I got this book just a couple of weeks ago, and I will admit openly that i am not done reading it, but I have read a lot of it, and he definitely knows what he's talking about. Hal Ackerman's book includes information on proper script format that a lot of other books leave out.

I'll also say that he doesn't sugar coat things for you, he tells you some real hard learned and down to earth facts about the film writing industry and states in no uncertain terms what your chances really are at making it big, getting recognition and what rights you have to your work once its made. I would rather learn about that from him then to learn it the hard way after I submitted my script. He also tells you about the usefulness of script writing software, among other things.

To me it's not really an air of arrogance about his tone, as stated in some other reviews, but an air of realism where he informs you that writing a movie is serious business.One thing that may throw a lot of people off in this book is that he tells you that you must "practice at screen writing" in order to actually be good at it and the book contains exercises at the end of each chapter (writers gym) for you to build your skills.

I wouldn't say that it's a distraction from doing real writing as one reveiwer stated, but something that you must do in order to sharpen your skills. Many other writing books say and include the same thing, and I see nothing amiss here.

All writing takes dedication and work, and thanks to Hal Ackerman we have a very useful guide that not only tells us the truth about screen writing, but helps us to get into it. The four star rating for this book is not deserved, five stars. Also if you're still not sure if you want to buy this book check it out of your local library first and read a bit of it for yourself (I did and I am now fervently seeking to own a copy of it permanently). Then you can see if it's for you.

I've read quite a few screenwriting books, and what I first noticed about this one was its comfortable, clever tone.

Some of the really big heavy hitters in screenwriting are too expensive and pretentious. They try and function like textbooks. (I have one book in mind that weighs about 3 pounds and costs about $60... and like many text books, it lost my interest when I fell asleep on page 10.)

Hal Ackerman's book isn't very long, and it's an easy, pleasant read -- sort of populist without being condescending. It doesn't take screenwriting too seriously, which I appreciate. At the same time, you get the sense that this UCLA Professor loves helping his students craft meaningful stories that will also sell. (Some of his past students have gone on to write scripts like Matchstick Men and A Walk on the Moon.)

This book's real strength lies in its dedication to helping writers build effective narratives. Ackerman has designed an index card technique called the Scene-o-Gram that helps writers diagram stories so that key emotional turning points and plot points are hit at regular intervals. This forces you to keep only what you need and to lose the rest. Since most writers suffer from wordiness and a total lack of editing abilities, a stringent guide like this is a godsend.

I am an aspiring screenwriter who recently hit a block and stopped writing for several weeks. My romantic comedy is a mixed up mess and my zombie movie hit page 60 before I realized I had no ending. I think this is because I'm relatively new and haven't yet internalized the rhythms of effective storytelling.

After reading this book, I feel like I have the concrete tools I need to help me finish my scripts. I'd describe the book as a method to reign in your madness. Nobody's saying you have to treat your scripts like calculated, mechanical schemes to make money, but the reality is that a screenplay without structure and pacing will bore its audience. It'll never get made. A certain amount of planning will save you time and benefit your writing in the long run.

Bottom line: this book is a great resource for anyone who's overwhelmed by the task at hand. I think it's equally valuable for beginner or intermediate writers.

This really is a great book. It is filled with practical, useful, helpful information that makes it much easier to sit down and be productive. The author's sense of humor also makes it a fun read.
It all makes sense after you read it and then start to do it yourself. I can see why so many people have been successful using this guy's method.

Hal Ackerman is one of the most outstanding writing instructors in one of the world's best film schools (UCLA). He is a devotee of classical dramatic structure and can help you wrestle your crazed wanderings into clarity and a graceful shape. He is a master at it and it has earned him a devoted following at UCLA. His methods are clear and easy to use and your work will be a billion times better for it. Many best-selling writers around town have Ackerman to thank for helping them become the successes they are.

Author Hal Ackerman's a longtime UCLA film professor whose particular distinction is that an inordinately high proportion of his former students have actually sold their scripts to Hollywood. While there are some excellent books on screenwriting out there (and what writer wouldn't actually prefer to read yet another book about writing rather than actually have to write a book or script himself!) Ackerman's all about getting your script finished and sold. Make room on your shelf for this one.

In this book, he begins by being both, honest and inspiring about the art. He explains how we can awake the screenwriter within; the reasons and excuses why we don't write and why we write; what is and what isn't a screenplay. Then he explains the Big Picture, referring to the structure, and then the small picture or scene writing. Ackerman is very clear in going step by step to make you a better writer. He demystifies most of what we consider the Gospel in writing and suggests ways to make a screenplay better. How to research, and making the rewrite. In short, what we have to do to step up in the ladder of screenwriting: a mix of inspiration, writing and an unstoppable desire to step up.
A very inspiring book that promises we will be on our way if we follow the steps to better screenwriting.


Don't be misleaded by the negative comments that argument the author isn't a produced screenwriter. If you think for a while on the subject, most of the best teachers and trainers are great in teaching and making students get the most of the subject they are teaching or coaching, but they are not that good in the craft. Oddly as it sounds, they can get students to understand and excel in the most complicated issues, but they can't do it themselves. Most sport coaches weren't outstanding themselves in their sport, but have a deep understanding of how the game should be played, one exception could be Beckenbauer, the German soccer star player and coach, who was extraordinary both as a player as a coach, and yes there are more exceptions, but the point is: it doesn't matter if you are the best on the field you are teaching, what does matter is if you are the best in how good you understand the subject, and how good you can transfer that knowledge to the student. I think Ackerman is both a good writer and a good teacher, but his passion for teaching and seing his students hit the big screen is greater than his passion for writing.

Just read this book and found it be an excellent approach to screenwriting: clear and concise, logical and intuitive, and very inspiring. What Ackerman has done with this book is truly noteworthy. He has provided a working methodology that is based on actual writing, not theory. This is a craftsman's approach to screenwriting that allows room for art, inspiration, and true creativity to shine through. It is, perhaps, the best book on screenwriting there is, and probably the only one you'll ever need. Bravo. I was so impressed by this book that I decided to write a review on it, and even read the other reviews first. While I agree with most of them, I take exception with one of them--a review written by someone who clearly never even read the book. So, in fairness, I'm going to review that review.

"My brainwashed friend at UCLA told me that I had to get this book, so I did. This guy is crazier than that creepy Lew Hunter "guru.""

The reviewer starts by insulting UCLA, as brainwashing, and then claims to have read Ackerman's book anyway. Sure. The reviewer then goes on to insult another UCLA Professor, Lew Hunter. Why the axe to grind against UCLA? From what I understand, UCLA has produced some of the best writers working in the film industry: Alexander Payne, Ed Solomon, David Koepp, Paul Schrader, Shane Black, Allison Anders, Francis Ford Coppola, Eric Roth, Pamela Gray, Sacha Gervasi, Josefina Lopez, etc.

"The book proves to be just one more distraction from actually writing."

It's not a distraction from writing, but a clear guide into writing, as one who actually read it can attest. Seems to me the real distraction to writing is grousing about: ones's friend, Ackerman and his book, Lew Hunter, and UCLA.

"Feeling unsatisfied at the end of the read, I went to check out his long list of writing credits on the Internet Movie Database (www.imdb.com), but sadly, it doesn't exist."

One can only wonder why this reviewer didn't check the IMDB before supposedly reading the book; if screen credits are to be used as the major criteria for choosing a book on screenwriting.

"If someone is going to write a book on how to sell a screenplay, and especially if they are going to name the selling technique after themselves, you would think that they had sold more than one script in 1976 about a jogger."

Really? Seems to me that having sold one script, that was produced, already puts Ackerman far ahead most of the rest of the pack. As do Ackerman's: stage, TV, public-service, industrial, teaching, and other professional credits. Perhaps the reviewer needs to futher develop their own research skills.

"If this guy knows how to sell a screenplay "The Ackerman Way," why hasn't he?"

He has sold a screenplay "The Ackerman Way," according to the reviewer, it was a script about a jogger in 1976, remember? Again, Ackerman has also: had plays produced, written for TV, sold features to major studios, and been published in literary journals.

"And, more importantly, why does he think he can tell me how to do it?"

Because, since 1985, he's taught an endless number of other people to do it at UCLA, whose Alumni dominate both TV and features. Because, he not only teaches Master's Degree level screenwriting at UCLA, he also single-handedly runs the UCLA Professional Program in Screenwriting, and teaches at Hollins University over the summer. Because, he knows a lot more about screenwriting than you do or ever will.

"And, sorry to go on about this, but I should've know from the start that this book was a mess by the mere fact that on the cover Ackerman boasts, "Revelations of a Remarkable Teacher.""

This is the most telling comment the reviewer made, as it proves the reviewer never read or even saw the book. Nowhere on or in this book does Ackerman boast, "Revelations of a Remarkable Teacher." Not on the cover, nor in the text. The review is a fake.

"Shame on Ackerman for being so arrogant but shame on me for buying and reading this book."

No, shame on the reviewer for writing a fake review on a book that has helped me and my entire writing group so much. Shame on the reviewer for having claimed to have bought and read a book that they have clearly never even seen. Shame on the reviewer for venting their bitter little spleen on Hal Ackerman, Lew Hunter, UCLA, and on their own imaginary "brainwashed friend."

I'm guessing someone didn't get into UCLA.

I've spent my professional life directing actors, and a good number of my leisure hours watching plays and films. But whenever I've tried to compose so much as a single exchange of believable dialogue, the characters always wind up sounding like me, and the themes always hit the page with the subtelty of a sledgehammer. The one time I did find the courage to enroll in a college course on playwrighting, the instructor assigned us a two-character, one page scene due the second session. I dropped the class the next day.

So the current everybody-does-it trend notwithstanding, I am hardly the guy likely to sit down and script a full-length feature film.

And yet. Were I ever to be seized by an irresistible impulse to author a screenplay, this is the book I'd return to,
digesting and re-digesting every insightful page. Like any book that attempts to teach a subject (calculus, woodworking, photography), this is, after all, a textbook. But it's literally the first one I've ever encountered that was nothing less than exhilarating to read, with all the forward momentum of a good narrative. Ackerman is never ponderous or didactic, and his prose never stinks of the academy. My sense is rather of a guy who--like any gifted teacher--passionately wants the student to succeed, and is willing to share any and all of his best secrets in order to make that happen (and happen it has, for an amazingly high proportion of his former students!)

His book has all the qualities of a winner in this already crowded field: immense readability, a playful and infectious sense of humor, a refreshing concreteness (I love the fact that in citing examples of successful screenplays, he mentions big pop blockbusters like "Rocky" and "The Godfather" as often as he does 'chic' European titles like "Naked" and "Queen of Hearts".), and--maybe most importantly--a sense that the author is standing by, doing his damndest to get the best out of you.

I loved this book. It provided everything I needed to know about WRITING a screenplay. It does not focus on form, selling, query letters, producers, etc. It focuses solely on WRITING a screenplay, structuring a screenplay may be more accurate. Without a proper structure, you have nothing. No query letter in the world will be able to sell a poor idea. This book walks you through structuring that good idea.

The index method is one of the best. It allowed me to focus my thoughts. I highly recommend this book to anyone considering writing a screenplay!

This is a must-have book on screenwriting. It gives you techniques to see your story as a series of scenes that you target to build your story, use colored cards to enhance your story's conflict, techniques to get deeper into your story, techniques to find ideas within your story. This book is rich with ideas and techniques that will help you strengthen your story writing skills. Instead of spending many months writing, learn the skills in this book to write a screenplay in weeks.
Best screenwriting book on the market.

One reviewer above states that because Hal Ackerman hasn't sold a lot of scripts to Hollywood, he can't possibly teach you how to write a screenplay. Do you think that is intelligent advice? Hal Ackerman teaches a graduate screenwriting class at UCLA, the preeminent film school on the planet. Dozens of students have graduated his class and gone on to get their scripts made! The bad thing about these book reviews is that reviewers can post unenlightened reviews like: "if he hasn't sold a screenplay" how can he teach it.

Also look at: "Screenwriting: A Sequence Approach". Excellent!