The Writer's Guide to Writing Your Screenplay: How to Write Great Screenplays for Movies and Television (Paperback)

by Cynthia Whitcomb (Author) "What are the basic ingredients that make a great script, and thence a great film?..." (more)
Key Phrases: great button, scene cards, writing buddy, Act Two, Act One, Act Three (more...)

Editorial Reviews

Review
"As valuable for the longtime writer as for the first-timer.” -- Mike Rich, screenwriter, Finding Forrester

“Cynthia is a wonderful screenwriter and a wonderful teacher for both new and established writers.” -- Dave Wirtschafter, President of World Wide Motion Pictures, William Morris Agency

“Prepare to be inspired!” -- Michael Colleary & Mike Werb, screenwriters, Face/Off and The Mask

“Thorough, accessible, informative, and entertaining.” -- Linda Seger, script consultant, author of Making a Good Script Great

Product Description
With the average payment for a screenplay over $100,000, every writer knows that screenwriting is where the money is. In this guide, successful screenwriter and teacher Cynthia Whitcomb shares her extensive knowledge on writing for the screen. This book will teach you her proven techniques, including how to:

• test an idea for its commercial potential
• plan a compelling script
• write great openings and endings
• create characters that grow and evolve
• revise and hone your script to attract Hollywood agents and producers

Includes lists of the best movies to study—and why!

Cynthia Whitcomb has sold more than 70 feature-length screenplays, 25 of which have been filmed. She has made millions of dollars for her work, and her scripts have won and been nominated for many awards, including the Emmy Award, Cable Ace Award, Edgar Allan Poe Award, Humanitas Award, and Writers Guild of America Awards. Her students have also gone on to write successful box-office hits. She has taught screenwriting for many years, including seven at the acclaimed UCLA Film School.

Whitcomb’s commercial success and teaching experience make this an essential resource for anyone who wants to write winning scripts for Hollywood.

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Product Details

• Paperback: 220 pages
• Publisher: The Writer Books; 1 edition (March 1, 2002)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0871161915
• ISBN-13: 978-0871161918
• Product Dimensions: 9.2 x 7.5 x 0.8 inches
• Shipping Weight: 14.4 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars See all reviews (18 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #20,346 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

49 of 49 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars EZ read, intro, overview, methods to writing screenplays, June 19, 2005

By	John C. Dunbar (Sugar Land, TX United States) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

This is an easy to read introduction to screen writing by someone who has successfully written scripts and has taught at UCLA Film School.

The author, Cynthia Whitcomb, provides a detailed, step-by-step method to turn your story ideas into a screenplay. The book quickly gives you an overview of the process that she teaches in classes and seminars and then spends a chapter on each topic she considers important to developing your script.

For example, in Chapter 1, the author has you running your story idea against a 16 point checklist to make sure it is a likely to be accepted and produced.

In Chapter 2, she's giving you hints on how to do your research. Her thoughts on "lunch interviews" were very interesting. In Chapter 3, she reviews the 3 act structure weaving in examples from the movie Erin Brockvitch. Then in Chapter 4, she has you filling out 3x5 cards for the scenes in your story.

Although the use of 3x5 scene cards is not new, she proposes some unique ways to develop and go through the cards as you develop your story. After that, in Chapter 5 she provides very clear material involving sub-plots, and how to integrate those with your 3x5 cards.

Chapter 6 was quite interesting to me and covered the topic of characterization and how to analyze and develop the character's transformation. From this point forward, the book continues on to other important topics - one chapter for each. Some are: the ticking clock, keeping scenes tight, set-ups in order to prepare your audience for logical and big emotion events (pay-offs).

She provides many references and a great list of videos to watch at home if you are going to analzye the various aspects of screen writing.

The book is aimed at the introduction through the intermediate level. The author works hard to present an orderly process for you to follow in screen writing.

John Dunbar
Sugar Land, TX

44 of 44 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars She knows her stuff, May 7, 2002

By	Jacquelyn Blain (Portland, Oregon United States) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

I've been a working television writer-producer for nearly a decade, and have taught screenwriting through UCLA Extension. So I've probably read most if not all of the screenwriting books out there, and tried to teach from more than a few. Cynthia Whitcomb's is by far the best one I've ever seen. I recently moved to Portland, Oregon, and met the author, but I'd been using her "Writers Digest" columns in my classes for some time, simply because they contained the best advice I could find for my students. I'm thrilled that her good sense and honest advice are now in a book -- if I were teaching this quarter, it would be required. Why? Several reasons.

First, she knows what she's talking about. This is no "those who can't do, teach" author. Her credits include the Emmy-nominated "I Know My Name is Steven" as well as the adaptation of "Buffalo Girls" and an uncredited but substantial rewrite on the "Sinatra" bio mini-series, and numerous movies of the week. Compare her credits to other screenwriting book authors, and you'll see why what she's giving you is so much more useful. This is someone who has been, and continues to be, there, and it shows.

Second, her own students have written very successful features, including "Face Off." What she says is not only useful (and correct), it's also explained well.

Third, the lists of scenes available on videotape or DVD for study are worth the price of the book all by themselves. The hardest part about writing scripts is getting a feel for what they look like on the screen, understanding why something does or doesn't work, and being able to translate that into your own script. Instead of simply asking you to read script pages (although she does that, too), Ms. Whitcomb leads you to the filmed scenes and sequences that will show you exactly what works.

So if you're serious about writing scripts, this is the book you'll want to pick up, study, and rely on.

18 of 18 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Second-best only to being in Cynthia's class is her book., October 30, 2002

By	"Bonxie" Johnson (Portland, OR USA) - See all my reviews

Ask me my candidates for the desert-island scenario, and I'd tell you Robert McKee's "Story" and Cynthia Whitcomb's "Writing Your Screenplay." No others. OK: Shakespeare and the Bible. Unique in this volume are Cynthia's levels of evolution in character transformation, her clear-sighted personal knowledge of what keeps Hollywood readers submerged in your story, and illustrative excerpts from her own screenplays. Of all the publications in my screenwriting library, this is the one I most frequently revisit in support of my own work when I want to widen choices of character action, invent an unexpected direction, strengthen a subplot. Cynthia creates seeds I mentally plant for the gigantic orchid fireworks that make screenwriting an experience Hollywood has yet to duplicate.