Writing the Script [Paperback]

Wells Root (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: January 15, 1980

This essential guide to writing for the screen goes step-by-step through the process of getting the script on paper, and then onto the screen.

Editorial Reviews

Review

"An outstanding work...so knowledgeable and comprehensive that I should be 'must' reading for all would-be script writers."-Robert Wise, director/producer (West Side Story, Star Trek)

About the Author

Wells Root is a veteran writer for films and TV, and a successful teacher of the craft at UCLA Extension. He lives in Pacific Palisades, California.

Product Details

• Paperback: 228 pages
• Publisher: Holt Paperbacks (January 15, 1980)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0805002375
• ISBN-13: 978-0805002379
• Product Dimensions: 8.1 x 5.5 x 0.8 inches
• Shipping Weight: 8 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 4.5 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (2 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #2,085,441 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars One of the original and BEST books on screenwriting, August 8, 2009

By 

Act Four Screenplays "actfourscreenplays dot com" (Hollywood, CA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Writing the Script (Paperback)

Well, thanks Forest for the shout-out! Not sure who you are, so email me if you get this. Anyway, my review of Wells Roots' book is that it is fantastic. I guess this one got overshadowed by Syd Fields' "Screenplay" as they came out in the same year (or very close), but it's just as helpful and clear. The movies cited as examples may not be very recent, but they're still classics that use the same form and structure as today's best cinematic milestones. I particularly liked his analysis of "tension," or what we might call "escalating conflict" these days or just plain "suspense." I say pick it up and you won't be disappointed.

2 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars excellent and different in style to others out there, June 25, 2006

By 

forest - See all my reviews

This review is from: Writing the Script (Paperback)

Chapters:
Tell me a story - the beginning middle and end
Characterization - playing god, making people
Conflict - the working substance of drama and comedy
supense - romeo and juliet as the cliffhanger
content and emotion - the heart has a mind of its own
beginning your screenplay
ending a dramatic story
what am I going to write about next - story ideas basic plots. there is no such thing as an original story
dialogue
situation comedy
tv
and four other chapters

Read it after recommendation from Dan Calvisi of Act Four Screenplays [...]
One of the original (and best) books on screenwriting, Writing the Script (1980; Holt, Rinehart and Winston), even Romeo and Juliet is a suspense story: "Shakespeare told his love story in a sequence of...suspenseful scenes. And in resolving each crisis, he created another! Thus, the progressive tension increased until the play's resolution, which was the lovers' reunion in death."