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by Bruce McKenna
The Complete Idiot's Guide to Screenwriting
The Screenwriter's Survival Guide - Or, Guerilla Meeting Tactics and Other Acts of War - do's and don'ts to get your feature screenplay read, sold and produced
Max Adams. Warner Books. 308 pages. Soft cover. $19.95.
"...the writer is, always, first and foremost in Hollywood, The Girl."
These words, from the chapter titled "The Dating Metaphor" hit me with a sudden recognition. I had never heard it put like that, and it explained so much.
There are 64 brief chapters in this instant classic, all logically ordered, clearly headed, crisply written and completely relevant to survival as a screenwriter.
A good example of the sort of direct logic that suffuses the book is on the subject of cold calling production companies to get your script read: "The best possible outcome, if you don't make the call, is they won't read the script. Not making the call just got you the worst possible outcome making the call could get you. Make the call."
On leaving an agent: "When you fire an agent never give whys...Say you don't feel this is the best thing for your career at this time and feel you should move on. Repeat that phrase...No matter what they say, that is your answer. Then say good-bye. Hang up. It's over."
In the chapter titled "Who You Want To Work With" the author sums up the three elements to consider: "(1) Do I get along with this person? (2) Does this person get the material? (3) Can this person get the movie made? And not in that order."
Ms. Adams has no hesitation offering up her opinion on everything from what to wear to business lunches (jeans and sneakers, casual jacket and tee shirt) to what not to eat (pasta and chunky salads - both too messy). And of course, the writer never pays. "Even the agents buy. Because the writer is The Girl."
That the author is a woman lets her get away with statements which might be less politically correct coming from a male writer. That she is a successful working screenwriter who broke into Hollywood from her home in Utah with her spec script Excess Baggage gives credibility to those opinions.
If the writer is The Girl, then this is The Girls Rules for the movie business and I highly recommend it.
The Complete Idiot's Guide to Screenwriting
Skip Press. Alpha Books. 365 pages. Soft cover. $25.95.
This book is way better and far more personal than the title and apparent lack of an credited author might lead you to expect. Instead of a generic rehash of stale script wisdom, this is probably the most complete volume on screenwriting now available. With its abundant references to websites, discussion of opportunities for writers on the Internet, and analysis of the growth of digital video, it is also by far the most current.
Press turns out to be a working screenwriter who has banged around Hollywood for nearly two decades. Although he's not on anybody's A-list, Press seems to have more credits than most screenwriting gurus put together.
Press has done a terrific job of covering pretty well every aspect of the craft, business, and life of writing for TV and film. Of course he doesn't go as deeply into any area as specialty books do, but he is quick to recommend those books, including new ones rolling off the press in the next six months. Not what I expected for an Idiot's Guide.
Nor was the ground covered.
In the first chapter Press gets from Thespis and Aristotle, through Freud and Jung to Joseph Campbell in 12 pages. Not only does he capture the core importance to screenwriters of these figures, but continually injects fascinating trivia along the way. All nine pages of chapter two are devoted to "That Fellow Shakespeare."
The only real mistake in the book is the printer didn't follow the instructions on script format, so the character names are centered, rather than at the proper tab setting clearly indicated in the text of the book.
Also, I'm not sure it's good advice to encourage beginners to rewrite famous scripts of living screenwriters and send them the results in the hopes of impressing them.
Those quibbles aside, I rate this as the best single book now for beginners, surpassing The Screenwriters Bible for that honour. For more advanced writers, it is less apt, but it so concisely covers so much that it is worthwhile as a refresher, and could be very helpful to anyone putting together a screenwriting workshop.