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Title: Screenplay: The Foundations of Screenwriting
ISBN: 0385339038
Author:
Syd Field
Publicate Date: 2005-11-29
Publish: 2005-11-29
List Price: $16.00
Average Customer Rating: 3.5
Format: Paperback
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Amazon Lowest New Price: $9.12
Amazon Lowest Used Price: $6.88
Amazon Merchant Price: $10.88
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| Customer Review: |
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1: Speedy Delivery
This book I ordered too late to have it arrive for the first class I needed it for. It got there early anyway. Awesome speedy service.
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2: A complete guide...
to the fundamentals of screen writing. The writer lays out the necessary formula needed to craft a script. He nicely spares you the hyper technical and all details desperate writers of ''how to'',love to fill in; leaving you more confused and less inspired then when you began. I recommend wholly.
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3: A disappointment
Two years ago I was so anxious to read this "most sought after" screenwriting book I could hardly sleep until the Amazon courier knocked on my door. My God... What a disappointment. This book turned out to be the worst book on screnwriting I had ever read (and I read quite a few being a UCLA film student). Is the author seriously suggesting that, for example, plot point 1 MUST happen on a certain page??? That every 10 pages we MUST have a car chase, an explosion, a death - anything to keep the audience interested? Well... Why don't let a good solid story take care of that? The problem is that a good solid story is not usually based on the plot point/page correlations. Many reviewers here have praised Field's book for analyzing the structure of a story. Alas, no. What Field is offering is not a structure but a formula. Rigid, frosen, still formula. Knowing the principles of storytelling is mandatory for a writer; applying a formula without understanding the foundations is simply useless. And not in the least creative. Sadly, in spite of the title, Field does not give the reader any explanation as to what these foundations are. Again, many reviewers said how helpful this book could be for a beginning screenwiter. Frankly, I don't see how. Field does not present a clean solid introduction to what a story is, does not show the driving forces behind a good story - something any writer must know. Field simply offers you crutches. Here, if you fear you story will fall down, use these - make something important happen on page 27 (or is it 29?). Can a truly inspiring script be written by following Field's rules? I seriously doubt it.
Finally, o God, his writing style is so impossibly dull!
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4: Essential Reading for Screenwriters
Some people are able to do creative things inherently, others are not. For those who are not naturally capable of writing screenplays, those who can't quite wrap their heads around what goes into a screenplay or how to even begin writing, then this is the book for you. If you're serious about learning how to become a screenwriter and don't quite know where to begin this book is the perfect start. Field lays out everything from the beginning of finding an idea of what to write, to turning that idea into a story, to coming up with solid and unforgettable characters to put into your story. "The Foundations of Screenwriting" could not be a more appropriate title for this book because Field covers exactly what the title promises. You WILL walk away from this book knowing how to write a good screenplay.
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5: I'm Ready for Hollywood
Syd Field's guide to writing screenplays was so useful to me during my screenplay writing class in college, that I recommended a good friend of mine who expressed an interest in starting screenwriting, that she should buy her own book, since I was not giving up mine! Good job, Mr. Field.
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