Screenplay: The Foundations of Screenwriting

by Syd Field

Paperback, 2005

Status

Available

Call number

808.23

Collection

Your library

Publication

Delta (2005), Paperback, 336 pages

Description

A generation of screenwriters has used Syd Field's bestselling books to ignite successful careers in film. Now the celebrated producer/lecturer/teacher has updated his classic guide for a new generation of filmmakers, offering a fresh insider's perspective on the film industry today. From concept to character, from opening scene to finished script, here are easily understood guidelines to help aspiring screenwriters--from novices to practiced writers--hone their craft. Filled with updated material--including all-new anecdotes and insights, guidelines on marketing and collaboration, plus analyses of recent films--Screenplay presents a step-by-step, comprehensive technique for writing the screenplay that will succeed in Hollywood.--From publisher description.… (more)

User reviews

LibraryThing member caerulius

The all-hailed last word in screenwriting books. Syd Field wrote this book as a model for building screenplays that follow a very specific narrative structure. You could call it a formula, but it is more based on how you pace and build the story structure than a set of cookie-cutter blueprints.

Field uses the (awesome) movie Chinatown as the "ideal" example, and then uses a mockup story that is quite different as an in-process example. It also gives movie examples for variations.
Obviously, there have been excellent screenplays that don't follow this model. But this is definitely a good place to start.

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LibraryThing member michelleknudsen

Very helpful book about the three-act structure model. Field’s focus is on screenplays, but his paradigm applies just as well to novels. He includes lots of detailed examples thoughout, using well-known movies, to illustrate the points he is making. I borrowed this from the library but may end up

buying myself a copy for future reference—especially since I am looking forward to thinking about how three-act structure might apply my own novel-in-progress and maybe help me get a better handle on the shape of the overall story.

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LibraryThing member cjohn64

The book was a good source of material. It had a lot of good information for those starting out with screenwriting. Though the book was a little hard to read at times mostly because of the blocks of text to read. It took me two weeks to read. The book had a lot of examples from current and past

films. I don't think a student would read this on their own, but there is a lot of good tid bits of information that I pulled from it to teach students on the basics of storytelling inside the film universe.

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LibraryThing member Daniel.Estes

Unless you're already a naturally-gifted screenwriter you can't do much better than start with Syd Field's Screenplay: The Foundations of Screenwriting. And would go further and say that even if you're already talented, being aware Syd Field's contribution is still key to understanding the art and

form of the craft.

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LibraryThing member datrappert

Very well done, but even knowing what you need to do doesn't help if you can't make yourself do it! This is one of the better books on the subject I have read, however.

LibraryThing member pgSundling

I've attended his class and he's good, but not on the same level as McKee. It's a classic book on screenplays, but there are now better books.

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