Everyday is a school day. I try to read around any subject that holds my interest to get a balanced view, be it current news or more recently, writing for film (I would also do TV but my brain can only hold so much info!)
What books or websites have helped you advance as a screenwriter? The go to ones seem to be Robert McKee's Story, Blake Sydney's Save the Cat and Syd Fields various publications. I've noted there are dozens, perhaps more. Let me know which ones really made an impact for you.
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Read all of those and they are fantastic. THE HERO WITH A THOUSAND FACES, and POETICS are also great just for a solid understanding of character journeys and archetypes.
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Ben Johnson Jr. I have Joseph Campbell's book buried somewhere. Bought that about 20 years ago, so need to find it again! I've seen a lot of references to Aristotle, I believe both Robert McKee and Blake Sydney reference Poetics. Enneagrams have also been an eye opener for me.
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Greg Wong you won't believe it, but I'd never heard about Enneagrams till a couple of weeks ago on this platform. But I love the approach there and hope to delve a bit deeper into it when I have time.
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Ben Johnson Jr. I found out about Enneagrams from a a blog here. It's a great analysis tool for personality types. There's another called MBTI (Myers-Briggs Type Indicator/Instrument) another way to analyse personalities, though it has a much more clinical approach. Perhaps more complicated and will need greater time investment to fully implement. Not sure whether it's scope is necessarily one that lends itself easily to screenwriting though if you're writing a psychological thriller, think Fatal Attraction, you'd have a well rounded antagonist!
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I recommend checking out the screenwriting education here on Stage 32: https://www.stage32.com/education?search=screenwriting
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None of them because I don't read them. I think maybe I read 50 pages of a crappy how-to book and a few in Save the Cat.
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"Save the Cat: The Last Book on Screenwriting You'll Ever Need" when I was a newbie screenwriter, Greg Wong. Some of the other books that helped me advance as a screenwriter are "STORY MAPS: How to Write a GREAT Screenplay" and "Your Screenplay Sucks!: 100 Ways to Make It Great."
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I also recommend just reading scripts. Tons. Tons and Tons. That really helps the format, tone, style become apparent as you start to see what works and what doesn't innately.
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I was new to this field so I read scripts, took courses, participated in webinars. At the end, I still felt something was missing. Then I took a course with the writer of The Screenwriter’s Bible 7th Edition, and I read the book. I realized I was missing the foundation of structure. Best of luck.
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@Asmaa, thanks, I'll take a look at that. @Niki, I have a whole load of scripts downloaded, working through them one by one. @Maurice, I'll take a look at those too. My stack of books is building up!
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A college professor recommended Watchmen (comic book) and it did help us with screenwriting, how images & words work together visually.
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David Howard's 'Masterclass' book is really powerful and a great read; John Truby's 'Anatomy Of Story' is more of a workbook that can take several months to get through in parallel to writing a script and I found that one immensely helpful.
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Nick Waters I've taken 6 webinars on Stage32 with the writers of the Handmaid's Tale tomorrow evening being the seventh!
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What helped me the most was not only reading graphic novels but writing them. There were a few others after that but I never really heavily relied on them.
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Another one for Save the Cat. I can also recommend Making A Good Script Great by Sager.
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For me, this is the ONE that made a difference. Screenwriting from the Soul by Richard J. Krevolin. I already talked about it ad nauseam on the lounge. If it's available in your local library, good for you. I would highly recommend it, even though it was published in 1998.
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Reading Screenplays: How to Analyse and Evaluate Film Scripts (Creative Essentials) : Lucy Scher
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Greg, this site right here...Stage 32...has helped me the most in this screenwriting/TV writing journey.
Glad you're here, too...wishing you all the VERY BEST!
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@Jim Boston, Totally agree. I have taken a number of webinars. All the best to you too.
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I’ll read anything William Bernhardt writes. His writing series is geared towards books but there is a lot of stuff to use as a screenwriter as well.
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I started writing and search the internet for stuff. I realised that they are all the same.
I have always said, as other have in this thread, just read screenplays.
Think of the alternative, someone (pick your favourite book) reads a lot of screenplays and summaries what they read. Then a new writer buys the book and thinks they are learning how to write. They are learning what the author thinks is writing. They then learn the summary not the craft on the page.
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Years ago when changing from stage plays to screenplays Jurgen Wolffe “Your Screenwriting Coach”got me in a learning curve for subject. He’s written for TV series, books, films. Moving on it was more a case of what “didn’t” I read, too many books to remember. If reading online, Scott Myer’s plethora of in depth topics is downloadable free via his website Go Into The Story. A favourite book is Linda Aronson 21st Century Screenplay cos one of my projects is non linear & tandem narrative but excellent all round advice in book too. First time I read it I re wrote an actual linear story realising I’d not moved the relationship line along with the plot line.
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Artists Way by Julia Cameron (not rlly on screenplay writing but will feed your craft). Save the Cat - its funny. Screenwriters Bible (formatting). And Bill Taub's book on TV screenwriting.
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CJ Walley's "Turn and Burn" was a gamechanger for me. The worksheets he provides helped me clarify my vision for my latest script and improved my writing process. My first draft was good, and I'm needing fewer re-writes than with my first attempts.
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@Ingrid Yes I forgot to mention online reads by CJ Script Revolution. “Turn & burn.” Many times I’ve said that to myself and “RINSE & REPEAT.”
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Greg Wong I’m not a great believer in structure informing the story, I think it has to be the other way around.
However, I’ve read Truby’s ‘Anatomy of Story’ and have just started his ‘Anatomy of Genres’. The latter is probably the most helpful by way of a genre’s expected beats, rather than a superficial use of tropes.
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Also, ‘Creating Character Arcs’ by K.M. Weiland is very good so far.
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@Geoff Hall, agreed, structure shouldn't inform story in any case. Unless I'm misunderstanding how structure works in film.
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I haven't finished reading CJ Walley's "Turn and Burn" book, but it's great so far! It's one of the best screenwriting books I've read.
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The Screenwriter's Bible by David Trottier. It has all the key foundations of writing a screenplay.
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Thanks so much for all the kind shoutouts for Turn & Burn guys. Really appreciate it.
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Maurice Vaughan anything you could share, about your reading so far Maurice?
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@CJ Walley, so it's your book! And you're in the UK. Can I doorstep you? Only kidding, I'm in London and a bit far for me to come pester you. Hope you don't mind me adding you to my network.
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You're welcome, CJ.
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@Geoff My favorite part (and the most helpful part) of CJ's book so far is chapter 2 (Story Structure). Some of the other story structures out there are too complex or confusing, but CJ's story structure (Yearn, Turn, Burn, Learn, Earn) is simple.
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(sound of forehead slap) yep CJ’s book.
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Guy Gallo's 'Screenwriter's Compass: Character As The True North'. He was big on 'if you surprise yourself as the writer, you surprise the audience'. Expectation and reversal etc.
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Although its more about storytelling and character in general, I cannot recommend highly enough Joseph Campbell's Hero With a Thousand Faces.
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Ewan, I agree. The basics of modern-day storytelling are told concisively by Campbell.
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Yes to all of these and Blake Snyder's Save the Cat and Save the Cat goes to the Movies help me with structure.
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Knowing the basic structure from any masters is essential, but more important is the skill of storytelling. While books can guide you to a certain point, they cannot train your logic, which I find critical in storytelling.
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Indeed, for just $50, you can become a Rockstar member on Script Revolution. But not if you've been banned from the platform, Marty, sorry.
Not sure what that's got to do with books on screenwriting, but there is a free education section with a lot of screenwriting advice here.
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On the concept of “rock stardom”. The site is free. But for a small contribution you can make sure it doesn’t disappear. Plus you get bonuses that I am too lazy to take advantage of, but that’s a me issue.
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I always return to the Scriptwriters' Bible. I believe that's the correct title. My script writing efforts have mainly ending up in the trash, but that book and reading scripts tells me what I want to know about getting started. From then on, it's like learning to play the piano; practice, practice, practice. George Bernard Shaw allegedly was addressing a group of students at, I thing, Oxford, don't hold me to that. He walked in and asked the crowd if they wanted to write. They all enthusiastically and loudly said 'yes.' He then said, 'well then, go write,' and walked out.
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"Writing Screenplays that Sell," is a great resource.