Screenwriting : Your Go-To Screenwriting Books by Phil Clarke

Here are some of the books that helped me learn the ropes, Phil Clarke:

"Turn & Burn: The Scriptwriter's Guide to Writing Better Screenplays Faster" by CJ Walley

"Screenplay: The Foundations of Screenwriting" by Syd Field

"Your Screenplay Sucks!: 100 Ways to Make It Great" by William M. Akers

"Save The Cat! The Last Book on Screenwriting You'll Ever Need" by Blake Snyder

"Story Maps: How to Write a GREAT Screenplay" by Daniel Calvisi

"Writing Movies for Fun and Profit: How We Made a Billion Dollars at the Box Office and You Can, Too!" by Robert Ben Garant and Thomas Lennon

"Story" by Robert McKee, and "Screenplay" by Syd Field, I still need to buy.

Your Screenplay Sucks!: 100 Ways to Make It Great" by William M. Akers

"Save The Cat! The Last Book on Screenwriting You'll Ever Need" by Blake Snyder

"Editor-proof Your Writing" by Don McNair is a practical step-by-step guide to editing despite the out-of-date tone.

My fav that I recommend are " My Story Can Beat Up Your Story" By Jeffrey Alan Schechter! and "Something Startling Happens: The 120 Story Beats Every Writer Needs to Know" by Todd Klick! These 2 books every screenwriter should have in their toolbox with the other aforementioned (Save the Cat, Syd Field, and Robert McKee)

I'm a huge supporter of reading the books, but it's important to get outside just the topic of screenwriting and look at the business and world of art also. I keep a list of my favourite books here.

Big thanks for the shoutout Maurice Vaughan. It's great to see Turn & Burn helping people, and I'm so proud of that endorsement by a former director of story at UTA.

CJ Walley Great link, CJ. Totally agree one shouldn't focus solely on screenwriting hence why I included storytelling. I'll definitely make time to peruse your book list.

You're welcome, CJ Walley. Screenwriters should read Yearn, Turn, Burn, Learn, Earn in "Turn & Burn," and the whole book! I agree, it's important to get outside just the topic of screenwriting and look at the business and world of art also. Thanks for the book recs!

Thanks for the book recs, Phil Clarke and everyone!

Pleasure, Maurice Vaughan I hope people will keep adding theirs.

Also ashamed not to have included:

Adventures In The Screen Trade and Which Lie Do I Tell? by the great William Goldman

Hi Phil, great idea for a post. I found The Craft of Scene Writing by Jim Mercurio practical and useful, but the book that has had the most profound impact on my writing is Kill the Dog by Paul Guyot. I'm sure you can figure out what other screenwriting book he's pushing back against by his title :-). I listened to the audiobook, then immediately replayed it from the beginning as soon as I had finished.

Phil Clarke, this was actually the topic of yesterday’s blog here on Stage 32! You can check out the full blog here: https://www.stage32.com/blog/7-books-that-every-writer-should-read-3915

Thanks for letting me know, Ashley Renee Smith I'd have been shocked if this hadn't have been covered before! Just checked out the link and I see it's only seven and the usual suspects. The reason for my post was to discover some lesser known titles that might have helped writers out. Hence still feel there's a place for this post.

This is a serious suggestion, so forgive the title, but there's a book called "Your Screenplay Sucks!" by William Akers that's full of some great tough love advice on making your scripts better

Phil Clarke, absolutely, but I know that quite a few additional titles were being shared in the comments of the blog, so I figured it was worth adding to the conversation.

A screenwriting professor had us study Watchmen, the comic book novel. He believed Watchmen is the greatest novel of the 20th century, and he used the book to teach us how to write in pictures.

CJ Walley Awesome list!! And I'll definitely get your book, "Turn and Burn" Where to purchase it?? Amazon? And I totally agree with you on finding inspiration elsewhere to grow as a person. There are countless stories to tell if you have more inspirations to pull from.

Pat Alexander Yep, read it. It's a good read. Solid entry.

@AshleyReneeSmith Gotcha. Perfect.

@DanMaxXx Interesting take and absolutely see how it can be a learning tool. Thanks, Dan.

Cannot recommend enough Joseph Campbell's The Hero With A Thousand Faces. Its not specific to screenwriting but it is the best book on story and character structure out there.

"Anatomy of Story" by John Truby is rock solid.

Daniel Goudreau Have read and absorbed it. It takes a forensic look at the craft, which some will love, but it can be heavy-going for many.

@EwanDunbar Oh yes. Of course! Great addition.

My favorites for TV writing specifically: "The Hero Succeeds" by Kam Miller (great for pilot writing!), and two fabulous books by Neil Landau full of techniques and detailed interviews with showrunners: "The TV Showrunner's Roadmap - Creating Great Television in an On-demand World" (2nd ed) which is essential for creating series and writing pitches, and "TV Writing On Demand - Creating Great Content in the Digital Era" which is wonderful for pilot writing.

Also "Good in a Room" by Stephanie Palmer is a must if you ever want to pitch anything live.

DD Myles you can pick up a copy of Turn & Burn via Amazon here.

I largely learned screenwriting by no-budget directing so I have no favorite book, but I would like to ask one thing. Which book or books do you consider best tells how to fill Act 2. Because that is a big problem for many of us.

When I wrote my own screenwriting manual, the longest section is about filling Act 2, because this is where screenwriting manual often disappoint me.

Göran Johansson John Truby's "Anatomy of Story" is so thorough it will help with Act 2 problems because knowing the ending, the theme(s), the thematic question the characters are arguing about, plotting where reveals should be, 4 point opposition, etc. The main thing is knowing the ending so thoroughly that everything you write is leading you there so Act 2 is the film the trailer and logline promised but it's all headed to one certain conclusion that hopefully you already know. The exact opposite of pantsing which should never, ever have been a thing.

CJ Walley, Got it! I'll read it tonight!

The Complete Book of Screenwriting by J. Michael Sraczynski.

How NOT to Write a Screenplay by Denny Martin Flynn.

Anna Marton Henry Some great suggestions for the TV side of things. Thanks!

Any more suggestions?

I think the most useful book for any writer and screenwriter is General Psychology. You can't write about people without knowing the psychology of people.

Arthur Charpentier That's a good point. Which is probably why most of my non-fiction purchases tend to be related to this science. Do you have any recommendations on this subject?

Phil Clarke Strunk & White "The Elements of Style." I just skimmed a synopsis here and the first sentence is a fragment. Wtf? And writer wants be to hired? Pass.

I will not recommend specific authors. in addition to general psychology, it is worth reading a book on age and gender psychology. I also found an interesting book about pedagogy. this is useful if the author wants to convey something useful and instructive through his work.

Dan MaxXx Yes, great addition. One of the very first books on writing I bought many years ago. Always good to reference when stuck.