Lew Hunter's Screenwriting 434: The Industry's Premier Teacher Reveals the Secrets of the Successful Screenplay

by Lew Hunter

For decades, Lew Hunter's Screenwriting 434 class at UCLA has been the premier screenwriting course, launching a generation of the industry's most frequently produced writers. Here, he shares the secrets of his course on the screenwriting process by actually writing an original script, step by step, that appears in the book.

Genres: Writing, Film, Nonfiction, Reference, Academic

353 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1994

Reviews

[Jeremy Ray · Rating 5 out of 5]

Yay! A book on screenwriting that goes into depth about the whole writing process... from capturing an idea right down to the final edit. My favorite sections were on how to research. Something about the word "research" gives me the heebie jeebies. 😳 But Lew Hunter broke it down into something fun—and made light bulbs go off.

I'm gonna admit something here and sound like an airhead, but when he was like "research is just learning and becoming an expert in whatever the subject matter is", I was like... "That's more fun! I want to do that." (I guess it's just semantics.) 🤣

Instead of multi-tasking my writing and researching, doing them at the same time, I'm going to make both very seperate processes like I do with writing and editing.

There's better books on story structure, most definitely, and some of his example references were off-putting, but if you want to get new ideas on how to enhance your writing process, I definitely recommend Screenwriting 434. This book is going on my top shelf of storytelling-how-to books, for sure!

[Derrick · Rating 3 out of 5]

A lot of the nuts and bolts type stuff was very useful (the Two-Minute Movie, the Step Outline, the page counts for each act, etc.) but I HATE the way this guy writes like he's trying to impress me, a lot of his metaphors and idioms don't make sense and he doesn't explain them, a lot of the other advice he gives feels highly subjective at best, AND he not only suggests wandering around the neighborhood telling stories to children to be a better storyteller, but he also openly muses while talking about his movie "Fallen Angel" about child pornography that he "could understand adults trespassing on the sexual innocence of children but...couldn't understand why children let them."

[Kurtularny · Rating 3 out of 5]

3.5

To nie jest chyba do konca to co przecyztalem bo nie moglem znalezc tutaj tego co czytalem ale moze to jednak to! No wiec fajne. Jakas wiedza tu jest zawarta. W sumie nawet spora jej dawka. Ale troche oczywistości ale to moze tylko dla mnie

[Jim · Rating 1 out of 5]

self indulgent piffle that almost makes you embarrassed for the author. RE McKee, I think casablanca is a bad example for a screenplay; s. field is smart to use chinatown; do you know what Hunter uses? a script for a afterschool special for tv that he wrote.

again: Lew Hunter's idea of a model screenplay is a script for an afterschool special for TV that was written by Lew Hunter in 1981. http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0082358/

NFW! Why? Because 1) he is overladen by an enormous sense of self-regard, 2) blighted by a lack of self-awareness, and worse 3) devoid of talent. given those three misfortunes, Lew can only use his own shitty afterschool script (circa 1981!) as an example of good writing. Really, he uses that as his model! He has to, because he spends the rest of the book talking about his own personal anecdotes about himself and occasionally his students. He has to, because that embarrassing script is the best thing he wrote -- before he stopped writing for TV in the early eighties. Because you know how good early eighties TV was. He couldn't compete, apparently.

Check out Lew's wikipedia page/hagiography, which was obviously written by himself or acolytes. As of this date (2013) there are NO WRITING CREDITS LISTED. Here: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lew_Hunter


So, fine, those who can't do, teach; but Lew is not even the best teacher at UCLA (much less the Industry's premier teacher! who decided that? McKee is the one EVERYONE reads in "the Industry") -- that would be Richard Walter, who actually is a writer who cares about craft (Essentials of Screenwriting: The Art, Craft, and Business of Film and Television Writing c2010; The Whole Picture: Strategies for Screenwriting Success in the New Hollywood c2007; Escape from Film School c2000;). He's not even second; Hal Ackerman's better and a real writer! Save your time and money, I am still bitter (obv!) that I wasted both on this paean to personality, this egotistical dutch rudder

[Andrew · Rating 3 out of 5]

Not quite as helpful as I wished it would be, but still contains some nice tidbits of direction for aspiring screenwriters. Hunter's best advice is to use Aristotle's Poetics and Lajos Ergi's Art of Dramatic Writing as the two Bibles of storytelling. I couldn't agree more.

[Karen Marcum · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book ruined movies for me for a long time. Thank goodness I prefer books to movies. I have carefully avoided ever reading a book about how to write a novel. I'm not going to let that get ruined too. ;)

[William · Rating 5 out of 5]

Classic work by one of the best screenwriting instructors around. I strongly recommend it (or possibly his newer edition).

[Monique Amado · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is an older book, from the 90's, but should be required reading for screenwriters. Named after Lew Hunter's renowned course at UCLA. Not the how to do everything quickly input that is so often the norm these days, but actual developing of your craft.

[Kermet Key · Rating 3 out of 5]

Do you need to write a synopsis for your screenplay? This book will help you write a two - page synopsis better than it will help you write a feature length screenplay. For that reason alone, you'll want it on your shelf.

[Jefferson Lourthusamy · Rating 4 out of 5]

I am yet to read this book but this is the book i can relate to when i open the list of contents , thumps up

[June · Rating 4 out of 5]

Screenwriting 434 by Lew Hunter is an excellent source material for writing

[Jeremy Hung · Rating 2 out of 5]

In life, things happen one after the other. In structure one thing happens because of the other. Structure is that simple and that hard.

[Alexander · Rating 5 out of 5]

Without a doubt, this is the first book that any hopeful screenwriter should read. Some books give you a few basic tools and tips on how to write well, and then some give you an education. This is the latter.

[Nancy · Rating 4 out of 5]

Anybody interested in screen writing should read this.

[Jennifer · Rating 5 out of 5]

This might as well be re-published as the Screenwriter's Bible, as that's how much it's revered in LA and the world of screenwriting in general. Great advice. Practical and to the point.

[Mason · Rating 4 out of 5]

I liked it well enough. I learned a lot. It basically taught me a lot about story and how to structure a screenplay.

[Angela Hunt · Rating 5 out of 5]

My go to writing book, period. When I'm stuck, I pull it down.

[William Torgerson · Rating 5 out of 5]

If you want to write a script, this is a great place to start. It will help you plan and execute if you are new to writing.

[Ke · Rating 4 out of 5]

Unlike most other screenwriting books, this one provides an example of a script that the author authored. That may be helpful to some readers.

[Cyd Madsen · Rating 5 out of 5]

A great big teddy bear of a man with passion and compassion for his students and teaching. When I culled my library down to a couple hundred books, this is one of the few I saved.

[Aditya · Rating 4 out of 5]

Of all the hundreds of books on screenwriting, this, along with four screenplays, STORY, The art of dramatic writing and 'Creating unforgettable characters' is one of the best books on the subject.

[Juls · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book is one of my writing bibles! Loved it!

[Amanda Naud · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is such a great book. He goes through each film genre in sections.

I learned so much.

[Justin Matulonis · Rating 4 out of 5]

Was a gift from a friend. It enabled me to write six scripts that are most likely worthless. Since I never win anything, or am successful at anything.

[Catharine · Rating 5 out of 5]

He's the bomb & guru ..

[Tim Chizmar · Rating 5 out of 5]

The bible for screenwriters