Understanding Screenwriting: Learning from Good, Not-Quite-So-Good, and Bad Screenplays

by Tom Stempel

From the author's This book isn't about me, it's about you. I am a teacher, not a guru. As a wise teacher once said, "With a guru it is all about the guru―his vision and the students' loyalty to him. Whereas with a teacher, it is all about the students learning." You should be reading this book because you, as screenwriters, directors, producers, development executives, critics, historians, students in those disciplines, and just plain movie fans want to learn about screenplays. Feisty, clever, entertaining, and at times incredibly arch and cutting, Tom Stempel's Understanding Screenwriting delivers a practical how-to (or how-NOT-to) guide to writing a screenplay. Why study a bad screenplay? For the simple fact that it will train you to look for problems in your own work and avoid them in the future. • Why does Rear Window 's success owe more to John Michael Hayes's screenplay than Alfred Hitchcock's directing? • Why is Bull Durham 's "I believe in the church of baseball" one of the great opening lines in the history of movies? • Why is James Cameron's first draft screenplay for Titanic better than the film? • What can we learn from Kinsey about writing about sex for American audiences? • Why is Lawrence of Arabia one of the best examples of "writing for performance" in films, not only the performances of the actors, but also of the director, cinematographer, and composer? Stempel guides the reader through a cross section of historical epic, adventure,science fiction, teen comedy, drama, romantic comedy, suspense―films with budgets large and small. selective in its discussions and (sometimes withering) analyses, Stempel dissects the blockbusters and the bombs, discusses why certain aspects of a screenplay work and others do not, explains the difference between the film we watch and what was, the screenplay, and lays out some of screenwriting's hard and fast taboos, only to give examples of screenplays that break them, with successful results. Full of insight for novice and expert screenwriters alike, Understanding Screenwriting is the perfect book for anyone looking to gain a deeper understanding of how screenplays work.

Genres: Nonfiction, Film

240 pages, Paperback

First published April 15, 2008

Reviews

[cordelia]

misleading title .. bro is just summarising movies

[Chris · Rating 3 out of 5]

Stempel uses deconstruction to teach structure and writing techniques. This invariably leads to the author's opinions coloring his assessment of the deconstructed scripts, but knowing this going in helps with keeping the book in context.

I've glossed it over once and plan on going back to re-read for deeper understanding as deconstruction is a great way for some folks to learn. Being familiar with the movies that are analyzed will also help quite a bit.

[Rob · Rating 1 out of 5]

While the title may lead readers to assume this book will help them grasp the art of screenwriting, it does little more than summarize movie plots and voice Stempel's opinions on good and bad movies.

[Priscilla · Rating 1 out of 5]

Título enganoso.

Não é um texto com as características técnicas de um roteiro ou mesmo uma análise em profundidade, é apenas um resumo da história de alguns filmes com a opinião do autor para encher parágrafos.

Dá vontade de devolver na porta da editora.