I’ve had some requests to recommend some good film books, so I’m starting a series that’ll cover what I think are the best books for each area of filmmaking. And what better place to start than at the beginning with screenwriting.

(I put together an Amazon store that has all the books I recommend in one spot. You can find it here.)

Story by Robert McKee

If you saw Adaptation, McKee is the crazy screenwriting instructor played by Brian Cox (you know, the “God help you if you use voice-overs” guy). Well McKee really does exist, and he does give a famous 2 day seminar on story that is pretty much the standard Hollywood crash course for storytelling.

I did the seminar a few years ago, and McKee is an amazing teacher, but here’s a secret (well not really because McKee was saying the same thing). Just about everything in the seminar is in the book. It’s like a printed copy of all the notes. There are some paragraphs in the book that McKee recites verbatim.

So while I would recommend the seminar if you have the time and money (ask to volunteer and you’ll get a discount), for a fraction of the cost get this book.

The Screenwriter’s Workbook by Syd Field

Syd Field is another well-known screenwriting instructor. He has tons of books. The Screenwriter’s Workbook is the most general covering the basics of screenwriting.

Hero With a Thousand Faces / The Writer’s Journey

Hero With a Thousand Faces goes through mythological stories all around the world to describe the Hero’s Journey, an archetypal experience that seems to be embedded in our psyche. So many movies follow this format because clearly it’s worked for thousands of years. A famous example is Luke’s journey in Star Wars (Lucas makes no effort to hide that he read Thousand Faces and based Luke on the Hero’s Journey Monomyth).

The Writer’s Journey is basically the same thing as Thousand Faces but in a more plain-English, less academic format.

Scripts

My favorite screenwriting teacher at school said the best way to learn screenwriting is to read scripts. Start with reading scripts to movies you love or movies similar to what you want to write. Then try reading a script to a movie you haven’t seen, and then see the film to see how it translated.

Below are a few sites where you can find lots of scripts. Try to read Spec scripts over Production scripts. And stay away from transcripts – they’re worthless for screenwriting.

Drew’s Script-O-Rama

SimplyScripts

Yahoo! list of screenplay sites

Blogs

John August (Go, Big Fish, Charlie’s Angels) is the best big-time screenwriting blogger. Not only does he talk about screenwriting, but he covers how Hollywood works, how to break in, how projects get started and quickly die, and everything else that will depress you about the movie business.

Jane Espenson would be number 2 for blogging screenwriter’s. She was on the writing staff for a lot of Joss Whedon shows (Buffy, Firefly), and is currently a writer/producer on Battlestar Galactica.

Her last post was on December 8, where she claims she’s said everything she can about writing for television. It’s sad, but blogging or not, her site is a great resource for breaking in and writing for television, so check out the archives.

She also attended the Disney/ABC Writing Fellowship and is a big proponent of their program, so if you’re looking to do some serious writing, I’ve?researched?all the programs studios have to offer and theirs is the best.

Related posts:

1. Cinematography – Biblio Film School
2. 5 Ways to Become a Future Hollywood Power Player
3. FSU Film School Q&As

Last month at TechCrunch 50 I was introduced to Five Sprockets. Their mission is to bring all the tools you’d need to write and manage a film online and for free. Good idea, yes, but I don’t think the execution is there yet.

The main tools of the beta site are an online script writer (vScripter) and production management application (vProduction Office). Through a production management program one that can break down a script and schedule a production. The industry standard for this is this is the few hundred dollar EP Scheduling.

When I talked to Randy Ullrich, the CEO and founder, he said they’ve been putting most of their effort into vScripter.

That’s nice and all, but why? You’re not going to convert any real screenwriter – they’ve either sided with Final Draft or Movie Magic Screenwriter. Plus Celtx is a good free program.

I gave it a little whirl and it was good for free. It formats the script correctly, which is the main goal, and remembers all the good stuff such as locations and characters for easy typing. But there’s no settings, so I couldn’t change the little things that annoyed me, like customizing how the carriage return and tab affect going from one script element to another.

vProduction Office was also decent. You can only work on a script made in vScripter (though you can import outside scripts). It gives you the basic functions you’d need – breaking down locations, props, production elements – and scheduling them on a calendar. 

It’s no where near as functional as EP Scheduling, with production strips, breakdown sheets, and a variety of printing options. Also, every time you want to assign a crew member or actor to a role, they have to be a Five Sprockets member. I can’t imagine some computer illiterate older actor signing up for another web site for a backyard movie they’re doing for free.

But again, it’s all free. Though I’m not sure who the target market is. A little DIY film isn’t going to break down a script, while a larger production will probably stick with EP.

While vScripter and vProduction Office are the main parts of Five Sprockets, it does have some other cool, unique features.

There’s an idea management database, so you can write down stories, loglines, characters, or dialogue. There isn’t too much structure with this, and you can’t tag each idea or add categories. Personally, I’ve been using Google Notebooks and it’s working pretty well.

There’s also a networking area and job posting board, though there were about 4 jobs listed when I checked. There’s also a filmmaking resource with a glossary and how-to videos.

Randy said his goal was to provide the tools filmmakers need to make better movies. When I first heard this pitch, I asked if it was geared towards the YouTube type filmmaker. It isn’t, he says. He imagines it being used by both small and large productions.

I don’t see a large production using this, and if I had to write a feature screenplay in vScripter I’d probably go vCrazy, as in very crazy.

But I think there’s some good ideas here. They just need to find their niche in the filmmaking world, improve the tools and customize it for the audience that’s using it.

Related posts:

1. Producing Tools
2. Screenwriting – Biblio Film School
3. In Production: Day 1 – Off to a Good Start

I like presentations. Let me correct that. I like good presentations. People seem to have finally woken up and realize that good presenting requires a good story (and no bullet points).

Presentation Zen, both the book and blog, utilize the visual power PowerPoint/Keynote provide to make presentations better.

Of course you don’t have to be a Venture Capitalist to pick up a few useful tips. Here’s what a filmmaker can get from Garr Reynolds’ insight:

Planning Analog (45)

“As wonderful as digital technolog is, I don’t think anything is as quick, easy, and immediate as a simple pad and pencil, and nothing gives me sapce to jot down ideas quite like a massive whiteboard.” (47)

As pretty as a nicely formatted Word Notebook outline, or bubbl.us mindmap looks, a pad of graph paper (I like to draw in the boxes during blocks) and a Sharpie are my outlining tools. Bottom line: plan with pen and paper, post-its, or whiteboards. Not software.

What’s your point? Why Does it matter? (62)

Dakara Nani? So What?

“It may be cool, but is it important to further your story, or is it included only because it seems impressive to you (but few others)?”

Elevator Test

“You run into an executive in an elevator. Or your meeting is cancelled and he needs you to describe your project as you walk to his car. Can you get your message across in 30-45 seconds.”

What Makes Ideas Stick? (76)

Kanso, Shizen, Shibumi (107)

Kanso (Simplicity)

Shizen (Naturalness)

“Graphic desingers show restraint by including only what is necessary to communicate the particular message for the audeince. Restraint is hard. Complication and elaboration are easy…and are common.”

Shibumi (Elegance)

Related posts:

1. Presentations and Filmmaking
2. Keep the Pitches Off the Elevator
3. Keeping the Outline in Scope

Thursday we had to read off outlines based on our pitches. The outlines are a bulleted list of important plot points you need your script to have. Most were within scope, at least time wise. It seems there will be a lot of guns and violence in the screenings next spring. But others still seemed to miss the mark.

One outline had a one page back story describing the world the movie takes place in. A little much for an outline of a seven minute film. Others are just trying to cram too much in a little space, and the film will probably suffer if they go through with their outline. This is why outlining is important, so you can identify problems before you have too much time invested in something that can’t go anywhere. You just have to be able to look at your story objectively and ask the tough questions.
Coming up Tuesday – treatments and character bios due.

Related posts:

1. From Presentation Zen to Filmmaking Zen

A nice list of idea killers. Probably intended for business folk, but it all applies in the writer’s room. Though I guess laughter would be good if you’re writing a comedy.

Berkun blog >> Idea killers: ways to stop ideas

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The Bard scores one point today as Discovery.com reports:

A computational fingerprint that uniquely characterizes William Shakespeare’s writing style is helping dispel any lingering doubts that he penned his own plays.

The method could serve as a literary device to analyze not only plays attributed to Shakespeare but anonymous or controversial writings by other authors.

Discovery.com >> Analysis: Shakespeare Was Real Deal

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I tried googling the script revision colors but couldn’t quite find a site that had them all listed. So here they are, all eight colors, some with names you’d think they pulled from a Crayola box. And remember, this is mainly for production, after the script is locked and changes are made. White away when you’re writing your spec script and going through multiple drafts.

• White – Locked Script
• Blue -1st Revision
• Pink – 2nd Revision
• Yellow – 3rd Revision
• Green -4th Revision
• Goldenrod – 5th Revision
• Buff – 6th Revision
• Cherry -7th Revision
• Tan -8th Revision

Hopefully you won’t be going over eight revisions. I believe you just start the colors over again if you do. These colors also apply to revisions made to One-Liners, Day out of Days, Call Sheets, Daily Production Reports, etc.

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