'Screenwriting' looks at the foundation on which every great film is built - the script. Whether its an original concept or an adaptation of a book or previous film, the screenplay is the key to the success of a movie good dialogue, story pacing and character development are the framework everything else hangs on. Even if specifics of dialogue or details are adjusted during shooting, the story originates with the storyteller, and there is no-one better placed to identify the issues at work at the heart of a film.
FilmCraft is a continuing series from Focal Press that deconstructs the art of cinema by studying it from the inside. Each volume in the collection focuses on a different aspect of film production by gathering interviews with master craftsmen, who are able to relay a lifetime of experience in a series of intimate and informal conversations. The series provides a global perspective as the interviews are not strictly limited to American filmmakers.
In this latest installment, FilmCraft: Screenwriting, author Tim Grierson presents fifteen in-depth interviews with such notables as John August (Big Fish), David Webb Peoples (Unforgiven), Whit Stillman (Barcelona), Billy Ray (Shattered Glass), Hossein Amini (Drive), Christopher Hampton (Dangerous Liaisons) Caroline Thompson (Edward Scissorhands), Robin Swicord (Memoirs of a Geisha), Mark Bomback (Unstoppable), and many others, providing a unique look into the approach each takes when writing a screenplay.
You can read ZigZag's full review at Horror DNA by clicking here.
This book should be called 'On Screenwriting', rather than its given title, as it is really a collection of screenwriting anecdotes by mostly male screenwriters. It's a gentle skip through the art of being a screenwriter rather than an illumination of screenwriting. But, having said that, it's a mildly diverting read.
Great interviews and inspirational for new screenwriters. What I liked most is that every writer had different ways of approaching the craft, and that there wasn't just one way to write.
It also, pointed out the films that inspired those writers to get into the craft. Highly recommend!