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Short Film Screenwriting: A Craft Guide and Anthology
Written by a Sundance alum and short filmmaker, this book combines the practical advice of a craft guide with a curated, diverse anthology, including revealing interviews with the writers and directors.
Short Film Screenwriting demystifies the process of writing effective, emotionally involving short films and, for the first time, publishes the screenplays of some award-winning shorts, providing unfiltered access to the voice, vision, and approach of the filmmakers. A ground-breaking new addition to both film and creative writing instruction, this book treats short film screenwriting as a literary mode worthy of close examination and exploration to inspire screenwriters.
The book is built around accessible craft concepts and story narrative design, visualizing character, uncommon relationship, the 10-minute journey, perception shift, formal experiments and hybrid forms, and revision. Contemporary, award-winning film scripts from the Oscars, Sundance, SXSW, and beyond accompany chapters as case studies, along with interviews with the writers/filmmakers about the drafting and revision process, production, and release. Each of the films is accessible for screening online, with additional screenplays included in an online resource.
Short Film Screenwriting demystifies the process of writing effective, emotionally involving short films and, for the first time, publishes the screenplays of some award-winning shorts, providing unfiltered access to the voice, vision, and approach of the filmmakers. A ground-breaking new addition to both film and creative writing instruction, this book treats short film screenwriting as a literary mode worthy of close examination and exploration to inspire screenwriters.
The book is built around accessible craft concepts and story narrative design, visualizing character, uncommon relationship, the 10-minute journey, perception shift, formal experiments and hybrid forms, and revision. Contemporary, award-winning film scripts from the Oscars, Sundance, SXSW, and beyond accompany chapters as case studies, along with interviews with the writers/filmmakers about the drafting and revision process, production, and release. Each of the films is accessible for screening online, with additional screenplays included in an online resource.
424 pages, Paperback
Published October 31, 2024
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March 12, 2025
Occasional writing gems to remember, but Bunn’s book gets a little annoying due to how poor the examples are that he uses to illustrates his points. It could be a matter of taste, but the scripts included are mostly trite virtue signallers, and point to everything wrong with the short film medium at the moment. For a book that celebrates the medium and its uniqueness (which I fully agree should be celebrated in certain examples), it can prove to be a tough read.
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