Writing Short Films: Structure and Content for Screenwriters

by Linda J. Cowgill

Writing Short Films is one of the bestselling university text books on writing short film screenplays. This updated and revised edition includes several new chapters.

Genres: Writing, Film, Nonfiction, Animation, School, Reference, Art

272 pages, Paperback

First published January 25, 1997

Reviews

[lina]

logging my screenwriting textbook bc i need to reach my reading goal somehow 🤷‍♀️

[Abdullah H.]

It was what I expected: not a let down.
First year students at Arizona State University are very privileged
to be using this.

[Ramon Galeana]

I feel ready!

I'm glad Life Lessons is used for examples throughout the book. It helps you see how the different concepts dovetail into a satisfying final product. You see lots of angles of the same - high quality - narrative, so you get to know the screenplay/film pretty well, and this leads to understanding and learning.

There are other frequently mentioned short films, but Life Lessons is the only one I bothered to watch and it was sufficient enough to understand each new concept well. I think a reader of this book should at minimum watch Life Lessons before reading this. It adds another dimension to the experience. It's pretty good :p

[Sunrise]

Although not all that entertaining to read, Cowgill does breakdown narrative structure well, and her re-iterations ought to help clarify for first time 'story tellers.'

Her references are dated, but are also great examples worth further study.

[Kassie]

Very good instructional material. Only fault would be that I wish she would have used more examples instead of returning to the same one to illustrate her various points.

[JULIE]

Good information for someone who wants to understand the structure and process of writing a screenplay. Although the title indicates it's for short films, any aspiring screenwriter would benefit.

I had a bit of a hard time getting through it, to be honest. The examples helped a lot. One reviewer complained that she used the same short films over and over for different aspects of writing, but I found it helpful to not have to revisit a new film every time she needed an example.

I also enjoyed watching some of the short films she referenced, e.g., "Franz Kafka's It's a Wonderful Life," and hope to watch others as well.

[Enma]

Loved how it shows how the same elements work for both features and shorts.

[Jason]

When I was in college, I loved book-buying time. I loved going into the bookstore at the student union and finding what books were required for my upcoming classes, but I also loved browsing the shelves to see what books were being used in other classes. I remember that one semester in graduate school I found the shooting script for Fargo, and I admit that I bought it, hoping the professor had printed extra copies.

Well now that my son is in college, I returned to my browsing habits when we went to get his books. I’m happy to report that I didn’t buy anyone else’s books, but I did take a couple of pictures of books for a screenwriting class. One of those books was Linda J. Cowgill’s 2nd edition of Writing Short Films. I put it on my Christmas list for 2019, and now that work has slowed down due to the coronavirus outbreak, I have gotten around to reading it.

This is an excellent book. It is relatively short (under 200 pages of instructional text), and it breaks everything down into manageable chunks, so you have plenty of breaks to stop and process what has been presented. It does a great job of pulling from a limited set of examples (most readily available in this age of streamed programming) to keep the text and the reader both focused. The book binds itself to the practical art of screenwriting while pointing briefly to the larger philosophical issues involved in storytelling. And finally, it manages to be about scriptwriting in general and the short film in particular. I’m impressed.

If someone was burning to write the script for a short film and had an idea in mind, I believe this book would provide the guidance needed to bring that script from idea to the page all on its own. There are exercises at the end of each chapter that are designed to help you move that script from idea to fully fleshed out scenes in a logical progression.

The book is divided into three main parts. In the first part, Cowgill covers the fundamentals of storytelling in the visual medium of film. In the second part, she looks at the general concerns of the beginning, the middle, and the end of those stories. And in the third part, she looks at what the construction looks like at the level of the scene. It’s a solid design. She even provides and weighty appendices that includes everything you need to know for formatting the script, references to more reading and viewing, and a complete script of one of the short films she references in the book.

On top of it all, Cowgill has an easy writing style and a skill for fullness and brevity.

[Ian Dawson]

Don’t let the title of this book fool you. Cowgill states, “This book is designed specifically for those wanting to make a narrative-driven short film, and who recognize before production can begin a completed script must be in hand” (Cowgill x). I, however, feel that the content in Writing Short Films can also be applied to full-length screenplays and novels since the author does an excellent job breaking down and explaining all aspects of the story structure, character development, and the writing process.

Writing Short Films gives the reader a complete picture of what it takes to craft an effective narrative with strong characters, no matter how short you wish it to be. I also like that Cowgill provides plenty of useful exercises at the end of each chapter to get the reader thinking creatively about the topics presented.

Cowgill even provides encouragement to those who feel overwhelmed by the task at hand, writing that “the key to starting is simple: All it takes is a commitment to a process that follows certain steps and leads to putting words on paper” (4). If you take the time to study this book and its great information, there’s no telling how strong of a script or book you can craft.

[Phillip]

I read this book in preparation for my annual participation in a 48 hour film competition. Certainly this book does not envision you getting the idea for a short film and writing it in the next 12 hours - BUT it was quite helpful for me. It's certainly "basic" information, but needed basic information. I enjoyed the many short film examples cited - I only managed to look up a few of them, but I look forward to watching more of them later. The author helps provide a needed framework of character, conflict, and everything else to keep in mind when writing a short film. I hope to re-read it every year to keep me on the straight and narrow of good storytelling.

[TJ Fryer]

Was not a fan. 2/3 is retread basics of plot that has been done much better in many other well known fiction guides. The subtext chapter was valuable. Not enough time spent in actual screenplay study. The provided film examples were not particularly strong IMO and are used throughout.

Do not look up this writer’s filmography. That would have been enough to scare me away from purchasing. When the chief review complaint was bad writing, well… he who can, does; he who cannot? You know the rest.

[Kevin Murphy]

I picked this one up because it was required for a screenwriting course I took this fall, but I wanted to finish the whole thing because damned if it isn't a great introduction to writing short screenplays.

No real review here, no notes; I'll be keeping this on the shelf for future reference because it's so useful.

[Jam]

Ugh I read this in one day for class and it was helpful but mostly describes other short films in length. That takes up a lot of the chapters. Otherwise the analysis/breakdown is helpful

[Alicia Grega]

good handbook. Contains some uniquely useful information I did not see in the other screenwriting books.

[Katfrazier25]

Read for school - great for filmmakers currently working on short films.

[meg (the.hidden.colophon)]

I read this for my Writing for Feature Films Course in the Summer of ‘23.

Helpful, boring but helpful.

[Charlotte]

In need of abridging.

[Gary Kittle]

Just as good as more illlustrious titles on the same subject.

[Isabel]

no muy divertido de leer pero muy interesante!!! aprendí bastante muchas gracias

[Reader]

جميل جدا

[Hazel Graye]

One of the only college textbooks I was excited to read and plan on rereading again in the future just because

[eda]

film370

[Lukas Sarnow]

Fantastic text for beginning screenwriters! Could teach an entire intro class out of this book.

[Daisy]

Quality Rating: Five Stars
Enjoyment Rating: Four Stars

[Raymond]

Writing short films is, in many ways, more challenging than crafting a traditional feature-length screenplay. With a full three-act structure, longer films allow time to properly flesh out characters and plot. Short films, however, demand that everything a 90-minute film accomplishes be distilled into a tight, finite timeframe. Usually, 30 minutes or less.

That said, this book is an excellent starting point for anyone hoping to tackle that challenge. Pay particular attention to the chapters on scripting, as that, in my opinion, is the most difficult aspect to master.

Keep in mind that this is the second edition, so if a third edition exists by the time you're reading this, I would recommend turning to that version. However, this one should serve your needs just fine.

[Emily]

Great reference

[Priscilla]

Required reading for my Short Animated Filmmaking Bootcamp class at SVA. A very solid guide.

[J.D.]

I found this book to be useful, but you really have to search for the useful material and spend a lot of time reading to get there. A shorter version with the basics would be ideal.

[Iris Windmeijer]

Interesting and useful manual for writing. Sometimes it was a bit lengthy but overall very clear.

[Mary Ann]

Excellent book. Filled in all the cracks for me -- or at least many of them.