The best books to a beginner?

F

Fellipe

Active member
I want to write (and produce) my first short, so what are the best books for learning short film screenwriting?
Thanks
 
For the content of your screenplay, I would recommend reading The Art of Dramatic Writing by Lajos Egri. That text has been more helpful to me than the other dozen or so screenwriting texts I've read combined.

If you are looking for proper formatting, then Screenwriting 434 by Lew Hunter (A legendary instructor at the UCLA screenwriting school) is a good choice.
 
Second the Egri. It's good stuff that applies well across many categories of storytelling. Add to it Syd Field's 'Screenplay,' Campbell's 'Hero With a Thousand Faces' (not specifically a screenwriting or dramatic writing book but a touchstone on character and storytelling) and Blake Snyder's 'Save the Cat!' which is primarily geared toward feature-screenplay writing but offers a great deal of use in terms of constructing short-subject scripts too.
 
Fellipe said:
Thank you guys.
Does a short film also follow a 3 act structure?
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I think of short short films as more about an inciting incident or situation, and a dramatic climax with a good reversal or revelation at the end. You see this a lot in e.g. Twilight Zone episodes which are not really short short films, more of short films (btw, Richard Donner directed several Twilight Zone episodes ('short films') and went to fame and glory with many blockbuster feature films (and look at the directors of The Uninvited, they had only done a short film or a few I believe, and a beer commercial, got picked up to direct a major feature film).
 
I'll give a third vote to The Art of Dramatic Writing by Lajos Egri. Hell, you'll probably never need another book on the subject.
 
I wouldn't go *that* far. There are books more specifically focused upon cinema that also offer very valuable guidance.
 
Sad Max said:
I wouldn't go *that* far. There are books more specifically focused upon cinema that also offer very valuable guidance.
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I would. The screenwriting instruction market is flooded with junk manuals and snake-oil salesmen. It resembles more the self-help section of the book store. The newbie these days can end up wasting a lot of time working themselves up over endless platitudes (as evidenced by a few posts on these very boards).

But I also like McKee's Story and AFI's Writing Great Screenplays for Film and TV (mostly because that one wholly invalidates the strict story-page structure gurus).
 
Sad Max said:
So you *would* go that far...but then again, you wouldn't. Okay! :)
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As implied, I find them useful, but not strictly necessary.

Hell, I'd advise reading books on psychology before I'd recommend most books on screenwriting.

To the OP: lots'a people waste their time and money on a glut of books and then never write anything. Get cracking on writing sooner rather than later; you'll already be several steps ahead. Send your work out to people and solicite opinions on its entertainment value--this is invaluable. Rewrite and rewrite some more.
 
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"To the OP: everyone wastes their time and money on a glut of books and then never writes anything." - this is true. And alas it applies just as well to equipment, which is of course a much bigger $$$-sink, than texts.

Also true that reading other people's perspective on writing is secondary to *doing the work* yourself.
 
Sad Max said:
"To the OP: everyone wastes their time and money on a glut of books and then never writes anything." - this is true. And alas it apples just as well to equipment, which is of course a much bigger $$$-sink, than texts.
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Yup! I've been guilty of this. I'd trade in my hindsight for foresight any day.
 
This will sound strange, but Naked Playwriting is a great book. Remember, many of us will be doing micro budget productions that will have to rely on character and dialogue within limited settings, this book will give you the tools to do that.
 
Fellipe said:
I want to write (and produce) my first short, so what are the best books for learning short film screenwriting?
Thanks
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Maybe read some short story fiction books, and watch lots of short films, get an idea for how much drama you can cram into a short story/film, then write your story, format it as screenplay.
 
While I'd totally agree with Egri and Hunter (both the best books in the trade IMO) I think for a beginner, something like "save the cat" would get you writing faster. I say this because the title of the post was "...best books to a beginner."

Also, read tons and tons of screenplays and some shorts. You could subscribe to triggerstreet and read shorts -- both good and bad. Always great to see the work of both pro and amateur writers.
 
62stratplaya said:
...I think for a beginner, something like "save the cat" would get you writing faster. I say this because the title of the post was "...best books to a beginner." ...
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I think Save the Cat might be overkill for writing shorts, difficult to fit in the STC plot points in a short film. Maybe a 20 minute short, maybe, but not 1-5 minute shorts.
 
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