Favorite Writing Books – For Screen

Telling It by Anne Frank (ed.)
Alternative Scriptwriting: Writing Beyond the Rules by Ken Dancyger & Jeff Rush
Feature Filmmaking at Used Car Prices by Rick Schmidt
Screenplay by Syd Field
Writing the Second Act by Michael Halperin
Lew Hunter’s Screenwriting 434 by (you guessed it) Lew Hunter
Television and Screen Writing by Richard Blum
The Writer’s Journey by Christopher Vogler
From Script to Screen by Linda Seger, E.J. Whetmore
The Complete Book of Scriptwriting by J. Michael Straczynski
Comedy Writing Secrets by Melvin Helitzer

These sit on my bookshelf next to the reference books. They are all good, but reading them won’t reveal the biggest secret to completing a play or screenplay. The number one secret is “bum in chair,” and the runner-up is “having a deadline.”

To get a very sane and practical program for applying your seat to the chair seat without gimmicks, false guilt or schedules, my recommendation is Heather Seller’s new book: Page After Page: Discover the Confidence & Passion You Need to Start Writing & Keep Writing! I took it out from the library and speed-read it but if I ever get blocked I will buy it and try the exercises as well.

In 1999 I made one short film as part of the DAWC (Directing, Acting and Writing for Camera program) which was run by the late Maruska Stankova. It was a fantastic experience working with a professional story editor (Jill Golick), producer (Laura James), actors (Stormm Bradshaw, Rochelle Wilson and Deborah Woffenden) and director (Glenn Forbes). I also did kraft services (catering) during shooting which was more fun than I expected! Cramming all that writing and rewriting into a full-time teaching schedule was tough, but so much fun. In 2000 I had my son and decided that novel-writing was an easier fit with my new lifestyle.

Independently, I’ve written one feature length script but I haven’t sent it anywhere. I have a terrible habit of writing stuff and not sending it out. Instead, I’ve concentrated on writing kid’s musicals and plays (three to date) because they give me a chance to direct what I’ve written and get immediate feedback from a real audience. 300+ bored kid’s sitting cross-legged on a gym floor waiting for the show to start find ways of announcing their impatience! I can tell which parts of the show work by when they laugh and when they start to shift around.

I’ve written a couple of novels, without sending them out, and I’m currently working on a third. I hope my live-audience experience will help make it readable. On that note, why ramble on? It’s time to take my own advice and get to work.