The Tools of Screenwriting: A Writer's Guide to the Craft and Elements of a Screenplay

David Howard, Edward Mabley

Macmillan, Jan 15, 1995 - Performing Arts - 298 pages

Screenwriting is the art of telling stories dramatically - and it can be learned. Although there is no standard formula for writing a screenplay, there are central principles that all good screenplays share. In The Tools of screenwriting, the authors illuminate the essential elements of cinematic storytelling. These elements are guideposts for the aspiring screenwriter, and they can be used in different ways to accomplish a variety of ends. Questions of dramatic structure, plot, dialogue, character development, setting, imagery, and other crucial topics are discussed as they apply to the special art of filmmaking. The authors demonstrate how the tools of screenwriting work in sixteen notable films, including Citizen Kane, E.T., One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest, Rashomon, The Godfather, North by Northwest, Chinatown, and sex, lies, and videotape. in the analyses of these films, the reader will discover the common elements of compelling screen stories. The Tools of Screen writing is an essential book for anyone who wants to write a script that will be filmed.

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User Review  - regularguy5mb - LibraryThing

I have read through this book several times now. It is a good, concise guide to the elements of screenplay writing. Apparently the book was adapted from an older text on the craft and elements of ...

Contents

• THE SCREENWRITERS TASK: 3
• STAGE VERSUS SCREEN: 6
• ADAPTATION: 9
• THE AUTEUR OF A FILM: 12
• THE SCREENWRITERS RELATIONSHIPS: 14
• A CAUTIONARY NOTE: 16
• BASIC STORYTELLING: 19
• WHAT MAKES A GOOD STORY WELL TOLD: 21
• THE DIVISION INTO THREE ACTS: 24
• THE WORLD OF THE STORY: 26
• PROTAGONIST ANTAGONIST AND CONFLICT: 28
• EXTERNALIZING THE INTERNAL: 30
• OBJECTIVE AND SUBJECTIVE DRAMA: 32
• TIME AND THE STORYTELLER: 33
• THE POWER OF UNCERTAINTY: 37
• SCREENWRITING TOOLS: 41
• PROTAGONIST AND OBJECTIVE: 43
• CONFLICT: 46
• OBSTACLES: 47
• PREMISE AND OPENING: 49
• MAIN TENSION CULMINATION AND RESOLUTION: 52
• THEME: 55
• UNITY: 58
• EXPOSITION: 60
• CHARACTERIZATION: 63
• DEVELOPMENT OF THE STORY: 66
• DRAMATIC IRONY: 68
• PREPARATION AND AFTERMATH: 70
• PLANTING AND PAYOFF: 72
• ELEMENTS OF THE FUTURE AND ADVERTISING: 74
• THE OUTLINE AND THE STEP OUTLINE: 76
• PLAUSIBILITY: 78
• ACTIVITY AND ACTION: 81
• DIALOGUE: 84
• VISUALS: 88
• THE DRAMATIC SCENE: 91
• REWRITING: 95
• THE ANALYSES: 99
• ABOUT THE ANALYSES: 101
• ET: 103
• SOME LIKE IT HOW: 114
• NORTH BY NORTHWEST: 126
• THE 400 BLOWS: 135
• CITIZEN KANE: 147
• WITNESS: 155
• A STREETCAR NAMED DESIRE: 166
• CHINATOWN: 177
• THE GODFATHER: 189
• ONE FLEW OVER THE CUCKOOS NEST: 202
• THELMA AND LOUISE: 213
• DINER: 227
• RASHOMON: 240
• SEX LIES AND VIDEOTAPE: 252
• ANNIE HALL: 262
• HAMELT: 274
• ADDITIONAL READINGS: 289
• ABOUT THE AUTHORS: 290
• INDEX: 291

About the author

David Howard is an active screenwriter, "script doctor," and script consultant, both in Hollywood and in Europe. He is also the founding director of the Graduate Screenwriting Program at the University of Southern California's School of Cinema-Television. In addition to his teaching duties at USC, he frequently lectures and teaches, often in conjunction with Frank Daniel, throughout Europe as well as around the United States. He lives in Santa Monica, California, with his wife, the painter Victoria McClay.

Edward Mabley, besides being the author of Dramatic Construction, wrote, among other works, the playGlad Tidings and the text of the grand opera The Plough and the Stars (after the play by Sean O'Casey). He wrote radio and television plays, directed in television, and taught at the New School for Social Research in New York. He died in 1984.

Frank Daniel has been head of many of the world's most renowned film schools. He was Dean of FAMU, the Czech film school, during the 1960s "Prague Spring." He was the first dean of the Center for Advanced Film Studies at the American Film Institute, then he became co-chairman of Columbia University's Film Division with his former student, Milos Forman. He went on to become the first dean of the newly expanded School of Cinema-Television at the University of Southern California. He was also the first artistic director of the Sundance Institute, and artistic director of the Flemish European Media Institute in Brussels. He is currently a professor in the Graduate Screenwriting Program, at USC and continues with his own extensive screenwriting schedule as well as teaching regularly in Europe.

Bibliographic information

• Title: The Tools of Screenwriting: A Writer's Guide to the Craft and Elements of a Screenplay
• Authors: David Howard, Edward Mabley
• Edition: illustrated, reprint
• Publisher: Macmillan, 1995
• ISBN: 0312119089, 9780312119089
• Length: 298 pages
• Subjects: Performing Arts / Film / Screenwriting; Reference / General