How Not to Write a Screenplay: 101 Common Mistakes Most Screenwriters Make |  | Author: Denny Martin Flinn
Publisher: Lone Eagle
List Price: $16.95
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Rating:  73 reviews
Sales Rank: 25833
Media: Paperback
Pages: 240
Number Of Items: 1
Shipping Weight (lbs): 0.2
Dimensions (in): 8.9 x 6 x 0.6
ISBN: 1580650155
Dewey Decimal Number: 808.23
EAN: 9781580650151
ASIN: 1580650155
Publication Date: August 25, 1999
Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days
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Amazon.com Review
How Not to Write a Screenplay is an invaluable addition to any aspiring screenwriter's shelf--and you'd best make the shelf within arm's reach of the computer. Author Dean Martin Flinn, an experienced script reader, details the common rookie mistakes that drive script readers crazy. Flinn makes no pretense of being able to teach anyone how to write the next Great American Film--or for that matter the next Stupid Summer Blockbuster. Instead he offers information that will help keep the novice screenwriter's opus from being immediately tossed on the trash pile (arguably a more valuable service). As Flinn says in his introduction, if you follow the advice in this book, "you may not write a particularly good screenplay, but you won't write a bad one." Flinn offers practical advice on formatting, such as the proper form for a slugline and where to set your margins, and more general rules of thumb on giving the actors room to interpret their roles and avoiding dictating camera angles to the director (who will ignore them anyway). The second half of the book deals with content, also in a remarkably pragmatic way--structure, pacing, plot resolution, and dialogue that really stink are all handily dealt with. Flinn illustrates almost all his points with excerpts from screenplays both good and bad (names have been changed to protect the guilty), giving the reader concrete examples of the difference between poorly and well-structured scenes. Not sucking is an unusual goal for a screenwriting manual, but any script reader will agree it is a noble one. --Ali Davis
Product Description
Finally, what may be the last screenwriting book a writer will ever need to buy! Written by a Hollywood screenwriter, How NOT to Write A Screenplay carefully identifies and examines the common mistakes screenwriters invariably make when writing a screenplay.
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Showing reviews 1-5 of 73
 This was a HUGE help to me. October 12, 2009
R. Paterson III (St. George, Ut USA)
Ok, I have to admit it, one of the things that I loved about this book was that the author wasn't trying to teach me 'how to write,' but how to avoid bad writing. some other reviews here have suggested not reading this until you've finished you're screenplay, but I found this book to be a great help in finishing a screenplay I'd been struggling with for a couple years. The author sets some great ground rules, and gives many examples of how they are followed or broken to good or detrimental effect. One thing I took from this book was how to avoid looking like an amature, the best way to do that, is to know what you're doing. Some have complained about the number and length of screenplay samples throughout the book, but I think it all goes back to one of the author's final points; if you want to learn to write screenplays, you need to READ screenplays, good and bad. by the end of this book, you should have learned a great deal, both from the authors advise, as well as from example.
The best book for skeletonized screenplays EVER! July 14, 2009
Reverend Del (Richmond Va)
INT-CUBICLE IN OFFICE BUILDING, HIGH FLOORS-DAY.
Because of this book? I have actively been sought out by local amateur film directors and producers to "fix" screenplays written by literary writers. Flinn's tone gets a lil' preachy, but he's trying to drive home one fact: Writing screenplays is a formula. Anything else is a Novella.
He has read more screenplays than I will ever write or fix, but he's correct when he makes the assessment that others will read your work, make changes, add different music, change scene times/locations. You cannot take it personal. You are releasing your "baby" into the world, but others will make the path it takes.
Directors, Producers, and Actors follow scripts as a map, what they do along the travel is out of your hands.
END
NOT a proffesional review. July 13, 2009
S. Foglesong
I am a true beginer at the screenwriting sceen and of course ran out and bought four books on screenwriting. This book is a wealth of information. The best part is you can go through your script and see what would make an executive reader throw it away. Great buy!
Nesessary-- oops, I mean "Necessary" July 1, 2009
Stephen C. Wohlleb (wading river, new york USA)
You're looking at this book, so I'm guessing your either a writer or you are considering writing a screenplay. I've completed four and shopped them around, and though I do get interest from a few agents, I have yet to sell any. So I went out and I bought The Hollywood Standard by Christopher Riley and Advanced Screenwriting by Dr. Linda Seger, and as great as both those books are, there were still a lot of conflicting ideas. Should I capitalize EVERY sound, or just the ones OFF SCREEN? How much backstory is enough? How much is too much? When and how should I let my audience know certain plot points? They all have their own ideas. Unfortunately, most of them differ in opinion.
So I finally picked up this book. It was like a revelation. Denny Martin Flinn takes so many troublesome aspects of screenwriting and he breaks them down, first by showing us the incorrect way. Then he shows us a few options that "work", but might not work for every script. Finally, he shows us the "ideal" way to write a certain scene or idea. Just one example out of the 101; a character JANE is introduced. "She is a pretty, young, bank teller with dreams of becoming something more." Flinn goes on to ask us "Well, how do we know she is a bank teller? Is she currently at work? And how do we know her dreams? Can you SHOW an audience a person's dreams?" Suddenly, I was re-reading everything I've written and tearing them apart to the bare bones, and re-building them into four screenplays I am proud to call my own.
Everyone has their "notion" of how to do something, but not enough people tell you what you are doing wrong. You might disagree, but I, personally, found him right on the money with each and every point. Fact is, if you are writing camera angles and spelling out sound effects, you really have a lot of learning to do, but if you just need some "fine tuning", then THIS book is a necessity.
Now Not To Write A Screenplay April 28, 2009
Greg J. St Pierre (Palm Bay, Florida)
Fantastic. Who'd expect a book about screenwriting to be a page turner? Or even humorous? It's both, but is also loaded with practical, hands on, nitty-gritty stuff. Just what you need for venturing out into the jungle of professional screenwriting.
Showing reviews 1-5 of 73
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