The Writer's Guide to Writing Your Screenplay: How to Write Great Screenplays for Movies and Television

230 Pages·2002·29.632 MB·English

by  Cynthia Whitcomb

BOSTON
PUBLIC
LIBRARY

Digitized by the Internet Archive
in 2017 with funding from
Kahle/Austin Foundation
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The Writer's Guide to
WRITING
YOUR
SCREENPLAY
How to Write Great Screenplays
for Movies and Television
BY CYNTHIA WHITCOMB
The Writer Books
The Writer Books is an imprint of Kalmbach Trade Press, a division of
Kalmbach Publishing Co. These books are distributed to the book
trade by Watson-Guptill.
*'
For all other inquiries, including individual orders or details on spe¬
cial quantity discounts for groups or conferences, contact:
Kalmbach Publishing Co.
21027 Crossroads Circle
Waukesha, WI 53187
[phone]
Visit our website at http://writermag.com
Secure online ordering available
© 2002 Cynthia Whitcomb. All rights reserved. This book may not be
reproduced in part or in whole without written permission of the pub¬
lisher, except in the case of brief quotations used in reviews.
Printed in Canada
02 03 04 05 06 07 08 09 10 11 10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1
Publisher's Cataloging-in-Publication
Whitcomb, Cynthia.
The writers guide to writing your screenplay : how
to write great screenplays for movies and television /
by Cynthia Whitcomb. — 1st ed.
p. cm.
Includes bibliographical references and index.
ISBN: 0-87116-191-5
1. Motion picture authorship. 2. Television
authorship. 3. Motion pictures—Vocational guidance.
4. Television—Vocational guidance. I. Title. 71}
II. Title: Writing your screenplay
pN 1%
/
PN1996.W45 2002 808.2'3
QBI02-701017
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Art Director: Kristi Ludwig
Page Layout: Linda Wenzel 3looX
Author photo on back cover is by Molly Mandelberg.
This book is dedicated to my children.

Table of Contents
Preface 9
Introduction 10
Part One: The Spine
13
CHAPTER 1 Ideas: Choosing Your Screen Story 15
CHAPTER 2 Research 21
CHAPTER 3 Three-Act Screenplay Structure 26
CHAPTER 4 Scene Cards and the Storyboard 36
CHAPTER 5 Subplots: Weaving Together A, B & C Stories 42
CHAPTER 6 The Levels of Character Evolution 48
CHAPTER 7 Conflict 55
CHAPTER 8 The Ticking Clock 59
CHAPTER 9 Structuring Scenes: Decapitating the Brontosaurus 65
CHAPTER 10 Set-Ups and Pay-Offs 70
CHAPTER 11 Screenplay Format 77
Part Two: The Heart
89
CHAPTER 12 Switching to the Right Brain 91
CHAPTER 13 Falling in Love 101
CHAPTER 14 The Protagonist 103
CHAPTER 15 Castable Characters 107
CHAPTER 16 Surprises 112
CHAPTER 17 Dialogue 116
CHAPTER 18 Heroes and Villains 122
CHAPTER 19 FADE IN: How to Write a Great Movie Opening 128
CHAPTER 20 Act Two Blues 132
CHAPTER 21 Climaxes 136
t
CHAPTER 22 Writing a Great Ending 140
Part Three: The Mind
151
CHAPTER 23 Leaner and Cleaner: Polishing Your Script 153
CHAPTER 24 Disguising Exposition 157
CHAPTER 25 Collaboration 161
CHAPTER 26 Writing and Rights 166
Part Four: The Spirit
171
CHAPTER 27 The Truth 173
CHAPTER 28 Support Systems 181
CHAPTER 29 Inspiration 185
Appendices
191
A Videos to Rent: Great Opening Scenes 193
B Videos to Rent: Great Endings 198
C Videos to Rent: Conflict, Climaxes,
and Great Moments 203
D Directors/Screenwriters to Study 207
E Resources: Organizations 208
F Internet Resources for Screenwriters 210
G Resources: Publications 214
H Authors Background 215
Acknowledgments 217
Index 219