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Summary: Buy it, read it, and read it again!!
Review: I work for a film production company as a story editor and I couldn't agree more with the points the author makes. The tips in this book are more than just good opinions, they are (until now) unwritten laws. I am going to recommend this to many of the writers who call my office to solicit scripts so that they can avoid makng the same mistakes so many others have. It's hard enough to get your script read. If you do, don't blow it with an unprofessional submission. The author should add a follow up section explaining how to write query letters.
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Summary: Oh. My. God. THIS BOOK IS A MUST!
Review: I have written several screenplays that I now realize are TOTAL AMATEUR JUNK, thanks to this book. I am, in fact, embarrassed that I have sent copies of my work to professionals without knowing the basic tips that Jennifer Lerch includes in her new Bible for Screenwriters -- 500 WAYS TO BEAT THE HOLLYWOOD READER. Now, I know we've all wanted to beat a Hollywood reader before -- like, WITH A STICK! But now we should get down on our hands and knees and worship at this woman's feet, her book is THAT GOOD. From tip one to five hundred, I read this how-to in ONE SITTING! I now flip through as I'm rewriting my script -- I'm not even halfway through my new draft, and I'm floored at how much better my writing already is. I'm realistic, and my script may not sell, but THIS BOOK SHOULD -- to every wannabe out there. You won't be a wannabe for long. Hey, from some of the movies I've seen of late, you pros should pick up a copy too!
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Summary: A veteran Hollywood Script Reader spills trade secrets.
Review: Hi Web Buddies! This screenwriting book offers down-and-dirty straight-talk about how to craft a screenplay the professional script reader WANTS to recommend. While working as a Hollywood script reader for more than a decade, I've recommended spec scripts that sold for $1 million, screenplays that won Academy Awards for those involved, and scripts that got new writers hooked up with hot agents. I know what I look for when evaluating a screenplay, and in 500 WAYS I let you in on what the typical reader may be thinking as he or she turns the pages of a script. And you're not only getting one reader's view of what goes into writing a winning screenplay -- the tips in 500 WAYS come from a TEAM OF CONTRIBUTORS that includes a top Hollywood creative executive who is on the cutting edge of deal-making with A-list talent, a million dollar screenwriter who scripts stories for top directors, a writer for prime-time network television, and a feature film producer among others. These are people who have been professional script readers and who used their know-how to beat the reader. They've struggled, whipped the odds, and now they want to give you a leg up on the competition. After reading this book, you'll be looking at your work through new eyes -- a reader's eyes. And that can make the difference between your work selling and not selling. Spilling hard-earned trade secrets, my contributors and I have cut away the chaff and detailed exactly what you need to know about writing to win the Hollywood script reader, the Executive Reader (you know, the person who may read only 10-15 pages of your script before making a decision), the director, and the actor who may eventually get attached to your script. All this information is contained in 500 easy-to-understand, easy-to-find tips grouped into logical chapters. Aside from the book's paragraph style section and chapter introductions, the book consists of 500 to-do's followed by examples of how-to-do-it. 500 WAYS includes tips on how to craft concepts that sell; writing action that's as exciting on the page as it will be on the screen; creating an opening sequence that will hook your reader; sustaining compelling conflicts at every level of your story; burning your characters into the reader's imagination by the way you describe them; using setting to pull the reader into your story and making it work hard for your story; screentalk that looks as good as it sounds; preventing the Act 2 story stall; side-stepping common genre traps; avoiding pitfalls in all three acts; ways to pick up the pace in any genre; checklists to make sure you've met the reader's expectations at various points in your screenplay; ways to create and sustain conflict; how to prevent subplots from hijacking interest in your main storyline; staying a step ahead of the reader in Act 2; integrating subplots into your story so they don't seem like after-thoughts; tip-offs to the reader that the script is the work of an amateur; crafting characters to start a casting war; ending your story as solidly as you opened it; how to alter a screenplay that didn't get a reader recommend the first time around; ways to correct common flaws and strengthen almost any project at any stage of development. Get the picture? This book covers EVERYTHING you need to know about crafting a screenplay to win over the reader. More than one happy reader of 500 WAYS has remarked that this very practical book belongs next to the computer, that it contains "everything in one binding" and that its tips can be cherry-picked for use at any point in the screenwriting process. Hollywood needs more stories -- why not be the one to write them? This book was designed for anyone involved in the writing process. And if the ecstatic e-mail I've been getting from happy customers is any indication that the tips work, well...the book may be on its way to launching a whole new generation of screenwriters into Hollywood careers. You could be next....
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Summary: Essential reading for both screenwriters and readers!
Review: Jennifer Lerch's "500 Ways to Beat the Hollywood Script Reader" has de-mystified what I have been doing both in my own writing and as a professional reader for the past eight years. The author has wittily and concisely distilled the process through which finished scripts go (behind the scenes, at agencies and studios) and has at the same time led her audience down the path to writing a commercial script which will please the all-important reader. "500 Ways" is a must for the library of any aspiring or current Hollywood screenwriter.
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Summary: A must-have for all aspiring screenwriters!
Review: Finally, a screenwriting book that looks at the craft of screenwriting from the most important perspective of all: the reader. Before you would-be screenwriters flip through your worn and tattered copies of SYD FIELD and STORY by Robert McKee for the fiftieth time it would pay to take a look at what this book has to say about writing for the all important audience of one. This book carefully articulates in short, easy to comphrehend sound bites the instincts that Hollywood readers evolve over the years reading thousands and thousands of screenplays. You thought the executives have all the power? Think again. Outside of the practical tips on style and format this book also gives you great tips on how to write a well told story. This one is going to sit right by my computer. It's a must for writers who want to be treated like a professional -- and for those who just want to get tips on the craft of screenwriting from someone who should know.
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Summary: Good, could be better.
Review: I think I might have thought more highly of this book if I hadn't tackled it right after I read "How Not to Write a Screenplay" by Denny Martin Flinn. Flinn's guide to the most common pitfalls in screenwriting is a wonderfully funny and instructive text that every writer should own. This book, while containing some helpful nuggets, offers a lot of advice that directly contradicts Flinn's. While Ms. Lerch obviously has no obligation to align herself with Flinn's advice, her comments often seemed counter-intuitive to me. Whereas Flinn instructs us to be as clear and succinct as possible, shaving away all unnecessary and confusing descriptions (i.e., don't write what the audience can't see), Lerch would have us add all sorts of superfluous character and location description, in the hopes of catching the eye of an already-exhausted Hollywood script reader.
I just have a hard time believing that this approach would really work. I've studied screenwriting with some of the best teachers in the business, and I've got to say that their tips generally fall into the "less is more" camp.
Having said that, the book is a quick, easy read, and there are many tidbits which do make sense, especially about ratcheting up the conflict in your script. By no means, however, should this be the only book on screenwriting you buy, but it can serve as a light after-dinner mint following a hearty meal of "How Not to Write A Screenplay."
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Summary: Short, sweet and straight to the point
Review: Lercher pulls no punches. She tells you exactly what you need to win over the Hollywood reader, and many are things you didn't think of. She gives suggestions on how to reinvent your story, as well as how to mantain a professional look at all times.This is an excellent resource for screenwriters. A quick read with no filler, I'd suggest it to anyone.
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Summary: Great Book!
Review: This is a great book for the novice screenwriter. There are some fantasic tips in this book. It really points out pitfalls and traps that will identify you as a newbie in Hollywood. I highly recommend it.
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Summary: A Nitty Gritty Compendium
Review: Jennifer Lerch knows a screen reader's mindset in that she has performed in the field, giving her book meaningful on the scene insight from a professional. She writes in the same kind of snappy, economical style that she recommends. To veer from this course, she warns, is to risk an attention distraction or, fatally, turning off the reader altogether. Jennifer's "500 ways" are the various tips from the trade about what interests script readers as well as what turns them off. She cautions about long lead-ins or narrative description that makes readers think you are trying to direct as well as write a scenario. She lets you know immediately that there is an oceanic expanse separating the long narrative descriptions of characters in novels as opposed to the exigencies of the screen craft, where pictures are worth so many words. In this field the dialogue and scenes containing them must be brief, while the story must follow a dramatic forward thrust from Fade In to Fade Out that keeps readers interested and involved. Lerch explains that readers have short attention spans due to the pressures of handling long and steady volumes of work. It is therefore essential to keep your writing staccato, your characters spelled out briefly, and your scenes following an intriguing progression that keeps your readers interested and on board until Fade Out.
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Summary: Long Title, But Even Better Book -- It Keeps Its Promises!
Review: The only thing I would change about the book is the title. Then again, the title caught my eye. An alternate title could have been, "Getting Past the Hollywood Reader" or "500 Ways Past the Hollywood Reader" or something short. But Jennifer Lerch's book, called by any title, delivers more than it promises. It is an essential guide to writing scripts. Frankly, I carry it with me everywhere, and recommend it to all aspiring screenwriters I meet -- which is about one out of three people who enters a bookstore (or so it seems). I simply loved Jennifer Lerch's book; and come to think of it, I think her title is perfect. Guess I'm one of those screenwriters with a kind of dyslexia for titles. But DO get past the title of 500 WAYS TO BEAT THE HOLLYWOOD SCRIPT READER and Jennifer Lerch will open the doors to wonderful techniques in storytelling, screenplay structure, keeping your characters interesting and meaningful, and more. One of the best books around! Buy it and keep it nearby.
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