Rating: 
Summary: Eye-opening.
Review: After reading this book you will fully understand why the director says, "lights, camera, ACTION" and not "lights, camera, TALK"
Rating: 
Summary: This book teaches what is essential and what is junk.
Review: After reading this book, you will have perfect criteria to judge each and every syllable and its worthiness in a screenplay. You will also learn some helpful hints about the business end as well. All that is needed is a chapter on formatting.
Rating:
Summary: THE ROSETTA STONE of screenwriting.
Review: anyone wishing to hone their writing skills needs this book. if you read my script before and after i read prof. walter's book, you'd see a tremendous difference. i once was blind...now i see exactly what he means. it's essential.
Rating:
Summary: The most used book on my screenwriting shelf.
Review: Forget all the screenwriting seminars. Just write, write, write and then use Richard Walter's book to boil it down. His chapter on "Notes on notes" is my bible for editing.
Rating:
Summary: Richard Walter on Screenwriting
Review: I got to see Richard Walter do a seminar at SMU one weekend for our writer's group. I was enthralled. The man is a creative dynamo. And it shows in his books. He puts in his books succinctly what Mckee tries to say in his tombs. I write fiction, not screenplays, yet I recommend Walter to all writers.
Rating:
Summary: An excellent guide to what makes compelling writing.
Review: If you don't know what's wrong with your screenplay, this book can tell you. Richard Walter's notes section is by far the best thing I've ever read on cleaning up your screenplay. I recommend this book mostly for people who have written more than one screenplay, but who are still puzzled about why they aren't getting any attention. I also strongly recommend Walter's earlier book, Screenwriting.
Rating:
Summary: The Best Upper-Level Screenplay Editing Book Out There.
Review: If you don't know what's wrong with your screenplay, this book can tell you. Richard Walter's notes section is by far the best thing I've ever read on cleaning up your screenplay. I recommend this book mostly for people who have written more than one screenplay, but who are still puzzled about why they aren't getting any attention. I also strongly recommend Walter's earlier book, Screenwriting.
Rating:
Summary: Follow the Suitcases
Review: Married, harried, and crumpled Herb arrives with his suitcases to take up his assigned post at the Book Fair. He runs into an old flame. In no time at all, he's stashed his suitcases in a locker at the trainstation; finds himself in a hotel tryst with this woman from his past; and after sex and cigarettes, returns from a trip to the bathroom to find the bloodied corpse of his illicit lover, and the aforementioned suitcases at the foot of the bed. From there, we follow the suitcases through the twists and turns in the tale Richard Walter, chairman of the screenwriting dept. at UCLA, has constructed to illustrate the elements of solid, artful storytelling.Walter's two books, The Whole Picture, and Screenwriting: The Art, Craft, and Business of Film and Television Writing, are among the most practical and helpful a writer will be fortunate enough to come across. For the neophyte, they may not contain enough information on the exasperatingly nit-picking "industry formatting standards" that get scripts past the scanning eyes of a scriptreader, but he shines a bright, clear light on the single most important bit of information a writer must know if s/he is to come to the end of his/her labors with a good screenplay in hand: write well. In addition to making his points by using this clever device of constructing a story right before the reader's very eyes, he reveals a great deal of sound advice about the movie business and what works in a screenplay. If you don't know how to integrate a compelling theme with characters an audience can care about, dialog that rings in the ear, and action structured to keep the story moving forward, learn how before you quit your day job. When people ask me for advice about what books to read to learn about writing--screenplays or other formats--I always tell them they couldn't get a better start than this book.
Rating:
Summary: Follow the Suitcases
Review: Married, harried, and crumpled Herb arrives with his suitcases to take up his assigned post at the Book Fair. He runs into an old flame. In no time at all, he's stashed his suitcases in a locker at the trainstation; finds himself in a hotel tryst with this woman from his past; and after sex and cigarettes, returns from a trip to the bathroom to find the bloodied corpse of his illicit lover, and the aforementioned suitcases at the foot of the bed. From there, we follow the suitcases through the twists and turns in the tale Richard Walter, chairman of the screenwriting dept. at UCLA, has constructed to illustrate the elements of solid, artful storytelling. Walter's two books, The Whole Picture, and Screenwriting: The Art, Craft, and Business of Film and Television Writing, are among the most practical and helpful a writer will be fortunate enough to come across. For the neophyte, they may not contain enough information on the exasperatingly nit-picking "industry formatting standards" that get scripts past the scanning eyes of a scriptreader, but he shines a bright, clear light on the single most important bit of information a writer must know if s/he is to come to the end of his/her labors with a good screenplay in hand: write well. In addition to making his points by using this clever device of constructing a story right before the reader's very eyes, he reveals a great deal of sound advice about the movie business and what works in a screenplay. If you don't know how to integrate a compelling theme with characters an audience can care about, dialog that rings in the ear, and action structured to keep the story moving forward, learn how before you quit your day job. When people ask me for advice about what books to read to learn about writing--screenplays or other formats--I always tell them they couldn't get a better start than this book.
Rating:
Summary: More advice than an actual manual
Review: There are many books out there about structure and where to put what plot points where and Richard Walter has made an addition to that field itself with "Screenwriting: The Art, Craft and Business of Film and Television Writing. However, this is more about advice on issues of screenwritings, arguing such points about all screenplays being personal, which I might add he does so very well. He also gives advice on why writers write, agents and working within the industry. And a look into the process of rewriting a scene of a screenplay (very useful). I would describe it as Adventure's in the Screen Trade without the bitterness of Goldman. My only criticism being that it makes you so hungry and ravaneous for more advice. The Bibliography is more useful than what you find at the end of most books. It is a worthy addition to any screenwriter's or movie moguls bookshelf.
|
