The Screenwriter Looks at the Screenwriter

Rating:
Summary: Excellent resource for wannabe screenwriters
Review: Bill Froug's book was first published in the seventies as a reaction against the autuer theory. What Froug did was interview some of the most respected screenwriters in the business along with a few new risers and ask them about screenwriting.

What emerges from the interviews is the that each writer has their own particular techniques for screenwriting. There is no one set way for writing screenplays. A much more useful insight into the process of screenwriting than the books currently available.

The full list of screenwriters are: Nunnally Johnson (Grapes of Wrath), I.A. L Diamond (The Apartment), Buck henry (The Graduate), Stirling Silliphant, William Bowers (The Gunfighter), Walter B. Newman (Great Escape), Edward Anhalt (Jeremiah Johnson), Lewis John Carlino, Jonathan Axelrod and David Giler.

I feared the book would concentrate more on anacdotes than techniques but the interviewees dispense out the essential information on how they personally handle writing and what they think is a 'good' script. Save space on your bookshelf for it.

P.S. Hiliarious reading is David Giler talking about his experience with a troublesome 'autuer' during the filming of Myra Breckinbridge.