Could It Be A Movie?: How To Get Your Ideas From Out Of Your Head And Up On The Screen

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Summary: MARIE JONES, BOOKIDEAS.COM BOOK REVIEWER SAYS...
Review: Each year, thousands upon thousands of screenplays reach the desks of harried and overworked Hollywood agents, managers and producers. Perhaps only 10% of these screenplays, if that many, will ever get more than one read-through. Fewer still will be purchased, and fewer than that will ever make it to the big screen. Still, the screenplays keep arriving...

Christina Hamlett's book "Could It Be A Movie?" helps make things a little easier for aspiring writers by providing informative interviews, insider stories, hands-on exercises and industry insight that can help writers determine if their idea has the legs to make it as a marketable script. By starting with the concept itself, the author, a highly respected script coverage consultant, shows the reader how to first decide whether the concept should be a movie, a book, a stage play, or maybe even just a magazine article. Once the idea is shaped and expanded into something that could be called a "movie," then the real work begins of turning it into a saleable commodity that Hollywood Greenlighters will want to get their hands on.

The material in this comprehensive how-to guide covers everything from turning a concept into a three-act story with the proper structure, thinking from the audience's viewpoint, deciding if the concept should be a short script or a full-blown spec, coming to terms with the necessity of rewriting (and rewriting and rewriting!), creating believable dialogue, and keeping the writing tight and the action moving the story forward at all times. Also, in the section titled WINNING THEM OVER, Hamlett covers the basics of approaching agents, producers and even independent markets, as well as the vast and growing body of screenwriting contests. She also discusses adapting material from other mediums, Writer's Guild minimums, protecting your work before you send it "out there," and working with professional script consultants to sharpen your work to perfection.

This is one of the few screenwriting books that really covers all the basics, yet also delves deeply into some of the more serious topics that may come up for writers, such as honing and perfecting your craft before you begin marketing, and understanding the technical aspects of good storytelling. I really enjoyed the interviews with industry insiders such as Peggy Patrick of Shapiro-Lichtman and screenwriter John Collee; the screenplay samples showing dialog and action do's and don'ts; and the exercises in each chapter that provide the reader with an opportunity for some real hands-on, interactive learning as they read along. Reading "Could It Be A Movie?" is almost like taking a screenwriting class and will appeal to those readers who actually like to "test drive" what they are reading.

It is hard enough to come up with a good idea, even harder still to turn it into 120 pages or less of pure, marketable dynamite. But with books like this to serve as wonderful and inspiring how-to guides, any writer can make that big box-office dream get one step closer to reality. The information in this book is worth the cost of one hundred expensive weekend seminars (and you won't even have to pay for parking!), and should take plenty of the fear, mystery and confusion out of writing a great script. I highly recommend it to all aspiring writers, and even to those who have never written so much as a poem, but think they might just have that one really big idea that could be a great movie, if only they can get it out of their head and onto the page.

Hey, it could happen!

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Summary: It COULD be a Movie!
Review: This gem of a book gave huge quantities of great information for all of us "wanna be" novelists and screenwriters in a very readable, humorous way. More than once, I had to put the book down to laugh out loud. More importantly, it inspired me to shake the dust of the three novels I have begun and to work again in ernest. A "must read" for all writing groups, Christina Hamlett is a treasure!

Peggy Sugarman

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Summary: Once Upon A Time
Review: When we were kids, it seemed every book started out with "once upon a time"...then we discovered movies & plays...and if we thought we were blessed with a talent for writing, we've often thought that we could pen a best-selling book or a blockbuster movie. As a script consultant and producer, it's amazing how many writers automatically think their story deserves to be up there on the silver screen! Well, now we have Christina Hamlett's book, COULD IT BE A MOVIE? to help writers in sorting out their stories for the most appropriate medium -- or as Ms. Hamlett puts it, "Stage, Page or Cinema" But the beauty of this book is that it goes beyond the question of "could it be a movie" and is chocked full of all kinds of much-needed advice and actual writing exercises which will provide all of us scribes with information that can make the creative process a much smoother ride and a more pleasurable journey!