Rating: 
Summary: one of the best guides to screenwriting
Review: syd field is a master of screenwriting.in this book he explains the everything about writing the screenplay that after you are done reading it you will be very much inspired.he breaks everything down chapter by chapter and even has exercises at the end of each chapter for you to practice your skills.a very important book for rookie screenwriters like me.
Rating:
Summary: Terrific!
Review: As a student of screenwriting, I've read everything there is on the subject and I can tell you Screenplay, by Syd Field is the best there is. You cannot and will not find a better or more definitive source for all of your screenwriting needs. This books adresses the needs of the beginning, intermediate and advanced screenwriter alike. Screenplay was written by the expert in the screenwriting industry. Syd Field, as a creative consultant, works with more than one thousand scripts per year. He lives and breathes this industry and knows it inside and out. Screenplay is just like sitting down with your own private mentor and letting him guide you through the process. I can't praise this book highly enough. Ten stars gladly! Fifteen!
Rating:
Summary: Absolutely The Best!
Review: Screenplay is absolutely the best book, written by the most qualified man, on the art and craft of screenwriting. And believe me, it does cover both the art and the craft. Anyone who studies Screenplay and still cannot write a great script needs to give up. (I do admit, of course, that many great scripts get passed over for various reasons but you still should be able to do it.) Screenplay, along with Field's other books, are really the only resources you will ever need to make your good script great! Buy Screenplay today. You can't go wrong and you'll learn more than you ever bargained for. In fact, buy two copies. Your first one will get worn out from all the use you'll give it!
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Summary: The Bible of the Industry
Review: This book is definitely the bible of the screenwriting industry. While no book is perfect and no book should be followed slavishly, Screenplay, by Syd Field is the leading book and the best book about screenplays ever written. It offers practical, easy-to-understand advice for the beginner and intermediate student and little nuances the more advanced writer can put to use. I have read and reread every book about screenwriting available and none can even come close to matching Screenplay. If you're truly ready to write a great script, buy Screenplay today, read it, study it...then write!
Rating:
Summary: Bibles of the Industry
Review: This book, along with Field's others, represent the bibles of the industry. As someone who works on more than 1000 screenplays per year, Field's books represent the leading "voice" in the Hollywood film industry. He not explains the basics but also the little nuances that really turn a mediocre or "good" script into a truly great one! Buy this book. Use it. Then buy all of Field's others. You certainly can't go wrong!
Rating: 
Summary: It will help you with structure
Review: This book will definitely help you with structuring your screenplay. However, he's a little too much in awe of the Chinatown script. Seems like every couple of pages he references it. Hey, it's a good script but stop worshipping Robert Towne already.If you want to write screenplays, I suggest you read this book very carefully, then forget about it. What you need to retain you will have retained. To use this book as a guide to writing a script the way you would use a recipe in a cookbook to make a meal is limiting yourself and the world of movies.
Rating: 
Summary: Good entry level book
Review: The concept of plot points as bench marks to shoot for clicks in every time I watch a movie. Makes it a whole new experience. This was the first book I read on screenwriting and then I wrote a screenplay and sent it in to Egg Productions. I haven't heard back yet. Good to have some order in mind to shoot for plot points because I tend to go way past them. The book I am waiting for is the one by his student who told Syd that the plot point was at page 33 in CHINATOWN.
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Summary: A CLASSIC!
Review: Many of the previous reviews have concentrated on the fact that Syd Field has given seminars on screenwriting, as if this fact makes him less worthy to write a book. They couldn't be more wrong. While Field has given seminars, he IS quite qualified. It is true that he has no "official" screenwriting credit, but he has done many, many years of re-writing, something Linda Seger has NEVER done, to my knowledge, although she does purport to be a "script doctor." As a former re-writer myself and the daughter of famed French director, Jean Renoir, I've seen many beginner's scripts and quite frankly, most of them are less than fifth-rate. ANYONE could learn all they need to know about screenplay structure from Field. I did. Previous reviewers have criticized him for making it seem too simple. Well, once you know the formula it IS simple. Just as Field says, screenwriting is formula writing and once you know the formula, you're limited only by your imagination. The previous reviewer says Field has gotten rich off seminars encouraging people to write screenplays that will never be made into movies. First, I doubt that Field has gotten rich off seminars. No one gets rich from seminars. I don't even know if Field IS rich and I don't think the status of his bank account should be a factor in evaluating his book. Second, Field makes it clear that very few screenplays will ever be made into movies, be they good OR bad. He doesn't give false hope, he doesn't suger-coat the difficulty of breaking into this area of writing. What he does do is help those determined to "make it" in the tough world of Hollywood screenwriting. I worked in Hollywood. I didn't care for it, so I left. I wouldn't encourage anyone to be a screenwriter--Hollywood is too much of a "closed society." But closed or not, there are those who "Screenplay" is a classic. It is simply the best book, written by the most qualified man, on the subject of screenwriting. If you really want to learn to write a first-class screenplay then go with experience. Field's the best. As for who remembers Witness. I do. It's a classic, just like this book. END
Rating: 
Summary: should not be the leading screenwriting guide
Review: This book is written from the perspective of a seminar teacher who has gotten rich making thousands feel good about screenplays that will never be produced. Syd Field offers no useful insider's perspective on what sells in Hollywood. The sum total of his insight into screenwriting is that your script should have three acts, with turning points at the end of the first two. While this is true, there is so much more to learn about screenwriting, and numerous other books (by such authors as Michael Hauge, David Trottier, Linda Seger) provide far more assistance. Syd Field has made it big as a kind of New Age guru for all those who want to "express themselves" through screenplays that have no hope of ever being purchased. His book may have been more groundbreaking in 1979 when it first came out, but it has been long since superseded. Which brings me to another point. This so-called "completely revised and updated" edition is a total sham. All the examples are from movies that are now a quarter-century old and hopelessly out-of-date; who the heck remembers "Silver Streak," "An Unmarried Woman," or "Three Days of the Condor" anymore? Field tossed in two pages of references to "Witness" in the introduction, and a useless section on screenwriting by computer (already outdated). Otherwise the text here is word-for-word the same as the original 1979 edition. For anyone who is serious about becoming a working screenwriter, don't waste your time on this book.
Rating:
Summary: Wonderful for all stages
Review: I have read a number of screenplay books and find this one to be one of the best. Wonderful break down of the chapters and insight to each topic. This book has given me a good foundation on story and character development. I like to refer back to it from time to time. TG
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