Rating: 
Summary: Realistic Hands-On Help for Wanna-Be Screenwriters
Review: I inhaled this book in one reading. The next day I read it again. The third day, I started taking notes. How can you resist a book that opens with: "The first thing you really want to know when you're buying a book about screenwriting is...who is this guy? Has he won an Oscar?" (I'm not going to tell you the answer.) I know nothing about screenwriting, but by dumb luck and reading the reviews, I selected this as my first book on the subject. I learn faster from my mistakes and Mr. Flinn kindly offered up a platter full of them for me to consume and learn from. Very, very comfortable, practical reading from a man who is a professional reader of screenplays. He tells you the most basic information like what margins and tab settings to use, the preferred length of movie scripts, all the way through to character development, structure, conflict and story pacing. I have since skimmed two other books on the topic, but I would recommend reading this one first. I'm glad it's getting 5 star reviews. It is an excellent book for beginners! But to get the most out of it, read it several times so his overall message will REALLY sink in: pacing, pacing, pacing...make your story move like greased lightening and keep the reader interested!!
Rating: 
Summary: Pretty good
Review: I liked this book because it points out the things that Hollywood readers will see as showstoppers. Following their tips might get your screenplay past step number one and at least get it to the next step, being read. There's no guarantee that your screenplay will be read, but this will help get the format and general story so that it doesn't appear to be unprofessional.
Rating:
Summary: No-nonsense advice from a voice of experience
Review: I looked at over a dozen books giving advice on how to write a screenplay for a feature film before I chose "How Not to Write a Screenplay." The other books were filled with fluffy, meaningless encouragement like "Before you turn in your Oscar-winning script..." My eyes couldn't roll back far enough into my head for that one. By contrast, Denny Martin Flinn packs his book with helpful, meaningful advice on what most budding screenwriters get wrong, and how to make it right. Within five minutes of looking at it, I found three things that were incorrect about how I had been formatting the screenplay I'm working on, and once I saw the problems, I could also completely see why doing it the right way made more sense for a potential reader.
Flinn writes efficiently, with a no-nonsense style that I really found appealing. He's honest and he's clear, and he gets right to the point on why things work the way they do. Even better are the examples he's chosen: From "Alien" to "The Elephant Man" to "Lethal Weapon," each of the script examples highlighted in the book is perfect for the point Flinn makes, and gives the reader a thorough grounding in what he is talking about.
"How Not to Write a Screenplay" is divided into three main parts: "Form," "Content," and "Development." "Form" is easily the longest and most in-depth section, taking up about two-thirds of the book, while "Development" (the stage which occurs after a screenplay is purchased and is being produced) is only a few pages in length. Clearly, Flinn wanted to emphasize the form of screenplay writing for this book, so readers looking for help with content or the development stage might do well to look to another book. Flinn himself makes no bones about what his book is about, as in the Introduction he states: "If you can avoid the faults I have collected here, you may not write a particularly good screenplay. But you won't write a bad one. The rest is up to you."
In terms of the form of screenplay writing, this book is an invaluable resource to learn from. By showing the reader what not to do, he makes the resulting screenplay more readable to a potential producer, and thus more likely to garner the interest of the person reading it. In terms of content and development, the book is helpful in some ways, but the most helpful section is by far the first one. This book is ideal for a screenwriter who has a good idea and wants to have a go at it, but isn't sure how to get it right so that someone might actually read it. Flinn's advice will help that writer get it onto paper.
Here's the skinny: this book gives its advice from the standpoint of a frequent reader of screenplays, and I already feel that it has made me a better writer of screenplays. I can't think of a better reason to give it a shot than that.
Rating:
Summary: Fast read, to the point
Review: I picked this one up by chance. Very pleased with it. It's funny, blunt, and packed with stuff *not* to do.
Like the other reviewers said: it doesn't tell you how to write a great screenplay, just how not to write a bad one.
His tone is informal and personal, with a comic cynical edge.
Rating:
Summary: Easy to grasp
Review: I read the first 70 pages of this book Christmas morning, on the couch, surrounded by piles of gift wrap, with my whole family running around and being loud. And another 30 pages in Math class (where the boys are like zoo animals).
The point? It's fairly easy to read. Plus when you see bad examples, it's cool to be able to spot right off the bat why they are bad. This book makes you feel good because you actually get what's being said.
Nextly, it's pretty funny, and I laughed aloud quite a few times. For someone like myself, who'd never written a screenplay, but had a lot of ideas, the book gave me a nice heads up into the world and writing and made me aware of basic things that might ruin a screenplay.
Rating:
Summary: This is an excellent sourcebook
Review: I saw this book as a way to start. Since most of us learn by our mistakes, including myself, this book seemed to be the best way to begin learning how to write a screenplay. When I first started reading I was amazed at how simple and easy it was to follow. I breaks down the screenplay in two parts, form and content. This is absolutely true and this book give excellent suggestions on what NOT to do. Learn from your mistakes, but don't make the mistake of passing on this book as a resource.
Rating:
Summary: One of the most useful screenwriting books you'll ever find.
Review: I'm another one of those people who has read dozens of books on screenwriting, still hoping to find whatever new information that hasn't already been covered twenty times before. Flinn's book is the real deal. Not only does he present information not covered in most other books, but he does so with the straightforwardness of a good friend and the expertise of a polished industry veteran. He even covers a pet peeve of mine in this kind of book: If this author knows so much about writing, why have I *never* seen a movie that he/she has written?
(I mean, come on... name one movie you've ever seen written by Syd Field.) Flinn makes it clear his experience lies in a background even more unsung and mysterious to writers, that of a studio reader. If ever the phrase "know your enemy" was more apt....Proving that he can practice what he preaches, the author gives us a good read; smooth and descriptive from start to finish. You'll go through it as though the pages were greased. (Heck, I work five days a week and four nights a week, and I still sped through all 200+ pages in about 4 days, despite my schedule.) Ultimately, If I were asked to suggest to an aspiring screenwriter only three things to read, they would have to be: 1) "The Screenwriter's Bible" by David Trottier,
2) Any script written by James Cameron,
3) "How Not To Write A Screenplay" by Denny Martin Flinn.
Rating: 
Summary: What type of scale are you people using?
Review: I'm not sure what type of scale you folks are using that you've given this book a five star rating but it does not convert in my world. I have read a dozen well respected books on the subject. The information in this book often goes against tried and (still) true recommendations and, at times, contradicts itself. It is not useless, but should be read only after a large body of other, legitimate works have been absorbed to salt the read. I hope this rating system can prove itself trustworthy by submitting a less flattering review.
Rating:
Summary: Save your money... BUY THIS BOOK!
Review: I've purchased dozens of screenwriting books over the last few years, and I read them all voraciously. I always seemed to come away feeling somewhat empty and lost (with the exception of anything written by William Froug.) This book, however, is worth its weight in gold. Forget all that formula stuff and write from the heart, but keep what you learn from this book close to your heart as you slave away on your masterpiece. Once you have a solid foundation of rules to follow that will at least increase your odds of not being dismissed by the pro reader for some silly technical mistake, you are truly free to tell your story in the best way... YOUR WAY. I would have saved hundreds of dollars on books if I had read this one first.
Rating:
Summary: Super Book, I wish it had an index
Review: The book is great it covers everything a writer needs for a great screenplay. The author gives examples in a practical way. The only big drawback, is that it doesn't have an index, so if you want to know how to set a phone conversation, or how to use a flashback and return to the present moment in the same scene, you have to go to the table of contents, and most of the time it doesn't help, so I had to use the Screenwriter's Bible, because it has a very good index, and I found my answers instantly. Anyway, as I said, the book is great, and is extremely helpful, every page you read will teach you something.
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