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Summary: Power Screenwriting Rocked my World
Review: I am jamming through my second year of Film school, and already starting to get pretty bored. I love the technical end, but as far as the creative side of things the professors are either so anti-hollywood establishment, or so enamored with it, it's hard to get an unbiased P.O.V. to reflect upon. Then I had the uncanny opportunity to hear Walker's "Master Class" featured on screenwriter.com, and what he had to say blew me out of the water.His claim that storytellers are the creative engineers of every culture, time, and epoch is food enough for thought, but then he goes out and proves it through the myriad examples of archetypal
story structures, such as the Hero myth, the Outlaw myth,and for me, the most profound of all, the Messiah myth, are once in a lifetime, life-changing epiphanies. I began to question the relevancy and veracity of all these so-called religious notions that influence our lives and culture so completely. Walker's decree for the aspiring artist/filmmaker to concern himself with not "what was true once, but what is true always" has become my own motto to live by. I definitely believe that reading this book will make me a better film director, I never counted on it inspiring me to become a wiser human being!
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Summary: Great book, great teacher
Review: I had the great fortune to study under Michael Walker at the College of Santa Fe. He is definitely one of the brightest lights around - a teacher and writer of the first caliber. If you have any access to his mind, via lecture, this book, online, or otherwise, and you have a true desire to write and write well, take that opportunity. Power Screenwriting (then in a mimeographed and spiral bound form) was the first book I was exposed to on screenwriting and it continues to be the ONLY one that I refer to again and again. Well done, Michael!
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Summary: Power Screenwriting is Required Reading
Review: I have literally read thirteen books on screenwriting technique and story development and this one easily trumps every single one of them. I have used his guide on every screenplay I've ever completed, one of which is already in development.
If you are looking for a book which can expand your ideas into full-length screenplays without having to write to Hollywood's block-buster market, "Twelve Steps" will arm you with the perspective, creativity, courage and form to do so.
Among other things, Walker engages his readers in the creative process, developing one's own voice, and structuring that voice around ancient story-telling techniques (like the warrior myth). In twelve steps, you can easily expand a phrase like "tampering with nature | leads to | nature getting out of control" into an entire film like Jurassic Park. Piece by piece, bit by bit.
Don't get me wrong, the writing process is still long and does require substantial effort, but if you are committed and looking for a guide to take you to the next level, Twelve Steps is the only choice. Everyone has an idea, but unless you know how to cultivate it, it will never see the light of day.
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Summary: The Screenwriter's Philosopher's Stone, Par Excellence
Review: It's about being subversive! This famous quote from Quentin Tarantino in the movie, Sleep with Me , drives the central theme for Power Screenwriting: The 12 Stages of Story Development and makes it a classic, must own, guide for every aspiring story-teller. While so-many manuals exploit the 'get-rich' quick titillation of the big buck spec sale, Walker lends his formidable erudition and experience to guiding the writer inwardly to a more profound understanding of his craft, the power of archetypal structure, and the challenges every writer faces in casting off his own artifice, and striving for an original, creative mind. I found this book to be nothing less than a modern day philosopher's stone. It is quite simply, pure excellence. The best I've ever read on the subject and I've read them all.
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Summary: Stodgy and uninsightful
Review: Judging from the subtitle (The 12 *Stages* of Story Development) and the back-cover blurb, with its claim to answer such questions as "I've written thirty pages of my script - where do I go from there?", one could expect this book to be about method, namely how to build a scenario, flesh it out, edit it, and present it for submission. In fact, only the last 15 out of 265 pages are really devoted to method, and the methodological contents of the book can be summarized in a small number of guidelines:
. write a 3-part plot outline (opening/body/ending),
. the number of pages in each part of the finished script should be 30-60-30,
. don't start writing until you can use your outline as a blueprint that you can develop without getting stuck,
. use dedicated software to find out exactly what should go into a script before submitting it.
I'm still kicking myself for wasting time reading the book back to back. Skipping to the last chapter after reading the first 3 "steps" (theme, 3-act template, premise) would have saved me considerable time and avoided exposure to sickening repetitiousness and bombast about the Hollywood script writer as a prophet of our time. What is referred to as a "step" is in the best of cases a form of summary or outline (e.g. theme, 3-act template) and in most cases a simple set of staple ingredients of dubious value (the hero as an orphan, the fairy tale as a myth taking place in a provincial world, etc.).
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Summary: Writing quality screenplays quickly and efficiently
Review: Professional screenwriter Michael Chase Walker (The Last Unicorn; Earthman's Burden; The Arrow and the Lamp; Seven Years in Tibet; Siddhartha; Sir Gawain and the Green Knight; Love and Anarchy; The Poet and the Tsar) draws upon his many years of experience and success to write Power Screenwriting: The 12 Stages Of Story Development, a structural, methodical, step-by-step, "how to" guide to . Breaking down the process in simple yet essential steps, screenwriting professor and author Michael Walker demonstrates his craft for aspiring screenwriters of all experience levels. A superbly practical, down-to-earth guide to basic screenwriting traditions, Power Screenwriting is not only recommended reading for aspiring or practicing screenwriters for television or film, but would be of profound interest to storytellers in any for of literary or artistic expression.
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Summary: This is not a manual, it's the Bible!
Review: There are only a few how-to books in life that resonate so completely on your inner knowing, instincts, inspiration and ambitions. Power Screenwriting is one of them. I bought one through Amazon.com because I needed help desperately on a College of Santa Fe student film project and Walker had been a prof. there for a number of years, so there was a lot of "great buzz" about his story-telling classes and theories. I never expected what I found. Just pure inspiration on a hundred different levels from everyday life, the struggling artist/student bit, but most of all a whole new way of looking at movies and life itself. Awesome! Besides that the 12 stages he writes about really work! I mean, I'd read everything
from Linda Seger to Syd Fields but I was still stymied. Walker set me straight and I soared through Film school because of it! This book is so cool. I can't recommend it enough.
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Summary: Best of the Bunch!
Review: This is simply the best screenwriting book I've read, and I've read them all. I am not a professional. I am a graduate student studying history, but I have always aspired to writing for the screen. If you want to read about style and format, this book is not what you are looking for. However, if you want to read about theme, premise, structure, character development and other important facets of screenwriting this book is right up your ally. After reading this book my passion for screenwriting was reinvigorated and am now finishing up my first script. I hope everyone finds this book as helpful as I did.
Rating:
Summary: Best of the Bunch!
Review: This is simply the best screenwriting book I've read, and I've read them all. I am not a professional. I am a graduate student studying history, but I have always aspired to writing for the screen. If you want to read about style and format, this book is not what you are looking for. However, if you want to read about theme, premise, structure, character development and other important facets of screenwriting this book is right up your ally. After reading this book my passion for screenwriting was reinvigorated and am now finishing up my first script. I hope everyone finds this book as helpful as I did.
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Summary: Movies are the Dreams of Mankind!
Review: We've all suspected it, but Walker reveals definitively how and why movies spring from and reflect our wildest dreams and aspirations, as well as our deepest fears and nightmares. It may seem obvious to many, but somehow with the insights and invaluable techniques he offers and explains in detail, he makes the film writer feel the weight of the world's problems squarely on their shoulders-- and that the ability to remedy them lies within the wordsmith's mind and craft, as well. When I bought the book after a personal book signing appearance and lecture I thought was merely adding to my already extensive collection of screenwriting guides. I've noticed every time I hit a wall in my thought and development process I would buy another book. What I found with Power Screenwriting was much, much more. Here was the exact process of 'worrying' a story into completion before me. I didn't have to stop and turn to a thousand different manuals or discarded workbooks. I felt I could do my thing and then when I was stuck I could turn to this brilliantly laid out 12 stage approach and find the exact answer I was looking for. Plus,Power Screenwriting encourages and shows you how to write stories from a deep psychological and archetypal level, so that your stories have the greatest impact on the mind of the moviegoer possible. Walker places the onus of social evolution and conscious thought on the screenwriters, mythmakers and storytellers of today, and that writing for film is not just some casual extracurricular past time, but a noble 'calling' for the greatest creative engineers of each generation. I wholly concure and with this book believe I can really achieve so lofty a goal. Also recommended: The Power of Myth by Joseph Campbell The Art of Dramatic Writing by Lajos Egri The Courage to Create by Rollo May
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