Rating: 
Summary: You Need This Book
Review: As a screenwriting instructor, I can say, unequivocally, you need this book! If you've spent time and money perfecting your craft, then you need this book to make sure you do the very best job possible with structure, plot, characterization, dialogue, etc. And you can't go wrong with Field. Many people have tried to put him down by calling him a "guru" but that's just sour grapes! Syd IS the guru of screenwriting and with good reason. He's the best. If you let him, he'll teach you to be the best as well. Highly recommended!
Rating:
Summary: You Need This Book
Review: As a screenwriting instructor, I can say, unequivocally, you need this book! If you've spent time and money perfecting your craft, then you need this book to make sure you do the very best job possible with structure, plot, characterization, dialogue, etc. And you can't go wrong with Field. Many people have tried to put him down by calling him a "guru" but that's just sour grapes! Syd IS the guru of screenwriting and with good reason. He's the best. If you let him, he'll teach you to be the best as well. Highly recommended!
Rating:
Summary: THIS IS A SCREENWRITER'S DREAM
Review: Before I read Mr. Field's book, I thought I understood what I needed to do to make a screenplay I had written better. Wrong! After reading this book, I suddenly had a new insight and a new set of tools to trouble shoot my own scripts, as well as others. It truly is the best craft book I have ever read about screenwriting, and I have every one that's been published. Great book! I recommend it to everyone who wants to sharpen the tools of their craft.
Rating:
Summary: Should be in every writer's library
Review: How useful is it to have extremely vague and rambling prose accompanied by already fixed examples? Answer: not useful at all. If Sid wants us to learn, he has to show us flawed scripts, then what happens when he fixes them. I personally found this book full of lame advice, describing problems only complete fools would run into. Maybe that is the point. The two things I salvaged from this book are: a) Do an outline of your screenplay first, then write around that. NEVER start writing from scratch, no matter how bold an approach it seems. b) Put lots of action in your screenplay, avoid dialogue driven plays. Think Dogma. Apart from that, I liked how Sid harped on cruddy movies like Die Hard 3 and Broken Arrow... but he never shows us how or where they break down... he only says that they do. Now that you have read my review, you got all the good stuff from the book, so I just saved you money. Buy his earlier books, this just seems like it was written solely to make a quick buck.
Rating: 
Summary: Repetitive, boring
Review: How useful is it to have extremely vague and rambling prose accompanied by already fixed examples? Answer: not useful at all. If Sid wants us to learn, he has to show us flawed scripts, then what happens when he fixes them. I personally found this book full of lame advice, describing problems only complete fools would run into. Maybe that is the point. The two things I salvaged from this book are: a) Do an outline of your screenplay first, then write around that. NEVER start writing from scratch, no matter how bold an approach it seems. b) Put lots of action in your screenplay, avoid dialogue driven plays. Think Dogma. Apart from that, I liked how Sid harped on cruddy movies like Die Hard 3 and Broken Arrow... but he never shows us how or where they break down... he only says that they do. Now that you have read my review, you got all the good stuff from the book, so I just saved you money. Buy his earlier books, this just seems like it was written solely to make a quick buck.
Rating:
Summary: Should be in every writer's library
Review: I had read Field's excellent book Screenplay several years ago, and it helped me tremendously in writing my first screenplay. Since them I have written two more, but neither of them have sold. When I finished my last screenplay, I knew I had some problems, but I didn't know what I could do to fix it. So,I gave it to a few people to read,and then everyone started giving me different advice.The more people I gave it to, the more confused I became. So, I got the Screenwriter's Problem Solver and was absolutely delighted to find a way I could identify and define the problems in my own screenplay.It was like I really felt I could take control of my own writing. When I finished the book,I approached my screenplay with the understanding of how to recognize and analyze the problems, then break them down into the various problem catagories of plot, character and structure. I really feel the book has been instrumental in my understanding of how to approach the solving my problems in the rewrite. Each chapter took me through a different area of the process and I'm happy to say that after I rewrote my script, which took several months, I submitted it to a production company and while they didn't buy it, they liked it well enough to recommend an agent in Hollywood, and he is now showing it around. I'm so happy to have read this book; it is so literate, so clear, I see why Field is called the "meta guru of screenwriters."
Rating:
Summary: WHAT A GREAT BOOK111
Review: I've been stuck on my screenplay for months now. It's good, I know it's good, but I didn't know what was wrong with it. I tried all the other books, some were good, others not. But this book just nailed it down for me. I found out what was wrong, and how to fix it. Great job. I'm going to read everything Field has written.GET THIS BOOK!!
Rating: 
Summary: laughable
Review: It teaches you the structure and how knowing the structure can help you solve your problem. I think it should be taken a step further to show you how you can know the structure to make an alternative. But overall, while not necessarily a writer's block book, will teach you some interesting ideas if you common folk get thsi imaginary disease.
Rating: 
Summary: Repetitive/Informitive
Review: It teaches you the structure and how knowing the structure can help you solve your problem. I think it should be taken a step further to show you how you can know the structure to make an alternative. But overall, while not necessarily a writer's block book, will teach you some interesting ideas if you common folk get thsi imaginary disease.
Rating:
Summary: FOR SCRIPTWRITERS, ANY WRITERS, GET THIS BOOK!!
Review: Mr. Field separates the vague monsters we all face when a project runs off-track: characters, plot, and more. My copy still delivers, despite rolled back pages, coffee stains, and margin scribbles. Mr. Field is a name but more a skillful teacher emphasizing the editing eye we need to survive! THANK YOU, Mr. FIELD!
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