Rating: 
Summary: Too many words - to few facts
Review: Reducing this book's approximately 350 pages to 35 would in my humble opinion have made it a hundred times better, and the price perhaps more in line with the informative value. Lecturing on about how important it is to adapt one's script to the right format, and constant nagging on about avoiding talking heads, the author himself could have considered checking up on some of his own advice on how to keep the reader's interest, and avoiding dull and uninteresting writing. I forced myself to continue through the 3-8 chapter (of a total of 22) with the cod-liver-oil-attitude; "I hate this, but I must - it's supposed to be good for me". Repeating sentences every ten minutes might function well in the author's classroom lecturing, but on print it's overly annoying. Especially when nothing really new seems to surface after chapter one. Sorry, but I got the feeling that somebody is trying to "squeeze some extra dollars out of me by using a well selling name", rather than was my hope; a sharing of real knowledge... hopefully made out of the urge to tell something of real value. Isn't this the perfect example of the wrong motivation for writing, the very same as the author is urging his reader no to do? A much better read, and far more comprehensive, informative and enlightening, I find Linda Seger's book "How to make a good script great" which I am currently enjoying.
Rating: 
Summary: Syd Field is a legend
Review: Syd Field is the Richard Simmons/Anthony Robbins/Jay The Juiceman of Screenwriting. I say this because he is a master of his craft (script consulting) and proves this in every book which he writes. His video series, which I have seen a little bit of, deserves to be advertised on an infomercial. I love Syd Fields book on rewriting. He goes places where Seger and Deemer combined don't, digging deep into every revision element you could think of. I also think that this is his best book (although Screenplay, Four Screenplays, and Screenwriters Workshop are still in my opinion required reads for any person interested in this area of the fine arts), and I am anticipating the last draft of my soon-to-be-sent screenplay to be complete, of course with the help of this book. Take care!
Rating:
Summary: Dull and boring
Review: The content of this book can be told in less than 50 pages, but it takes Syd over 300 pages. Syd Field stresses in this book that he's always looking for a lean, clean and tight screenplay. Well this book is just the opposite. The book constantly repeats itself and thus become a dull and boring book to read. Although this book contains some valuable advice, it gets completely lost in the writing style.
Rating:
Summary: This book is literally a problem solver
Review: This book is the best tool to assist screenwriters in getting the most out of their scenes and characters. Field's simple, straight forward sentence structure allows the reader to easily find and understand any problem he or she may encounter in the screenwriting process. Field tosses out the technical lingo and explains things in a basic way that anyone could comprehend. He makes screenwriting fun.
Rating:
Summary: laughable
Review: This is hilarious, I mean it, "screenwriters" putting out books on screenwriting even though, they themselves, couldn't write a worthwhile screenplay if their lives depended on it. First of all, you have got to ask yourself what has this guy written that was ever produced? You got it. This is like all those teachers of writing who have never ever written a novel that went anywhere.
My advice is: read some good screenplays and look at some great films and then spend some time thinking about it all: What makes them work? Why do you like them? You might also take a look at a few awful flicks to see why they're awful.
The thing you must keep in mind when writing for the screen (it's no different from writing a short story or novel) there must be a compelling tale that you are aching to tell, etc. you need strong characters and don't go overboard with a whole lot of dialogue. Also: a page of script equals a minute of scren time. That's about it. And, oh yeah, re-writing takes work and patience and diligence. If you're dedicated and have a strong story to get out there and stay with it you'll probably succeed. Only don't throw your money away on these how-to books, because they will only screw your head up (and it may take years to un-do all the damage). The writer Joseph Wambough of the excellently written and directed THE ONION FIELD and THE BLACK MARBLE said it best: screenwriting is story-telling.
Rating:
Summary: laughable
Review: This is hilarious, I mean it, "screenwriters" putting out books on screenwriting even though, they themselves, couldn't write a worthwhile screenplay if their lives depended on it. First of all, you have got to ask yourself what has this guy written that was ever produced? You got it. This is like all those teachers of writing who have never ever written a novel that went anywhere.
My advice is: read some good screenplays and look at some great films and then spend some time thinking about it all: What makes them work? Why do you like them? You might also take a look at a few awful flicks to see why they're awful.
The thing you must keep in mind when writing for the screen (it's no different from writing a short story or novel) there must be a compelling tale that you are aching to tell, etc. you need strong characters and don't go overboard with a whole lot of dialogue. Also: a page of script equals a minute of scren time. That's about it. And, oh yeah, re-writing takes work and patience and diligence. If you're dedicated and have a strong story to get out there and stay with it you'll probably succeed. Only don't throw your money away on these how-to books, because they will only screw your head up (and it may take years to un-do all the damage). The writer Joseph Wambough of the excellently written and directed THE ONION FIELD and THE BLACK MARBLE said it best: screenwriting is story-telling.
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