Rating: 
Summary: Practical, useful, humorus, as if a friend is talking to you
Review: A Hollywood insider, Tom Lazarus has taken the time to organize his book into understandable parts. He begins with what could be the earliest expectations of the novice writer. Then as he develops the approaches to writing and the usual twists and turns that a writer would encounter in writing a script, he adds the personal comments, anecdotes, and metaphors that entertain as well as elucidate the writer's growth and development and challenges.Like William Goldman's more autobiographical "Which Lie Did I Tell" Lazarus puts his heart, mind, and strengths right on the table. He writes like a good friend telling you almost everything you want and need to know. He has the guts to tell you what will and will not work. I applaud him for that. As a writer of a How To book, he took the time and risked the emotional upheaval of writing from the heart to give us the goods. He also revised this book enough times to make it easy and fun to read and understand. This book is what you need to know to write a good script. Period. Thank you for a great book, Mr. Lazarus!
Rating:
Summary: Practical, useful, humorus, as if a friend is talking to you
Review: A Hollywood insider, Tom Lazarus has taken the time to organize his book into understandable parts. He begins with what could be the earliest expectations of the novice writer. Then as he develops the approaches to writing and the usual twists and turns that a writer would encounter in writing a script, he adds the personal comments, anecdotes, and metaphors that entertain as well as elucidate the writer's growth and development and challenges. Like William Goldman's more autobiographical "Which Lie Did I Tell" Lazarus puts his heart, mind, and strengths right on the table. He writes like a good friend telling you almost everything you want and need to know. He has the guts to tell you what will and will not work. I applaud him for that. As a writer of a How To book, he took the time and risked the emotional upheaval of writing from the heart to give us the goods. He also revised this book enough times to make it easy and fun to read and understand. This book is what you need to know to write a good script. Period. Thank you for a great book, Mr. Lazarus!
Rating:
Summary: Practical, real world advice
Review: All readers will be pleased with Tom Lazarus' SECRETS OF FILM WRITING, since it affords all budding screenwriters a welcome alternative to the much maligned three-act structure paradigm. Lazarus, author of five produced feature films, including STIGMATA, allows us to enter his screenwriting mind vicariously: the reader follows Lazarus' thought processes as he teaches screenwriting principles and reinforces them via examples from scripts he has written and/or directed. Best of all, no lesson is omitted. We learn about the traditional three-act structure, and then Tom Lazarus takes us through a screenwriting program unparalleled in screenwriting pedagogy: not only do we learn by reading from a plethora of examples from Lazarus sold/produced scripts, but we also learn key insights from reading some of Lazarus revisions: e.g. five different drafts of one piece of writing. I bought SECRETS OF FILM WRITING today and couldn't put it down until it was finished. I'm sure I'll read it a dozen times. Buy Lazarus' book immediately, read it several times, and add it to your permanent screenwriting reference library: books by Jennifer Lerch, Denny Martin Flinn, David Trottier, Irwin R. Blacker, Paul Argentini, Richard Walter, William Froug, William Goldman, Cristopher Vogler, Michael Hauge, and many other wonderful screenwriting instruction books. Yet despite this long and distinguised list of screenwriting authors, this much is for sure: Lazarus SECRETS OF FILM WRITING is a unique source book in form and content. What an exciting addition to screenwriting pedagogy...a wondrous new paradigm in screenwriting instruction!
Rating:
Summary: Secrets of Film Writing - Hail Lazarus! A Must-Own Gem!
Review: All readers will be pleased with Tom Lazarus' SECRETS OF FILM WRITING, since it affords all budding screenwriters a welcome alternative to the much maligned three-act structure paradigm. Lazarus, author of five produced feature films, including STIGMATA, allows us to enter his screenwriting mind vicariously: the reader follows Lazarus' thought processes as he teaches screenwriting principles and reinforces them via examples from scripts he has written and/or directed. Best of all, no lesson is omitted. We learn about the traditional three-act structure, and then Tom Lazarus takes us through a screenwriting program unparalleled in screenwriting pedagogy: not only do we learn by reading from a plethora of examples from Lazarus sold/produced scripts, but we also learn key insights from reading some of Lazarus revisions: e.g. five different drafts of one piece of writing. I bought SECRETS OF FILM WRITING today and couldn't put it down until it was finished. I'm sure I'll read it a dozen times. Buy Lazarus' book immediately, read it several times, and add it to your permanent screenwriting reference library: books by Jennifer Lerch, Denny Martin Flinn, David Trottier, Irwin R. Blacker, Paul Argentini, Richard Walter, William Froug, William Goldman, Cristopher Vogler, Michael Hauge, and many other wonderful screenwriting instruction books. Yet despite this long and distinguised list of screenwriting authors, this much is for sure: Lazarus SECRETS OF FILM WRITING is a unique source book in form and content. What an exciting addition to screenwriting pedagogy...a wondrous new paradigm in screenwriting instruction!
Rating:
Summary: Worth Owning
Review: I wasn't sure what to think of this book at first. It's a little unorthodox, a little unorganized, a little rambling. But I think there is a method to Lazurus' madness. He manages to bring his ideas across in easily digestable chunks. My one complaint is that the book reads a little more like a rough draft rather than a polished manuscript. Of all the screenwriting books I own (that would be all the big ones and some of the not-so-big-ones) this most clearly brings out what it is really like to be a living, breathing screenwriter. Lazurus is one. He's not the pedantic Syd Field (who to my knowledge has never sold a script) or the methodical Michael Hauge, but what he offers in pragmatism makes up for any shortcomings in presentation. -rdg3
Rating:
Summary: Perhaps the best second tier book on screenwriting
Review: Secrets of Film Writing by Tom Lazarus is a great (and perhaps the best) second tier book on screenwriting. By that I mean, it is not among the first three or so books to read if you want to start down that road of long-shot dreams of writing a script and selling it. Those first tier books I recommend are: Michael Hauge's Writing Screenplays that Sell (for my time and money better than the Syd Field books), Sidney Lumet's Making Movies, and (a real sleeper this one) Jon Boorstin's Making Movies Work.
Tom Lazarus's book is a breezy page turner that gives its many insights with economy and clarity -- exactly the style that we all should use in writing scripts. Like a good movie, it has a narrative drive that helps by making the hints entertaining. And it doesn't try to give you hundreds of insights, just three dozen or or so. But the "yield" of key jewels to routine advice is higher than almost any other screenwriting book.
For example on page 53, Lazarus says "try to write an 80 to 85 page first draft" (finished scripts usually end up at 110 to 125 pages long). This does so many things: forces a focus on the spine of the story, eliminates tons of distractions and marginal sub-plots, and leads to real discipline. Then you read that short first draft and figure out where to add depth to the characters, how to twist the plot again, and where to place nuance in scenes without stretching the total length beyond boredom. My experience as an aspiring screenwriter is that we amateurs always try to add too much too soon. We should value economy and clarity above all else. Like Tom Lazarus shows us in this book.
Rating:
Summary: Perhaps the best second tier book on screenwriting
Review: Secrets of Film Writing by Tom Lazarus is a great (and perhaps the best) second tier book on screenwriting. By that I mean, it is not among the first three or so books to read if you want to start down that road of long-shot dreams of writing a script and selling it. Those first tier books I recommend are: Michael Hauge's Writing Screenplays that Sell (for my time and money better than the Syd Field books), Sidney Lumet's Making Movies, and (a real sleeper this one) Jon Boorstin's Making Movies Work.
Tom Lazarus's book is a breezy page turner that gives its many insights with economy and clarity -- exactly the style that we all should use in writing scripts. Like a good movie, it has a narrative drive that helps by making the hints entertaining. And it doesn't try to give you hundreds of insights, just three dozen or or so. But the "yield" of key jewels to routine advice is higher than almost any other screenwriting book.
For example on page 53, Lazarus says "try to write an 80 to 85 page first draft" (finished scripts usually end up at 110 to 125 pages long). This does so many things: forces a focus on the spine of the story, eliminates tons of distractions and marginal sub-plots, and leads to real discipline. Then you read that short first draft and figure out where to add depth to the characters, how to twist the plot again, and where to place nuance in scenes without stretching the total length beyond boredom. My experience as an aspiring screenwriter is that we amateurs always try to add too much too soon. We should value economy and clarity above all else. Like Tom Lazarus shows us in this book.
Rating:
Summary: Practical, real world advice
Review: This book was a nice surprise. I hadn't heard anything about it when I stumbled upon it in a local bookstore. I scanned it and decided to buy it and I haven't been disappointed. Instead of throwing a lot of theory and rules at us, Lazarus takes the reader "inside" to see how a working screenwriter writes. Reading the book felt like having a conversation where you finally get to ask someone earning a living as a writer, "How do you do it?" I have lots of books on screenwriting. Among my favorites are books by Richard Walters, William Froug, Michael Hagge, and Linda Seger. I'm adding Lazarus' "Secrets of Film Writing" to my list of favorites and highly recommend it to anyone looking for entertaining, real world advice.
Rating:
Summary: Super Excellent book written by a produced screenwriter.
Review: To not being repetitive to what other reviewers have written, I want to add, that this book is first of all, written by a produced screenwriter with his movie Stigmata, so what he writes is based in his actual experience of writing screenplays, being rejected once and again, pitching sessions, until he hit his dream, so for me, this is a book with authority, full of resources and smart advice. I remember that once I had a doubt on how was the correct way to write a phone conversation, so first I tried other more technical books I have, but I couldn't find it, so I tried this and I found it. I have a suggestion for this and other great screenwriting books, PLEASE ADD AN INDEX.
Rating:
Summary: Great advice, ESPECIALLY if you already know how to write
Review: Tom Lazarus' style is simple and strait forward, almost conversational, making this book easy to read cover to cover in minimal time and with a minimum of effort (not that I'm adverse to a hard read, and I'm a reasonably intelligent person, but when you're balancing a full time job, a part time job, a long daily commute, a serious relationship, and - at present - three unfinished screenplays, easy is a good thing). True, other books may offer more concrete advice, but if you already know how to write, how to format, and have ingested all the formulas and theories you can stomach, this book is a breath of fresh air, a casual collection of simple, useful advice from a working screenwriter to the aspiring screenwriter. Read "Writing Screenplays That Sell" by Michael Hauge, "Writing Great Screenplays for Film and TV" by Dona Cooper, and "Poetics" by Aristotle, write something, then read this book.
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