The Whole Picture: Strategies for Screenwriting Success in the New Hollywood
Walter's name is synonymous with excellence in motion picture screenwriting. The guru of the completed script (he previously wrote Screenwriting: The Art, Craft and Business of Film and Television Writing, LJ 11/15/88), he here offers a tour de force of information for everyone who has ever contemplated writing a movie. While most how-to titles dwell on the three-act structure, strong character development, and other technical skills, Walter urges writers to draw from their own experience. He cheers for films with substance rather than today's matinees that may be shiny and shapely but void of any real soul. Equally impressive is Writing Treatments That Sell, a debut by two Hollywood writer-producers. Though some of their basic information seems to be a rehash of material found in just about every screenwriting book, everything pertaining to the actual writing of the treatment is original and fresh. There is no better book specifically on treatments. Both titles are highly recommended for appropriate collections.?Marty Dean Evensvold, Magnolia Branch Lib., Tex.Copyright 1997 Reed Business Information, Inc.