Writing And Selling Your First Screenplay

Screenwriter Glenn Benest, who lectures at UCLA and the American Film Institute, offers an insight-and-information packed 90 minutes on all aspects of the screenwriting business. Drawing on Syd Field's classic scriptwriting text Screenplay, Benest explains and discusses the importance of the tripartite structure of a screenplay, the use of plot points or narrative "hooks," why character is everything in a successful screenplay, how to get in and out of scenes, the difference between movie dialogue and real speech, writing for stars, developing good villains, and dealing with writer's block. Cutting between the classroom lecture and interviews with professionals in the film business, Writing and Selling Your First Screenplay provides invaluable advice to budding screenwriters on the craft of writing scripts, but it also focuses on the equally difficult (many would say more so) task of selling the completed screenplay. Benest shares his own personal stories about the business end of the business, and outlines several steps that writers can take to both protect and promote their work. Not a fancy production, this program is nevertheless a solid guide to the screenwriting trade which is sure to be both popular and helpful to the legion of aspiring wordsmiths that daily seek to enter the gates of Tinseltown. Highly recommended. Editor's Choice. (See PLAY MAH JONGG: THE CLASSIC GAME OF THE ORIENT for availability.)