So You Want to be a Screenwriter: A Book List

Unlike other forms of writing, when you write a screenplay, a teleplay or a stage play, your job is only just beginning.

And often, the easiest part is the writing itself.

It’s the rest of the job — pitching the script, doing a multitude of requested rewrites, being ignored and generally treated worse than hired help . . . and then they send your script out to somebody you’ve never heard of who rewrites the whole thing from scratch!

Nonetheless, there are people who long to get their stories up on the silver screen. These books can teach you how to write the screenplay, how to sell your story and how to survive afterward with your ego intact.

So You Want to be a Screenwriter?

Interested in one or more of these books? Click the mouse on the book title to order it from your local CLEVNET library.

• Story: Substance, Structure, Style and the Principles of Screenwriting by Robert McKee

 

• Story: Substance, Structure, Style and the Principles of Screenwriting (Audio Book on CD) by Robert McKee

 

• The Complete Book of Scriptwriting by J. Michael Straczynski

 

• Screenwriting Tips, You Hack: 150 Practical Pointers for Becoming A Better Screenwriter by Xander Bennett

 

• Break into Screenwriting (Teach Yourself Series) by Ray Frensham

 

• The Only Writing Series You’ll Ever Need — Screenwriting: Insider Tips and Techniques to Write for the Silver Screen! by Madeline DiMaggio

 

• Now Write! Screenwriting: Exercises by Today’s Best Writers and Teachers by Sherry Ellis with Laurie Lamson

 

• The Inner Game of Screenwriting: 20 Winning Story Forms by Sandy Frank

 

• Screenwriting by Declan McGrath

 

• Screenwriting: A Practical Guide to Pursuing the Art by Jason Skog

 

• You Can Write A Movie by Pamela Wallace

 

• This Business of Screenwriting: How to Protect Yourself as A Screenwriter by Ron Suppa

 

• The Writer’s Journey: Mythic Structure for Writers (3rd. edition) by Christopher Vogler

 

• Screenplay: The Foundations of Screenwriting (Rev. edition) by Syd Field

 

• The Screenwriter’s Workbook: Exercises and step-by-step instructions for Creating a Successful Screenplay (Rev. edition) by Syd Field

 

• Selling A Screenplay: The Screenwriter’s Guide to Hollywood by Syd Field

 

• Four Screenplays: Studies in the American Screenplay: An Analysis of Four Groundbreaking Contemporary Classics by Syd Field

 

• Adventures in the Screen Trade: A Personal View of Hollywood and Screenwriting by William Goldman

 

• Which Lie Did I Tell?, Or, More Adventures in the Screen Trade by William Goldman

 

• William Goldman: Five Screenplays with Essays by William Goldman

 

• William Goldman: Four Screenplays with Essays by William Goldman

 

• The Devil’s Guide to Hollywood: The Screenwriter as God! by Joe Eszterhas

 

• Tales from the Script: 50 Hollywood Screenwriters Share Their Stories edited by Peter Hanson and Paul Robert Herman

 

• Horror Screenwriting: The Nature of Fear by Devin Watson

 

• Writing the Thriller Film: The Terror Within by Neill D. Hicks

 

• Writing the Action-adventure Film: The Moment of Truth by Neill D. Hicks

 

• Writing the Romantic Comedy: The Art and Craft of Writing Screenplays That Sell by Billy Mernit

 

• Writing Comedy: A Guide to Scriptwriting for TV, Radio, Film and Stage (Rev. edition) by Ronald Wolfe

 

• Fast, Cheap, and Written That Way: Top Screenwriters on Writing for Low-budget Movies by John Gaspard

 

• Writing Docudrama: Dramatizing Reality for Film and TV by Alan Rosenthal

 

Check Out This Version:

You can view another version of So You Want to be a Screenwriter? book list complete with my annotations for many of the books at the CLEVNET webcatalog.