Enhanced descriptions from Syndetics:

Offering insights into the creative processes involved in being a screenwriter, this volume provides first-hand accounts of the industry from a group of 13 screenwriters. Their experiences are illustrated with script excerpts, hand-written notes, storyboards, film stills, and photographs.

Table of contents provided by Syndetics

• Introduction
• Taxi Driver, Raging Bull, American Gigolo
• The Seven Year Itch, The Manchurian Candidate
• The Falcon and the Snowman, Schindler's List
• My Left Foot, The Field
• All the President's Men, The Princess Bride
• The Unbearable Lightness of Being, Belle de Jour
• Will to Live, A Last Note
• Monsters, Inc., A Bug's Life And more
• Picture Credits
• Index

Reviews provided by Syndetics

CHOICE Review

Released in the "Screencraft" series, which explores the various crafts of filmmaking, this volume lives up to its promise to "unravel" the language of screenwriting. Although McGrath and MacDermott are film editors, not screenwriters, their introduction captures the essence of screenwriting: the story (or, in political terms, it's the story, stupid). They view screenwriting as an extension of the oral tradition of storytellers around the campfire, now the "global flickering light of cinema." To tell the "story" of this craft, they gathered a wonderful array of screenwriters (among the 13--one per chapter--are icons William Goldman, Robert Towne, Krzysztof Piesiewicz, and Suso D'Amico), who offer reflections and insights on the art of screenwriting and advice on the nuts and bolts (e.g., writing effective dialogue). No screenwriting book can ignore the element of structure, a topic well covered here by discussions of the traditional three-act form and alternative narrative forms. Numerous visual materials--screenplay excerpts, rough scene outlines, film stills--are instructively arranged. For instance, stills and screenplay pages are placed next to each other to illustrate how specific scenes translate from page to screen. Also commendable is the inclusion of international screenwriters (such works often concentrate on US writers). ^BSumming Up: Highly recommended. All film collections; all levels. S. B. DeMasi Suffolk County Community College--Ammerman Campus