How to Write Great Screenplays and Get Them into Production
A very practical and businesslike take on scriptwriting...effectively delivers the most essential information in all areas of concern in the craft of scriptwriting. This is an introduction to the concepts of screenwriting that will take your scriptwriting from the basics to a good and near professional level. For that, it has to get five stars. The appendices are also fantastic As a manual for making progress in a highly complex, formulaic, market-driven industry, this book is indispensable.
In this beautifully written and inspiring book, Claudia Johnson leads the reader through the process of writing the short film, along the way illuminating something much bigger--how to write great drama in any form. A very accessible book, well-researched and full of original thinking, Crafting Short Screenplays That Connect adds an important part to the literature of screenwriting and filmmaking, and will undoubtedly lead to some great short films.
Talk Is Cheap: Sarcasm, Alienation, and the Evolution of Language
Putting aside questions of truth and falsehood, the old "talk is cheap" maxim carries as much weight as ever. Indeed, perhaps more. For one need not be an expert in irony or sarcasm to realize that people don't necessarily mean what they say. Phrases such as "Yeah, right" and "I could care less" are so much a part of the way we speak - and the way we live - that we are more likely to notice when they are absent (for example, Forrest Gump). From our everyday dialogues and conversations ("Thanks a lot!") to the screenplays of our popular films (Pulp Fiction), what is said is frequently very different from what is meant.
