How to Write a Selling Screenplay

by Christopher Keane

Christopher Keane has spent 20 years in the business, learning the truths--and the tricks--of writing a selling screenplay. In "How to Write a Selling Screenplay, " he takes writers through the entire... This description may be from another edition of this product.

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0767900715
• ISBN13: 9780767900713
• Release Date: April 1998
• Publisher: Three Rivers Press
• Length: 320 Pages
• Weight: 0.84 lbs.
• Dimensions: 9.2" x 0.8" x 6.2"

Customer Reviews

Not just for screenwriters

While this book does have a lot of insight on writing a screenplay (especially the first screenplay), there are a lot of thoughtful points about aspects of writing like story, character, and structure that are useful for writers in any genre. This was the book my playwriting professor required us to read, not as playwrights but as writers. Definitely recommended.

Informative and Extremely Helpful Guide

I have never before written a screenplay and Chris' book has really helped me to get started. His method of first writing a 5 page summary of the story in 3 acts and then a scene-breakdown makes it easy to outline and see the entire story in front of you before you actually dive in and begin to write the screenplay. I disagree with what another user said, I enjoyed his script very much that he included as the second half of his book. Not only was it well-written, it is helpful as well, because he stops every scene or two and gives an explanation. I highly recommend this book if you are planning on getting into screenwriting!

Short on Namedropping, Long on Practical, Exemplified Advice

There are so many books on screenwriting already in existence that the real question any reviewer must address when another one comes along is: if you could only afford to buy one of them, why should you buy this one and save the others for any book tokens you might receive at Christmas? The title of this review forms the basis of my answer to that question.Chris Keane has made his living as a professional writer for decades, focusing mostly on novels and screenplays. His success has brought him many offers of teaching posts, and indeed, he spends a considerable part of each year teaching at Emerson, where he is an Associate Professor, and at the International Film and Television Workshops in Maine. All this makes him actuely aware of the nitty-gritty needs of both the fledgling screenwriter and the writer who has been over the course more than once, but who needs to re-learn key lessons. These lessons are so key that for much of the first part of the book, one feels like one is directing a question and answer session, rather than having questions answered in which one might possibly be interested. From the question of work habits to how to generate ideas, and what to do with them once you have them, through to characterisation, dialogue, and the scene as the nucleus of the screenplay, Keane is both judicious and generous with his hard-won wisdom.The second half of the book puts theory into practice. It consists of the full text of Keane's screenplay 'The Crossing', with honest, detached critical commentary at the end of each scene or section. This allows the reader to see exactly what Keane is talking about in the first half of the book, to experience the emotion that his own work needs to generate, to feel for the characters, and then, with Keane's assistance, to stop and reflect on why he feels as he does. In the hands of a writer with a bigger ego but less talent, this method might well have had the reader reaching for the sick bag after only a few pages, but it works wonderfully here, and it seems to me that anyone wishing a career in screenwriting could not wish for clearer, more genuine exemplification.A final point on this structural feature of Keane's indispensable book. Something else the inclusion of this constantly optioned but not yet produced screenplay teaches the would-be screenwriter is how tough his desired career can be, that he could write a screenplay as good as Keane's and still wait a long, long time to see it on the big screen, if indeed he ever does. Other books on screenwriting claim to 'make it easy'. Keane's puts the emphasis exactly where it should be: on the work.

An Essential For Any Screenwriter

Keane's book is a essential for any screenwriter's bookshelf. Not only does it break down the A-Z essential elements of popular screenwriting, but it tackles the difficult subject of how to break into the business. You'd have to buy two or three books by most of the other popular screenwriting gurus to get the gamut of information that Keane packs into this medium size volume. His choice of films to reference as examples of different screenwriting techiniques is excellent and his humour keeps the fledgling writer from being discouraged. Keans writes in optimistic prose that makes you feel your goal is attainable. I read this book before starting my last screenplay and have since moved to Hollywood and had my work open quite a few doors. This is a coherant, reader-friendly how-to book that covers all the bases and is head and shoulders above the rest of its ilk.

Keane takes the fear out of screenwriting

There is nothing warm and fuzzy about this book and that's why it works. Solid, clear-cut experiential adivice from someone who has one foot planted in the world of screenwriting and the other in teaching the craft to others. Keane's humour neutralizes any fear of failure and motivates the would-be screenwriter to sit down and get to work.