Screenplay: The Foundations of Screenwriting

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Customer Reviews:

The Pioneering Book on Screenwriting [Posted on 2007-10-29]
This review focuses on the latest edition of Syd Field's SCREENPLAY: The Foundations of Screenwriting, published in December 2005.

Syd Field published the book in 1979, the first book ever on the subject. In his memoir, GOING TO THE MOVIES -- A Personal Journey Through Four Decades of Modern Film, published in 2001, he says: "There were three printings within the first six months of publication, and it wasn't long before many of the major college and universities across the land were using it as a text (p 239)."

Introducing his SCREENPLAY book, Syd Field writes, "This not a `how-to' book....I call it a 'what-to' book, meaning if you have an idea for a screenplay, and you don't know what to do or how to do it, I can show you (p 8)." Very well, let's see how he shows what-to do to write a screenplay.

Write down your answers to the following three questions. First: What is your story about? Who is the main character? What is the dramatic situation? ("You've got approximately ten pages of screenplay or approximately ten minutes of screen-time to establish this.") Second: What is your screenplay's ending? Third: What is your screenplay's inciting incident? -- which he defines as the incident "that sets the story in motion; it is the first visual representation of the key incident, what the story is about, and draws the main character into the story line (p 129)."

The major structuring form, Syd Field emphasizes repeatedly, is the classic three-act paradigm: Act I, set-up; Act II, confrontation; Act III, resolution. Assuming 120 pages as the typical length of a screenplay, the three acts take 30, 60, and 30 pages. Next, he introduces the concept of plot points: How do you get from one act to the next? "The answer is to create a Plot Point at the end of both Act I and Act II. A Plot Point is defined as any incident, episode, or event that hooks into the action and spins it around in another direction (p26)." Of course, there are many minor plot points throughout.

Does this paradigm hold for most, if not all, screenplays? Yes, says Syd Field, and establishes it by analyzing the structures of linear screenplays such as CASABLANCA and THELMA & LOUISE as well as nonlinear screenplays such as THE HOURS and THE ENGLISH PATIENT. The book analyzes, in detail, several other screenplays, both classic and contemporary.

In the companion book, THE SCREENWRITER'S WORKBOOK, Syd Field adds three plot points to the basic three-act, two plot-points paradigm. The new plot-points are the midpoint at about page 60 and pinches at about pages 45 and 75 in the standard 120-page screenplay. These concepts of midpoint and pinches certainly enhance the form guidelines presented in the earlier book. A major strength of Syd Field's books is his focusing on form, not on content, which is up to the creative writer. Form, of course, interactively affects content; nonetheless, Field wisely refrains from micromanaging techniques of content generation.

I must say the three Syd Field's books I've read so far could certainly use a consultation with a professional copyeditor, a copyeditor who'd excise his annoyingly repetitive pedagogy. According to social psychologists, repetitive communication is the behavioral tendency in teachers caused by the practice of their profession ("deformation professionelle" carry-over to their communication pattern). Syd Field's penchant for repetition arose from leading numerous lectures and workshops? The three books, totalling over one-thousand pages, could be easily edited into an excellent 450-page book.


-- C J Singh

I'm Ready for Hollywood [Posted on 2008-05-18]
Syd Field's guide to writing screenplays was so useful to me during my screenplay writing class in college, that I recommended a good friend of mine who expressed an interest in starting screenwriting, that she should buy her own book, since I was not giving up mine! Good job, Mr. Field.

Essential Reading for Screenwriters [Posted on 2008-06-02]
Some people are able to do creative things inherently, others are not. For those who are not naturally capable of writing screenplays, those who can't quite wrap their heads around what goes into a screenplay or how to even begin writing, then this is the book for you. If you're serious about learning how to become a screenwriter and don't quite know where to begin this book is the perfect start. Field lays out everything from the beginning of finding an idea of what to write, to turning that idea into a story, to coming up with solid and unforgettable characters to put into your story. "The Foundations of Screenwriting" could not be a more appropriate title for this book because Field covers exactly what the title promises. You WILL walk away from this book knowing how to write a good screenplay.

A disappointment [Posted on 2008-06-04]
Two years ago I was so anxious to read this "most sought after" screenwriting book I could hardly sleep until the Amazon courier knocked on my door. My God... What a disappointment. This book turned out to be the worst book on screnwriting I had ever read (and I read quite a few being a UCLA film student). Is the author seriously suggesting that, for example, plot point 1 MUST happen on a certain page??? That every 10 pages we MUST have a car chase, an explosion, a death - anything to keep the audience interested? Well... Why don't let a good solid story take care of that? The problem is that a good solid story is not usually based on the plot point/page correlations. Many reviewers here have praised Field's book for analyzing the structure of a story. Alas, no. What Field is offering is not a structure but a formula. Rigid, frosen, still formula. Knowing the principles of storytelling is mandatory for a writer; applying a formula without understanding the foundations is simply useless. And not in the least creative. Sadly, in spite of the title, Field does not give the reader any explanation as to what these foundations are. Again, many reviewers said how helpful this book could be for a beginning screenwiter. Frankly, I don't see how. Field does not present a clean solid introduction to what a story is, does not show the driving forces behind a good story - something any writer must know. Field simply offers you crutches. Here, if you fear you story will fall down, use these - make something important happen on page 27 (or is it 29?). Can a truly inspiring script be written by following Field's rules? I seriously doubt it.

Finally, o God, his writing style is so impossibly dull!

A complete guide... [Posted on 2008-08-15]
to the fundamentals of screen writing. The writer lays out the necessary formula needed to craft a script. He nicely spares you the hyper technical and all details desperate writers of ''how to'',love to fill in; leaving you more confused and less inspired then when you began. I recommend wholly.

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