How to Build a Great Screenplay: A Master Class in Storytelling for Film - Softcover

"How to Build a Great Screenplay" is insightful, riveting, clear, concise and to the point. It's a screenwriter's screenwriting book packed with practical as well as theoretical insights. If you're serious about screenwriting -- start here, and if you're a twenty-year veteran, this is the place to take a refresher course. I came away from reading this book inspired with a renewed sense of purpose on why I write screenplays. This isn't a book -- it's an education!" --Jack Epps Jr., screenwriter Top Gun, Dick Tracy, Turner & Hooch, The Secret of My Success, and Legal Eagles. "David Howard's How To Build A Great Screenplay is a rarity - not merely a 'how to' guide, but the most comprehensive and thoughtful examination of storytelling, and as close to an entire graduate writing program, as one is likely to find within the covers of a single book. " --Adam Belanoff, writer and producer on Cosby and Murphy Brown, and writer on Wings

As founding director of the graduate screenwriting program at the university of Southern California, David Howard has taught the authors of some of the most successful movies of our time, including "The Hand That Rocks the Cradle" and "Natural Born Killers". His comprehensive new book deconstructs the craft of writing for film, and reveals: story arc; plotting and subplotting; classical vs. revolutionary screenplay structure; tone, style and atmosphere; the use of time; and the creation of drama and tension.