The Instinctive Screenplay: Watching and Writing Screen Drama - Softcover

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Sam North is Senior Lecturer of English at the University of Exeter, UK.

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‘North has managed the near impossible: a screenwriting book that has a new and exciting way to think about the craft and art of the screenplay. An intelligent, clear and thought-provoking read, I devoured it in one sitting and it has already influenced my own writing.’ – Ben Michaels, University of Melbourne, Australia

What is it that makes humans engage with a dramatic narrative? Is it linked to our primitive selves, contained within our instinctive experience?

This innovative text argues that understanding how and why our human instincts are brought into play as we watch screen drama is the key to writing it. Analysing four powerful instincts – willpower, logic, morality and emotion – Sam North explores how they determine our level of involvement in their drama, and how screenwriters can use them to develop their craft. Including a variety of both well-known and less famous examples, from The Shawshank Redemption to Samira Makhmalbaf’s The Apple, this book offers a fresh new approach to thinking about, discussing and writing screenplays.

Sam North won the Somerset Maugham Award for his first novel, was long-listed for the Man Booker Prize in 2004 and in 2010 was given the Eric Gregory Award by the Society of Authors. He was also head of development for a television production company, and subsequently Director of a UK literary agency selling film rights in the UK and USA. For the last nine years he has taught screenwriting at undergraduate and postgraduate level at The University of Exeter, UK.