How to Write: A Screenplay by Mark Evan Schwartz

How to Write: A Screenplay by Mark Evan Schwartz, Mark Evan Schwartz, London, New York, 2005

Schwartz is an instructor at Loyola Marymount University who found his students reacted well to a handout he had written on how to write a screenplay. Based on their reactions he expanded it to book length and How to Write: A Screenplay by Mark Evan Schwartz is the result.

In How to Write Schwartz endeavors to show how to format a screen play from initial pitch down to final copy. His means of doing it is quite unorthodox, however. This is no sterile text book. Rather he does it as a story. He writes a screenplay in which everything is shown as part of the story...how to write a pitch, how to write a treatment, how to format the script, what is important to include and what isn't.

Along the way he delves into such topics as the difference between a movie and a book (books are about what people think, movies are about what they do), how to show character, where to start scenes, where to end them, how to develop and enhance conflict, the 3 standard acts and what should be in each one, and how to make a good idea into a strong movie story.

This is not a dry read but is rather entertaining. The formatting of a script quickly makes sense and the learning to be had is a wide array. If you want to learn the steps to successfully creating a movie script, this has the technical knowledge you will need.