It breaks down the daunting task of writing a screenplay into several manageable and fun steps. Everything is organized and m
340474
As a beginning screenwriter, this book has helped me tremendously! It breaks down the daunting tasking of writing a screenplay into several manageable and fun steps. Everything is organized and makes sense! I would challenge someone to read this book and not want to write a screenplay after finishing it. The book is an easy read, funny, and inspiring.
With the help of this book, I wrote my first feature screenplay and won an honorary award in the BEA Festival of Media Arts competition.
I highly recommend this book!
4210753
Highly readable and doable, with lots great tips.
3190089
I really liked the step by step processes that helped me organise and narrow down my ideas. I'm well on my way to starting my first business now.
3455621
Ater downloading and trying 3 different outlining demos, Movie Outline 2.0 got my nod. ....

First, here's where I'm coming from. On my last script, I was unrolling and scribbling on butcher paper (weighing down the ends!) in order to visualize where my scenes were ending up 'big picture.' Moving scenes around took a lot of erasing. Eventually, I moved on to colored index cards on a 4 by 6 ft. bulletin board - not what you'd call portable.

Movie Outline 2.0 solved my whole problem of structuring and planning. In my present project, I can look at scenes and acts, color coded, and move them with the click of the mouse. (Movie Outline even suggests where the plot points ought to occur and the limits of each act). But this is what I love: When entering scene information, there are two visuals: a list of scene headings on my right, (which can be moved/manipulated quickly), while simultaneously I am seeing the expanded version of each scene (explanation/goals) on my left. (No more reading the backs of index cards!)

The program's other major view (a click away) is the 'beef' really. "Power View" enables a great visual of my screenplay, with the scenes numbered and acts separated and plot points highlighted to produce a clear, color-coded timeline of my film. The program also carries a series of "archetype" movie outlines - well-crafted movies of different genres ... with which (a click of the mouse), a writer can compare his/her own structure to the successful one. Okay, I was curious and it was kind of cool.

The feature called StoryTasks was something I really needed too  - it's a check-off list which keeps me to task on important things to accomplish/set-up before certain story points.  There's also a place - always handy -  for random notes and ideas. And I like being able to print all views, or just selected views of my outline and notes. Butcher paper was meant for butchers.

This program is easy to navigate. (I want to write, not learn programs). There's a very clearly written (and short!) manual. I was impressed also by the company's product support  - they were quick to respond, helpful and knowledgeable. Yup, I can't recommend this program enough!

Bobbie Frega
4080824
As a guy trying to start his own TV/film production crew I find myself in a lot of meetings taking a LOT of notes pertaining to scheduling, personnel, equipment needs, props, etc.  I used to utilize a stack of Composition notebooks for each film project and then a tablet (Samsung Tab Pro 8.4) and, while I like the tablet, the Composition books proved too numerous while the tablet too cumbersome and limited by battery life.  The AT-A-GLANCE meeting planner helped in several ways by becoming my go-to notebook for all meetings and subsequent planning.

The pages themselves are three-pronged; date and time, notes, and misc. at the bottom.  For our latest project, we recorded the meeting times as well as a film schedule with personnel assignments.  Compared to my last haphazard note-taking practices, the AT-A-GLANCE planner is a nice change as it keeps everything I need organized for quick referencing.

Also, the spiral bounding is barely noticeable as the faux-leather covers are one piece as opposed to the spiral binding two separate ones.  It's durable and sleek at the same time but doesn't get the wires tangled up like your typical spiral-bound notebook does.

All in all, I recommend this to anyone that has to plan multiple meetings and schedule more than lunch and tea.
4202273
Riding the Alligator has a lot of good advice for writing a screenplay - practical techniques that I haven't seen elsewhere.  But the real gift of this book is the warm advice Pen gives on creating the mindset and the environment that makes writing a career and even an enjoyable career.  Pen describes the frame of mind required to be a good writer in a very inclusive way.  He is a Mentor who has set his mind on your success in the field of screenwriting.  I pick this up when I need a lift to get me back on track with my career.
4116287
I've only used the most basic features so far, but in editing a lengthy manuscript, this has proven invaluable in just...staying organized and being able to jump to the part I want without having to scroll endlessly or use the 'find' command. I love the cork-board: being able to drag and drop scenes into an order I want makes it easy to keep my timeline straight, too. The tutorial it comes with made getting started pretty easy, and gives an organized reference if I ever need to look up if it does something else. I'll definitely recommend this to other writer friends.
2615062
This book helped me prepare to help a child write a play - it provided guidance and structure for the effort.
4551626
While many screenwriting books attempt to instruct you on how to write an entire screenplay, Drew Yanno has wisely chosen to provide readers with an in-depth dissection of arguably the most memorable portion of a screenplay--the third act.  Instead of lecturing you on abstract concepts ad infinitum, Yanno clearly presents easy to grasp structural guidelines while providing succinct examples of those guidelines from popular films such as Rocky, Casablanca, Chinatown, Gladiator, and more.  The book is not only an examination of endings, but of the entire third act and how it relates to everything you have built up to that point.  Even experienced screenwriters should give this a read to hone their skills or simply remind them of practices they may already be doing.  With a flowing, comfortable prose and intelligent film anaylsis, The 3rd Act should be required reading for any serious screenwriter.
4328599
While this book won't tell the reader how to be a masterful writer, it will help one be aware of screenplay structure. This is also a book that is first and foremost written from the point of view of a hired-gun commercial writer in the cut-throat world of Hollywood. I also appreciate that it's an easy, fast read that gets to the point.
4347483
In Story Maps Dan has come up with an easy to follow method for planning a professionally written screenplay.  The book is filled with tons of detailed examples that can also serve as a great reference tool when working on your spec.  Story Maps is also includes a thorough review of the basics that any aspiring screenwriter needs to understand.  One thing I really like about this book is that Dan conveys his ideas very clearly. Everything is explained in a manner that is easy to follow and genuinely makes sense.  Whether you're a beginner or a more experienced screenwriter Story Maps will help you shape your idea into a great screenplay.
4085971
I have been working on a trilogy project for over two years and found myself stymied over a few of my main characters and the plot lines surrounding them.  I had decided that I was going to attempt to write these plot holes during Nanowrimo, but had little idea how to generate the plots that I needed to be ready for the month long writing frenzy that is Nanowrimo.

Enter The 90-Day Novel.

I used the first part of this book, that gives you writing prompts and structural ideas for a complete novel over a time period of 30 days, to prep for Nanowrimo in October.  I had never used a paper bound journal to brainstorm ideas before, but discovered that the method for using one described in this book worked well for me.  I followed the guidelines put forth by the author each day and within 30 days, my story plot holes filled in and I discovered that my novel had spun off in new and exciting directions.

I have been recommending this book to the members of my writing group and now am recommending it here.  This is a book that should have a place on your reference writing shelf.
164367
This book showed me the guts to writing a screenplay to present. The 20 Things are really more than 20.
1288053
I have about 9 books on screenwriting. Almost all of them are a large disappointment.  Writing A Great Movie by J. Kitchen is an exception.  This single book has improved my screenwriting significantly and I expect the book to help me even more.

Writing a great movie is easy to read and understand.  In fact it is painfully clear. It is ready to put you at the high end of script writing; all you have to do is follow the steps.  It is hard work and a big job.  But, I don't know how anyone could expect to produce a great script without spending some sweat.

The point is, with Kitchen's guidance, hard work expended, is hard work well spent.  I have some experience writing (fact and stringing for newspapers).  Up to this time, I have never been able to write a decent work of fiction. With Kitchen's book I'm getting closer.

My personal learning process is from the middle out, also known as I'll learn it when I need it.

When I started on my present script, I made an outline for a screenplay and had written most of the first act before buying Kitchen's book.

Now that I am working my way through his book, happily, I have improved that first act and added a whole lot more outline and notes for the second and third acts.  The script I have now, is much better than the script I had before I opened Writing a Great Movie.

Yesterday, I was asked to judge about 15 short scripts in a minor script contest.  I was pleased to find, in my opinion, my present script, which I DID NOT enter, was better than the first three I read.

The remaining scripts were about evenly split between, about the same level as mine is now or better than mine is now.  That isn't saying much I guess, but if I had used my pre-Kitchen script I would probably had the worst script of the bunch.

Focus on this. If you aren't too sure what you are doing, have the smallest glowing ember of story telling talent, and really want to write movie scripts, the book Writing a Great Movie, will get you a lot further down the road than you would ever have thought possible.

Good Luck.

Jim Blackman
3077934
Totally devoted to  HOW TO GET THINGS DONE. The whole book is broken down into bit-size chunks.  Easy to find what you want to do and easy to get it done.
It's about as readable as a computer book can be.  Interesting to skim through a whole chapter at a time:  Fun to learn about all the things I can do and to follow the easy steps.  It does not put me to sleep. Annotated snapshots on almost every page.
1217985
Sometimes the beginning part of writing is the most daunting.  However, when you make it fun, easy to understand and take the "unknown" out of the process, you get a winner.

There is so much to recommend about this book, from the down to earth style, the links, and the whole process, you will come away with the information you need to get started on your book.

Well worth it, and I highly recommend it.  Was pleasantly surprised.
3080804
I have been planning to write a book for the past two years but felt overwhelmed by the thought of where to start.  Bonnie Budzowski's simple "how to" of "chunking" provides a clear path for proceeding.  The book makes this goal achievable for me.