Five book recommendations
You would be amazed at how many outfits hit me up to promote their books. I turn down 90% of them because I’m not in the business of pimping screenwriting ‘gurus’. However if you are looking for a gift for a screenwriter or TV writer in your life — perhaps even yourself! — I have some book suggestions which meet my own personal test: Quality content from Hollywood professionals.
Think about it: Who is more likely to know about the actual realities of writing and working in Hollywood: An outsider or an insider? Obviously the latter. Having done this for over 25 years myself, there are some aspects of the craft I would never have learned had I not worked in the business. You just can’t know that stuff unless you do it. So in my view, best to rely on screenwriters, TV writers, producers, development executives and the like as the first source of reliable insight into the craft.
With that in mind, here are five book recommendations.
The first two arise the UCLA Extension Writers’ Program, an outfit with which I am quite familiar having taught through it myself from 2002 to 2010. The books are:
“Cut to the Chase: Writing Feature Films with the Pros at UCLA Extension Writers’ Program,” edited by Linda Venis.
“Inside the Room: Writing Television with the Pros at UCLA Extension Writers’ Program,” edited by Linda Venis.
The books’ editor Linda Venis has been the head of the Writers’ Program for over two decades and is a leading authority in the field of education. Frankly I wouldn’t be doing what I do today if it were not for her influence.
“Cut to the Chase” features screenwriters such as Stephen Mazur (Liar Liar) and Chrys Balis (Asylum) who I know personally, both excellent teachers. “Inside the Room” also features pro writers including Joel Anderson Thompson (Battlestar Galactica), and Julie Chambers and David Chambers (Becker). Each book covers the nuts and bolts of these respective crafts in a thorough manner, but also easy to read and understand.
The next book is “Dan O’Bannon’s Guide to Screenplay Structure,” by Dan O’Bannon with Matt R. Lohr. O’Bannon, who passed away in 2009, has numerous screenwriting credits including such movies as Alien, Dead and Buried, and Total Recall. It’s always interesting to read how screenwriters look at story structure, but I have a special connection to this book arising from my blog.
On June 24, 2008, I posted this: A Connection Between Wall-E and Alien? A few hours later, I hear a ping in my emailbox. The sender: Dan O’Bannon (actually his wife Diane). Now this is literally 5 weeks after I launched Go Into The Story. To think that something I composed and sent out onto the web could create a connection like that just about blew my mind. Beyond that bit of synchronicity, of course, O’Bannon was a talented writer, so his book well worth the read.
As you may know, I am a big advocate of interviews with writers. Indeed that’s one of the reasons I started my ongoing Q&A series for the blog. One of the best recent books in this regard is “FilmCraft: Screenwriting,” edited by Tim Grierson. It features in-depth interviews with such notable contemporary screenwriters as Stephen Gaghan, Guillermo Arriaga, Caroline Thompson, and Hossein Amini. Exposing yourself to the thought processes and writing practices of a variety of writers can be a fruitful way both to inspire and inform you.
My final book recommendation is “Conversations with Wilder,” edited by Cameron Crowe. The book is not new (it was published in 2001), but it is pure gold and a personal favorite, featuring two of my favorite filmmakers Billy Wilder and Cameron Crowe. There is not only terrific wisdom in these pages, but because Wilder is such a colorful and outspoken figure, and Crowe a deft interviewer, the book is a hugely entertaining read.
There you are: Five worthy books, easy gift choices for the writer in your life.
If you have any other book suggestions, feel free to post them in comments.
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