Writing for the Screen

Craig Batty, Zara Waldeback

This revised and refreshed edition guides the contemporary screenwriter through a variety of creative and critical approaches to a deeper understanding of how to tell stories for the screen. With a renewed focus on theme and structure, the book is an essential guide for writers, script developers and teachers to help develop ideas into rich dynamic projects, and craft compelling, resonating screenplays. Combining creative tools and approaches with critical and contextual underpinnings, the book is ideal for screenwriting students who are looking to expand their skills and reflect on practices to add greater depth to their scripts. It will also inspire experienced writers and developers to find fresh ways of working and consider how new technology is affecting storytelling voices. Comprehensive and engaging, this book considers key narrative questions of today and offers a range of exercises to address them. Integrating creative guidance with rigorous scholarship, this is the perfect companion for undergraduate students taking courses in screenwriting. Encouraging and pragmatic, it will provide a wealth of inspiration for those wishing to work in the industry or deepen their study of the practice.

Undergraduate and postgraduate students on Screenwriting degrees; Undergraduate and postgraduate students taking Screenwriting modules within a Creative Writing, English or Film Studies degree; Undergraduate students studying Creative Writing within an English Literature degree; Undergraduate or postgraduate students on Film Studies modules or courses; library sale; general reader.

Introduction PART I: FOUNDATIONS 1. Establishing Practice 2. Subject: Ideas into Character 3. Structure and Narrative 4. Visual Storytelling 5. Dialogue and Voice 6. The Cultures of Screenwriting 7. Key Points and Foundations Exercises PART II: SPECULATIONS 8. Exploring Possibilities 9. Subjects: Ideas into Characters 10. Structures and Narratives 11. Visual Storytelling 12. Dialogues and Voices 13. Further Cultures of Screenwriting 14. Key Points and Speculations Exercises.