Syd Field (1935–2013)

Every character has a dramatic need, something that drives them forward into action. As someone raised in the Hollwood foothills, I've long wondered how you can make a multi-million dollar movie and forget to have a story (Rise of Skywalker cough cough). Screenplays are the least expensive part of a film, probably below the craft services table, so why are they so frequently incoherent and mediocre?

Well, I'm still not sure, and having read Syd Field's classic guide, Hollywood has even less show more of an excuse. A screenplay is an odd beast of a genre, a written description of moving images. They're short, 120 pages with a lot of white space, which puts then in the novella range, and have a distinct format of scene descriptions, character dialog, and action. Field mentions that successful screenplays 'look right', with a nice balance, but his concern is with form and structure.

Field prototype, his favorite movie, is Chinatown. And while he's no fan of formulaic movies, for him a movie needs form. Much like a coat has two sleeves, a collar, and a front a back, a screenplay has certain requirements. A screenplay is built of scenes arranged into sequences. There's a main character, who is thrust into conflict at Plot Point I, and then resolves the conflict at Plot Point II. The best parts of the book concern the writing and research process, working up a full biography of your characters, figuring out the context and content of the incidents that illuminate who they are (and incidentally make up the pages of your screenplay), and then the harsh work of removing all the cruft to leave a tight, lean story that grabs the reader from page one. The technique of using 52 3x5 notecards for scenes, and then laying them out, has some inspired parallels with some futurist work I've done.

Field's tone is a friendly elder letting you in on the secrets of the guild. He wants you to succeed, and he has few illusions about your low odds in Hollywood. But with this book, you're at least forewarned. It's a lot better and more professional than The Writer's Journey, which I read ages ago.

Here's looking at you, kid. show less

Unless you're already a naturally-gifted screenwriter you can't do much better than start with Syd Field's book Screenplay. And would go further and say that even if you're already talented, being familiar with Syd Field's contribution is still fundamental to understanding the art and form of the craft.

Screenplay will take the aspiring writer from conception to final draft, and wherever possible an explanation of "why this works" is given. The criticism that his approach is inorganic and show more formulaic is valid, but why not use it as another tool in the toolbox as opposed to an all-or-nothing way of writing movies? show less

The all-hailed last word in screenwriting books. Syd Field wrote this book as a model for building screenplays that follow a very specific narrative structure. You could call it a formula, but it is more based on how you pace and build the story structure than a set of cookie-cutter blueprints. Field uses the (awesome) movie Chinatown as the "ideal" example, and then uses a mockup story that is quite different as an in-process example. It also gives movie examples for variations.
Obviously, show more there have been excellent screenplays that don't follow this model. But this is definitely a good place to start. show less

Although cloaked in modesty, this illuminating, consistently entertaining memoir displays enough wit, intelligence and empathy to inspire a host of great films.