Reddit reviews Your Screenplay Sucks!: 100 Ways to Make It Great

Yes. A thousand times this. The one major advantage of being a reader (it's certainly not the money) is that I have HAD to do this. Lots and lots and lots of scripts good and bad...mostly bad. It is soooo eye opening and has ultimately been of MORE use to me then just about anything else.

The one book I will recommend to you is Your Screenplay Sucks by William Ackers.

http://www.amazon.com/Your-Screenplay-Sucks-Ways-Great/dp/1932907459/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1320728507&sr=8-1

Why I like this guy is his emphasis is on training your eye to eliminate fat, be as clear and specific with your word choice/sentence structure as possible, and how to arrange the words on the page to make them as effective as they possibly can be.

Non pro writers just don't know how to do that kind of stuff (mostly cause they don't bother to read pro scripts...or worse they think what pros do is off limits for some stupid reason) and I just can't tell you how important it is.

https://www.amazon.com/Your-Screenplay-Sucks-Ways-Great/dp/1932907459/

Here's a list for you. Not free of charge, however, I'm afraid.

Lololol, no, sir, YOU are the one who REALLY, TRULY, isn't getting it. I don't have to read anything to know if something completely different is good or not, but thx.

For your leisure I'd like to recommend a few books about basic screenwriting so that you don't get stuck in something like this again:

http://www.amazon.com/The-Writers-Journey-Structure-Edition/dp/193290736X

http://www.amazon.com/Save-Last-Book-Screenwriting-Youll/dp/1932907009

http://www.amazon.com/Your-Screenplay-Sucks-Ways-Great/dp/1932907459

http://www.amazon.com/Screenwriting-Dummies-Laura-Schellhardt/dp/0764554867/ref=sr_1_2?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1418859323&sr=1-2&keywords=screenwriting+for+dummies

Let me know when it clicks! :-D

You must read: YOUR SCREENPLAY SUCKS! I guarantee you that you will not be let down or disappointed and will come out a 10x better aspiring screenwriter than 90% of the rest that want some sort of shortcut.

I'm not a shill or anything, but I was bored one day and read the book. I was fucking astounded by how concise the book was about everything I WISH I knew when I was first starting out. It's right to the point, doesn't spoon feed you anything about story, and focuses mainly on structure and format with examples.

If I had this book years ago... I'd probably still suck as bad as I do now, but it's a damn good formatting book.

Everyone is going to have their own favourites, but I found these helped me a lot with understanding shot dynamics, use of lighting & colour, and use of negative space which setting up a scene.


Heavy handed writing/script re-writing

https://www.amazon.ca/Your-Screenplay-Sucks-Ways-Great/dp/1932907459/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1550249661&sr=8-1&keywords=your+screenplay+sucks

Coffee Break - Taking an idea and developing it

https://www.amazon.ca/Coffee-Break-Screenwriter-Writing-Minutes/dp/1615932429/ref=sr_1_3?ie=UTF8&qid=1550250497&sr=8-3&keywords=coffee+break

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Same author as Coffee Break - Explaining Screen/Script Writing Rules + How to Break/Maneuver through them

https://www.amazon.ca/Coffee-Break-Screenwriter-Breaks-Rules/dp/1615932828/ref=pd_bxgy_img_2/145-0041365-5668007?_encoding=UTF8&pd_rd_i=1615932828&pd_rd_r=4e0b95bd-3144-11e9-9e0c-9751a1337b94&pd_rd_w=W1ULF&pd_rd_wg=Tlx63&pf_rd_p=163ac593-0f51-4882-9080-de6873217880&pf_rd_r=0NAKF4E94N1Z2JPD08KM&psc=1&refRID=0NAKF4E94N1Z2JPD08KM

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Use of Perspective & Camera moves with negative space/lighting through visual storytelling (it has many illustrations and examples )

https://www.amazon.ca/Framed-Perspective-Vol-Technical-Storytelling/dp/1624650309/ref=sr_1_2?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1550250880&sr=1-2&keywords=perspective

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For Cinematography and blocking a scene ( Five C's I would second, another Redditor listed link below)
https://www.amazon.ca/Master-Shots-Vol-2nd-Techniques/dp/1615930876/ref=pd_sim_14_1/145-0041365-5668007?_encoding=UTF8&pd_rd_i=1615930876&pd_rd_r=4e2a9d2b-3149-11e9-98e2-37d5230d235d&pd_rd_w=4OHbQ&pd_rd_wg=evCOq&pf_rd_p=29a85b27-a36a-4f8d-94ca-61aa962c5f39&pf_rd_r=88P1HWPW9D86QFXB8F81&psc=1&refRID=88P1HWPW9D86QFXB8F81

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There are 3 versions of the book above, I would get the revised version of the first, as the next two are more of the same with basically just shot variance ( can get them down the road if you like the first one)

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As a side note, down the road as well, the interview of Hitchcock/Truffaut is a staple to many. Also, I am not sure where you are located, but finding out if directors or filmmakers are doing talks (usually are first come first serve for tickets or lightly costed 10-25$ range) as those can be extremely insightful.

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I read through the comments on this page and you basically need to read "Your Screenplay Sucks" - its an excellent book that will help you see why you shouldn't do the things you are doing.