Screenwriting Books
Given the huge amount of screenwriting books available, it can be a daunting task trying to pick out the best ones…
Well, thankfully, we’ve done it for you. The list below is by no means definitive, but represents the essential books on how to write a screenplay we feel every writer should read.
Your Screenplay Sucks! 100 Ways to Make it Great: William. M. Akers
The Coffee Break Screenwriter: Pilar Alessandra
The Art of Dramatic Writing: Lajos Egri
Screenplay: Syd Field
The Sequence Approach: Paul Joseph Gulino
Writing Screenplays That Sell: Michael Hague
Writing for Emotional Impact: Karl Iglesias
Inside Story: Dara Marks
Story: Robert McKee
The Hollywood Standard: Christopher Riley
Making a Good Script Great: Linda Seger
Save the Cat: Blake Snyder
The Screenwriter’s Bible: David Trottier
The Anatomy of Story: John Truby
The Writer’s Journey: Christopher Vogler
We would also highly recommend reading books on film theory such as How to Read a Film by James Monaco, and on the film industry such as, Down and Dirty Pictures by Peter Biskind and Adventures in the Screen Trade by William Goldman. In other words, you need to pretty much imerse yourself in the world of cinema. 24-7. It’s no coincidence that the great screenwriters also tend to possess an encyclopedic knowledge of film.
Want to expand your knowledge of writing? Check out the best screenwriting courses in the world here.