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From All Quiet on the Western Front, the Academy Award-winning "Best Picture" of 1929-1930, to Dances with Wolves, the 1991 winner, many of Hollywood's most popular and enduring movies have been screen adaptations of written work, including novels, stories, and plays. In this practical, hands-on guide, veteran TV and screenwriter Ben Brady unlocks the secrets of the adaptation process, showing aspiring writers and writing teachers how to turn any kind of narrative material into workable, salable...

Frank Pierce is a very good paramedic. He is also burned-out, reeling from his recent marriage break up and from the theatre of death he sees on every shift. His colleagues are as tired as he is, but while they are all bored, desensitised and robotic it is only Frank who sees the ghosts of those he did not or could not save. One such lost patient is Burke, whose spirit accompanies Frank throughout the novel, and who may just stop him from really cracking under the weight of the mayhem and de...

It's no secret that authors have a love-hate relationship with Hollywood. The oft-repeated cliche that "the book was better than the movie" holds true for more reasons than the average reader will ever know. When asked about selling their book rights to Hollywood authors like to joke that they drive their manuscripts to the border of Arizona and California and toss them over the fence, driving back the way they came at breakneck speed. This is probably because Hollywood just doesn't "get it." It...

Voice & Vision is a comprehensive manual for the independent filmmakers and film students who want a solid grounding in the tools, techniques, and processes of narrative film in order to achieve their artistic vision. This book includes essential and detailed information on relevant film and digital video tools, a thorough overview of the filmmaking stages, and the aesthetic considerations for telling a visual story. The ultimate goal of this book is to help you develop your creative voice whi...

'The reason Homer Wells kept his name was that he came back to St Cloud's so many times, after so many failed foster homes, that the orphanage was forced to acknowledge Homer's intention to make St Cloud's his home.'Homer Wells' odyssey begins among the apple orchards of rural Maine. As the oldest unadopted child at St Cloud's orphanage, he strikes up a profound and unusual friendship with Wilbur Larch, the orphanage's founder - a man of rare compassion and an addiction to ether. What he learns...

Sometimes it seems like everybody's writing a screenplay. But who reads those screenplays? Professional story analysts, that's who. Screenplay Story Analysis explains exactly how to become a professional story analyst. Along with a basic how-to on writing a story analysis or "coverage" this book explains the techniques and thought processes involved in reading and evaluating a screenplay. Get familiar with terms, techniques, and general story elements. Master standard coverage format and content...

A guide to reading "A Midsummer Night's Dream" with a critical and appreciative mind. Includes background on the author's life and times, sample tests, term paper suggestions, and a reading list.

Putting a vision on the page for creative and commercial video is harder than it seems, but author Carey Martin explains how to bring these tools to bear in the “work for hire” environment. Whilst other texts focus on writing the next award winner, this can be out of reach both logistically and financially for many. Instead, readers will learn how to write what they want the eyes of the audience to see and the ears of the audience to hear, in such a way that the Producer and Director can read t...

Feel like you've seen these movies before? Spoiler Alert celebrates Hollywood film-making in all its formulaic and predictable glory! Spoiler Alert! takes 38 mainstream movie genres, from 'Teen Sex Comedy' and 'Buddy Action Comedy' to 'Film Noir Detective Thriller' and 'Alien Invasion Thriller', and through detailed illustrations reveals what makes them so hilariously recognizable: the key lines of dialogue, the essential visuals, the crucial characters and the indispensable cast, scenes, and p...

The second edition of this elegant and accessible primer offers a helpful reference and resource for directing actors in film, television, and theatre, useful to directors, actors, and writers. Combining underlying theory with dozens of exercises designed to reveal the actor's craft, Lenore DeKoven discusses constructing the throughline; analyzing the script; character needs; the casting and rehearsal processes; as well as the actor and the camera. Distilling difficult concepts to their simple...

Un Chien Andalou, the most influential of all surrealist films, has shocked, provoked and puzzled audiences and critics since its release in 1929.Luis Bunuel's first film was a collaboration with his fellow Spaniard, the 24-year-old Salvador Dali. They aimed to expunge from their script any 'idea or image that might lend itself to a rational explanation'. The result is a film that alludes and disturbs but stubbornly resists a definitive meaning.This edition includes a foreword by Jean Vigo, an e...