New Flick Script Rx Fix?
“Make Your Story A Movie”
BOOK REVIEW by “Five”
As long as Hollywood keeps making movies, people will continue to watch them. Or perhaps it’s the other way around: As long as people continue to express interest in viewing films, Hollywood will keep cranking them out. Regardless of which way rings more true, as long as movies are made, there will be books published on the proper way to write a screenplay and, once written, how to sell it to a prospective buyer.
A recent entry into this foray of the art of writing and selling a script is a book called Make Your Story A Movie, by veteran writer John Robert Marlow. Offering $50 billion worth of advice, the combined amount of box office bucks and video sales the contributors have generated, this book focuses primarily on the adaptation process.
The author has literally picked the brains of many of the top screenwriters who have recently contributed to Hollywood’s ever increasing worldwide box office receipts. Though some of the names may not be familiar to you, their adaptation of books into scripts certainly are: Avatar, Slumdog Millionaire, Up In The Air, Limitless, Sideways… Just name a few.
In addition to being highly informative and fun to read, this book can save you from many pitfalls and from expending loads of wasted energy. As important as it is to know which stories make good source material, it is equally important to know which stories do not. It also covers what Hollywood wants, and doesn’t want, along with what you can expect as a writer when closing a movie deal.
Enough cannot be said about the importance of an enticing logline—those few words which sums up what your script is about. In Make Your Story A Movie the author spends an entire chapter (and then some) detailing the specific craft of crafting a clever, ten-second logline which will assist you in landing representation, as well as landing the sale.
As the importance of location, location, location is in determining where to build a successful business, Hollywood’s version of this advice can be summed up in three words: Structure, structure, structure. It’s not a coincidence that more than 90% of commercially successful films are classically structured, no coincidence at all. And the author does a fine job at breaking it down, explaining the three acts, the seven primary plot points, and much, much more.
If you have ever contemplated adapting a novel, a comic book, a TV series, or even an idea, Make Your Story A Movie is a must read and well worth your time!
Important Links
Order signed copies of the book: Book Soup
Author John Robert Marlow’s website
Screenwiter Terry Rossio’s Wordplay website