Writing for Stage and Screen by Barry Turner, 1405000988, Lowest Book Price Finder

Customer Reviews:

Lives up to its billing.

This book quite correctly emphasises what is important - the art, the messages and values which characterises good writing, rather than dwelling on basic narrative structure, technique and format of screenwriting; a natural preoccupation of the novice writer. After all, there really is no standard format of layout and what conventions of layout that do exist can be easily incorporated once a writer is commissioned - structure and form are less important when compared to pitching the idea itself.

Thankfully this book relies on contributions from those with success and experience in writing, rather than an academic perspective without actual practical experience. The contributors speak from the heart about their own experiences in an anecdotal way, which helps the novice or aspiring writer relate better to concepts, which may be beyond the grasp of some readers who make simplistic assumptions...

This book is invaluable in that it contains Timothy West's hilarious example of how not to write. West's short radio play is mockingly titled "This Gun I Have Here In My Right Hand Is Loaded." It has to be read to believed! For those of you without the inclination to read it first and actually need it to be spelled out for you, it is a demonstration of all the clichÃ©s and mistakes a writer could possibly make in the medium of radio. The fact that there are immortal lines such as:

"A whisky? That's a strange drink for an attractive auburn-haired girl of 29."

"There's somebody waving to us. That man over there. Look!"

...means this should be recognised as an invaluable learning tool - if you don't realise this, go and broaden your horizons before you even attempt to write anything meaningful.

Of course there are a variety of books out there written for readers at various levels of ability. If you are aspiring to write and need pointers on form, structure and narrative then you really should spend some time researching what is available; Syd Field or Robert McKee spring to mind. This book assumes some ability and then explores how those who actually get paid to do this stuff approach the art form.

If you're looking for a book that's going to make you a better writer - don't bother. You won't find one. There is no such thing - imagine if Da Vinci went from artisan to genius after reading a self help book. Mind you, there is that company in Schenectady New York...

Doesn't live up to its billing

This book promises a lot but delivers little. I was expecting it to give some specific insight into the structure and format of screenwriting. Unfortunately what you get is a 260 page book, of which only a paltry 65 pages are of the contributor’s advice. This mainly boils down to four chapters consisting of four people who've written plays and screenplays talking about themselves and their own writing experiences in an anecdotal rather than informative way.

The rest of the book consists of a 12 page example of the "worst possible play" which they inform us is so bad that it's used as a teaching aid. Quite bizarrely that's all they tell us. There's no further elaboration on it whatsoever. Would it have killed them to write a few pages more pages explaining why they considered it to be bad and highlighting certain areas of it, explaining what's wrong and how it could be made better? It is after all supposed to be teaching the reader something. The current way it's presented is of no use what so ever.

Following the useless play you get the listings. These take up 170 pages of the book! and comprise the contact details of various television channels, radio stations, producers, agents, production companies, writing courses, festivals, useful websites and so on. This section is one of the few useful areas of the book. The authors/publishers probably found it useful as well because at 170 pages it turns what is little more than a pamphlet into a book and gives them the opportunity to charge accordingly.

The only other worthwhile part I could find was the Q and A style interview with Kate Rowland (The BBC's creative director for new writing). In this she gives a good insight into what goes on behind the scenes: How many scripts they receive, how many are considered worthwhile, how they encourage those who've submitted well written scripts, how the scripts are assessed, what they're looking for in the scripts they receive, common failings that they frequently come across and general advice on what to do and what not to do.

If you're looking for a book that's going to make you a better writer than you where before you read it, this certainly isn't it. The only real reason to get this book would be for the listings and that's purely for practical reasons as everyone needs to know where to send what.

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