The best books to get that screenplay out of your head

This book is single-handedly responsible for the first screenplay I ever wrote. Syd Field’s 1984 book Screenplay: The Foundations of Screenwriting revolutionized how Hollywood writes movies. It was also kind of boring to read. But the 1988 Screenwriter’s Workbook turned a theory-driven book into a practical step-by-step guide that helped a very young and ambitious neurodiverse filmmaker (me) write my first script.

I read each chapter and completed the “homework” assigned before moving on. By the end of the book, I had a screenplay! It wasn’t great, but it was there! Syd Field updated his Workbook in 2006 with new references and answers to frequently asked questions about non-traditional plot structures, but I found that version was more confusing and contradictory than the more concise original release.  

As the title suggests, this textbook covers a lot of what it takes to get into the screenwriting game. What I really love about this book, however, is how compartmentalized it is. If you don’t want to know about the business side, skip that section. Don’t care about character? Flip somewhere else. This makes it a valuable resource no matter where a writer is in the process. I’ll be honest: I’ve been writing scripts long enough that my favorite section of the book is the Formatting Guide.

There are so many nuances in how various scenes should be formatted that I sometimes need to go back and use this reference guide to make sure I’m not screwing anything up. New editions come out for this book regularly because the industry is constantly changing and incorporating new technologies. I’m betting money the next edition will include formatting for text messages. 

Most blockbuster films of the early 21st century were written using the information in this book, including many of my favorites like Guardians of the Galaxy, Coco, Tangled, The Avengers, and more. The “Save the Cat Beat Sheet” provides a write-by-numbers formula for crafting tight and engaging feature films. It was also overused and almost destroyed Hollywood by making films too formulaic.

But I still love and recommend this book because I think it does something extremely valuable: it teaches new writers how tightly structured screenplays need to be. For any writer attempting their first screenplay, this is a must-read guide. It teaches tone, genre, and pacing in a way that no other book I’ve ever read has been able to do. 

Reading this book was a career-changing experience for me. Growing up and advancing through film school, I was convinced that if I had a good story, my screenplays would sell. Oh, how naïve I was! Because the truth is that there are thousands of good stories out there.

To sell a screenplay, it’s not just about the quality of the tale but the mastery of the screenplay format that matters. This book helped me to see what a “good” screenplay looks like from the reader's perspective. What’s amazing is that years after I first read this book, I became one of those Hollywood Readers myself–and this book helped me to learn the ropes of my job much faster than most. So, yeah, this book got promoted. Thank you, book. 

I can’t recommend books about storytelling without including this masterwork. Anyone who works in storytelling will face times when their creative well is dry, and this book is the solution. I’ve run into quite a few moments in my life when tragedy and trauma prevented me from being my most creative self.

Whether I was dealing with personal or professional struggles, this book has always been able to bring me back to my authentic, creative self. I’ve done this “program of artist recovery” both alone and with a group (which Cameron calls a “creative cluster”), and it’s been just as successful each time. I even force my MFA writing students to do the “Artist Dates” explained in this book, and they always thank me later.