Barbara Nicolosi is the Founder and Chair Emeritus of Act One, Inc. a non-profit mentoring program for screenwriters and producers in Hollywood. She is a member of the Writers Guild of America-West and has written screenplays for several Hollywood production companies. She has been a development executive, story consultant and script doctor for hundreds of projects as well as a grants panelist for the National Endowment for the Arts, and a reader for the prestigious Humanitas Prize for screenwriting. Barbara has been an adjunct professor of screenwriting at Pepperdine University and Azusa Pacific University.

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Screen storytelling is an essentially collaborative process. Writers need feedback but too often the notes they receive stall them and even demoralize them. This book unpacks the whys and what-fors of all the most commonly given notes on scripts, stories, and writers themselves. Coming from the perspective of experienced Hollywood professionals, Notes to Screenwriters offers insightful and concise guidance on the entire storytelling process, as well as what comes before it in the life of the writer, and after it in the marketing of the screenplay. It is a unique blend of classical storytelling principles combined with practical knowledge of the contemporary marketplace. This book is destined to be a resource for every writer who gets past the initial stage of writing a first draft and needs sage counsel for what to do next.

Contenu

TABLE OF CONTENTS
Dedication
Acknowledgments
How to Use This Book
Foreword by David McFadzean
Introduction: The Book That Notes Built

SECTION I: BROAD NOTES
Chapter 1 - Notes on Taking Notes
Chapter 2 - Notes on the Storyteller
Chapter 3 - Notes on Story
Chapter 4 - Arena Notes: A World to Explore
Chapter 5 - Notes on Character: The Lovable Paradox
Chapter 6 - Notes on Dialogue: Better Than Real Speech
Chapter 7 - Notes on Theme: The Good, The Great, and The Ugly
Chapter 8 - Notes on Tone and Genre: Getting on the Same Page
Chapter 9 - Spectacle as the Servant of All
Chapter 10 - Structure Notes: How You Reveal the Plot
Chapter 11 - Cinematic Notes: Does It Have to be a Movie?
Chapter 12 - Section Summary: The Biggest Mistakes new Screenwriters Make

SECTION II: LINE NOTES - SCREENPLAY STYLE AND GRAMMAR
Chapter 13 - Formatting Matters
Chapter 14 - Rules of Screenplay Style
Chapter 15 - Some Additional Formatting Do's and Don'ts
Chapter 16 - Section Summary: Formatting Red Flags That Will Stop Your Screenplay

SECTION III: THE WORKING SCREENWRITER
Chapter 17 - So Now What?
Chapter 18 - Rewriting
Chapter 19 - Story Currency: Loglines, Synopses, Proposals, Beat Sheets, and Treatments
Chapter 20 - The Writer's Real Life
Chapter 21 - Working with a Writing Partner
Chapter 22 - Working with Producers
Chapter 23 - Studio vs. Indie: Where Does Your Project Fit?
Chapter 24 - Networking
Chapter 25 - Success
Chapter 26 - FAQs About the Business
Chapter 27 - Section Summary: Rules for Professional Screenwriters

Appendix B: Correctly Formatted Title Page
Appendix C: Correctly Formatted First Page
Appendix D: Correctly Formatted Interior Page
Bibliography