(Part 3) Top products from r/Screenwriting

Welcome to the community! Happy to see a new face join in; I'm a little new to reddit myself, but, I've got a few places and lessons that have helped me develop my craft in a major way.

1. You don't need film school to be a filmmaker. Period. The only things you need are an idea, the ability to make the time develop it, and the passion to see your project through to any kind of distribution. Actually, coming from an IT background might put you in a better position than many of us; some of the more customizable screenwriting tools like Scrivener could benefit from an understanding of coding so as to make the program truly your own. Never feel like just because someone has a degree in the field that they are somehow more qualified to tell a story than you; write, write honestly, and write often. Those are the only prerequisites.
   
   
2. I recommend two books as primary sources: Story by Robert McKee and The Screenwriter's Bible by David Trottier. The former is for actual story development and the latter is the only formatting book you'll ever need. These books were very formative for me, but, it still takes a lot of practice to master the craft; above all things said in these books, nothing replaces sitting down and just writing. That first draft will be rough, because it is for everyone. To keep yourself grounded when it feels like it's impossible to save your current draft, I read Stephen King's On Writing. This book, while not directly related to screenwriting, is one of the most inspiring books I've ever read. It's so much more than just instruction, it's an honest memoir that is meant to speak to the writing process and its tribulations. I cannot recommend it enough.
   
   
3. For free blogs, I recommend https://johnaugust.com for anything screenwriting. His prose is fantastic, and always a joy to read, and most of his blogs actually center on aspects of screenplays oft neglected by theory and craft books.
   
   
4. Video Essays are a mixed bag. Some channels are fantastic and consistently informative, like Lessons From The Screenplay (YouTube). Others are designed to hook you in to a watch loop; which is dangerous when you're starting out as a writer. It's recommended to disengage and recharge your batteries with these between writing sessions, but, be careful not to over-indulge. The worst thing you can do is get caught up in criticisms of other works and neglect creating your own.
   
   
5. There are dozens of legitimate options for screenwriting software, each with their own merits and drawbacks. Final Draft is the (expensive) industry standard, Fade In is an emergent favorite among some circles, Celtx is web-hosted freeware, and Scrivener is a robust and intimidating toolbox with nigh-infinite possibilities. At the end of the day, it will not matter what you use, just the efficiency at which you write with it. Experiment. Try each one when you have the ability to use their trials. Decide for yourself, because no one can be certain they'll love any particular software over another.
   
   
6. Finally, read screenplays! It is so under-spoken how much reading produced speculative scripts (meaning scripts that were sold for production) will help your writing. My personal favorite screenplay is Bill Lancaster's second draft of The Thing (1981 for the draft, 1982 for the final film). Study how the characters interact with one another, the situations their own paranoia brings them to, and how the author creates mystery through ambitious writing. Just as in the final film, Lancaster is able to evoke unease in the reader by scene set-up and bare-bones character conflicts. It differs wildly from the film at many points, and arguably would have been a worse film had it been produced verbatim. It's a perfect example of how the first, or even the second, draft will not be the end of things; you will ALWAYS rewrite, and that is a god send! Your script may become a classic in the third or fourth draft, but you'll never know if you're satisfied with the first.
   
   Welcome to the craft. If you want some coverage on your draft, I'd love to give feedback once you're ready. Cheers!

Boy, I disagree strongly with most of these comments.
You go write a script every four weeks, and more power to you.

TL;DR: Learn to write fast, here are tools and best practices.

I encourage you to pursue your goal to become more prolific and write a feature every four weeks. That's 90 pages a month, which is slower per page than a TV writer gets to write an hour-long drama.

Learning to write quickly and productively actually improves your writing. Producing more work, with the emphasis on finishing, rather than quality, ultimately produces better work in the long run. This is true of all art. Read this quote from the book *Art & Fear:

The ceramics teacher announced on opening day that he was dividing the class into two groups. All those on the left side of the studio, he said, would be graded solely on the quantity of work they produced, all those on the right solely on its quality. His procedure was simple: on the final day of class he would bring in his bathroom scales and weigh the work of the "quantity" group: fifty pound of pots rated an "A", forty pounds a "B", and so on. Those being graded on "quality", however, needed to produce only one pot -- albeit a perfect one -- to get an "A". Well, came grading time and a curious fact emerged: the works of highest quality were all produced by the group being graded for quantity. It seems that while the "quantity" group was busily churning out piles of work - and learning from their mistakes -- the "quality" group had sat theorizing about perfection, and in the end had little more to show for their efforts than grandiose theories and a pile of dead clay.

source

Do not listen to the naysayers. Learning to write prolifically will improve the qaulity of your writing, and give you a competitive advantage over other writers. You will get more specs out per year, you will hand in more rewrite drafts. You will be attractive for production rewrites, and you will be able to perform under tight TV deadlines.

Most writers don't have the grit to pursue the path you have chosen. Be proud and write like mad.

>Are there any tips on how to be more prolific as a screenwriter?

Sure - here are my suggestions:

Set Up A System To Capture And Review Your Ideas. Every writer gets a ton of ideas when they are away from the keyboard. Prolific writers set up a system to capture those ideas and review them later. The method you use isn't as important as choosing a method that you will use all the time, and you will review later to make use of the ideas. For example, I have two apps on my iPhone: one is DropVox, which records voice memos to DropBox. The other is a notetaking app in case I don't feel like dictating. I also keep a pad and pen handy in case my phone has a problem. By my bedside as well. Waterproof notepad in the shower.

If capturing your ideas and reviewing them is a new idea, consider looking into Getting Things Done. (no link because I want to stay on topic.)

Buy Scrivener And Learn How To Use It. Scrivener is a $50 wordprocessor that will make it much easier for you to write prolifically. It's designed to help organize your thoughts and turn out pages faster. It has built-in screenplay formatting, index cards and more.

Scrivener can improve your productivity quite a lot. You do need to spend the time to learn how they have laid out the controls. Once you get used to it, you will love it. Look at the pro screenwriters and book authors who endorse it on the website.

If you have an iPhone or iPad, I strongly recommend buying the $20 iOS version as well. The iOS and desktop versions talk to each other over sync. You can jot something on your iPhone, and it appears in your desktop project automagically. I may start using Scrivener iOS as my note capture software.

Learn A Method To Break The Story Rapidly. Coming up with your outline, known as "breaking the story" is the hardest part of writing. Writing is easy and fun; figuring out the story is the hard part. Writers like Jim Cameron, JJ Abrams and Joss Whedon all talk about how tough it is to break the story. You need a method to go from idea to outline in the most efficient way. To start with, I recommend The Writer's Journeyand Save The Cat. These two books give you a quick start on structure that covers 75% of commercial Hollywood films.

Ignore the redditors who will squawk about these books. Use the books to break your story faster and write more scripts. The redditors will still be looking for inspiration when you are signing your union card.

Build Your Story Around A Theme. I recommend reading this book for a useful approach to theme. It's really about making a philosophical argument, which is really the purpose behind storytelling. Audiences like stories that are held together by a philosophical point of view.

More importantly, using the method in that book will allow you to structure your story faster and with more emotional resonance. Once you understand your philosophical argument, you can rapidly build other subplots that explore it.

Build Your Characters From Contradictions. Instead of writing lengthy character biographies, describe them with a broad, bold stroke, and then add one or two major contradictions. Tony Soprano is a tough, ruthless criminal who it tender to his family, and he's seeing a psychiatrist for anxiety attacks. Hannibal Lecter is a cannibalistic serial killer who is also a genius, and artist and a wine connoisseur.

Make sure to figure out how the character reconciles their contradictions internally. (Tony Soprano never thinks he's a bad guy, even when murdering people -- they had it coming.) Also, try to figure out how to turn their contradictions into a dilemma; a choice they don't want to make. Like choosing between his family and his crime business.

Outline Your Scenes Before Writing Them. This is important. Before you write a scene, figure out why it needs to be in the script, which character's intention is driving the scene, what forces resist them, how it resolves, and plot out the major beats of the scene. Go over the outline a few times and make tweaks and corrections. Make sure the shape of the scene is right before you start writing it. This single technique will speed up your daily productivity dramatically.

If You Feel Resistance, Write The Twitter Version. If you outline the scene, start writing it, and still feel resistance, try rewriting each beat of the scene outline as though it were a tweet. You have 140 characters to write the first beat, and so on. You'll end up with a brief sketch of the scene that's a little more than a rearticulation of the outline. From there, you can rewrite it over and over, fleshing it out a little more each time. The Twitter Version gets you to keep writing and continue making progress.

Capture Notes While Writing. You'll come up with all kinds of ideas while writing a scene. Many ideas will be about other scenes or even other scripts. Have a mechnism to jot down those ideas and then forget about them while you go back to writing the scene. Keep your eye on the ball; don't get distracted.

Write The Ending First After you know the story, write a rough draft of the last 10 pages or so of the script. Know where you're going. Realize that you will be rewriting the ending, this is just to plant a flag at the ending destination.

Make A Chart And Make Your Quota. Make a wall chart, get a calendar, use an app -- keep track of your daily page count. Make it visible, to remind you how you're doing. Two pages a day is doable. Five if you're disciplined. Ten if you're a monster. I'd say start at two and see what's comfortable for your schedule and personality. Mark off every day with your page count. Don't try to make up for short days or missed days. Just write you quota the next day. Feeling you're "in debt" on your page count can grind you down. You job is just to make your quota every day.

Remember The Real Purpose Of Your Job. Your job is not to write a great draft. Your job is to get a draft done, so you can improve it later. Your drafts can get great by draft 10 or draft 20. Just worry about getting them down on paper.

Have Fun.** Part of the joy of writing prolifically is that you don't need to worry about being perfect. Concentrate on being productive. Have fun, don't be too hard on yourself, and remember that you'll fix it in the next rewrite.

Good luck, write fast, and don't expect to be any good until you've written 1000 pages.

Do you have a background in comedy? Having experience in improv and/or sketch comedy will definitely be helpful. If you're near any major city, there are probably classes that you can take.

In terms of sketch writing, there are two main things you're going to need to understand. First, and arguably the most important, is the idea of Game. It's the fundamental pattern of what makes funny things funny. The inside joke that is crafted between the performers and the audience.

The second thing is just writing believable dialogue and characters you can invest in. You could have an incredible idea for a sketch, but if the dialogue is weak, then it's going to be harder to keep the audience's attention. Since you're on r/screenwriting, you probably have a good sense of this, so we'll focus on the Game.

In terms of resources, there are a number of great books on improv theory (unfortunately not very much about sketch, but at their core, the scene structure is quite similar).

The Upright Citizens Brigade just released a book that I haven't read yet, but seems like it focuses a lot on game, so it might be helpful. Truth in Comedy is another popular book about improv.

Once you understand the basics of how a comedic scene is crafted, I'd say just watch a lot of sketches. Watch SNL, Britanick, Good Neighbors, anything you can find online. Notice what their Game is. How they build and present their characters. It's the same thing with screenwriting. Once you know the pieces of a strong screenplay, you notice when they're done well or poorly in every movie you see. Then, find a style of comedy that is meaningful and funny to you and start writing!

Sorry for the huge post. I hope this was helpful! Best of luck!

Put the script aside

Don’t work on it for at least a week. You want to be able to see it with fresh eyes.

Don’t show it to anyone yet, however much you want people to tell you how awesome it is.

This would be a good time to start working on your next script.

Rewrite

Look back at your notes from the screenwriting books and scripts you read. (If you didn't read any before writing, you might want to do this now.) Think about what makes a script good.

Compare your script to the professional scripts, in terms of format, structure, dialogue, pacing, description, action, etc.

Re-read the chapters on revisions in the books you read.

Read a book like Making a Good Script Great and apply what it suggests.

Rewrite again and again and again until your script is as good as you think you can make it.

Get feedback

Do NOT get feedback on your first draft. Get feedback on your BEST draft.

So where do you get feedback?

• You could post it on reddit or try Zoetrope.com for free (swapped) peer feedback or pay a screenwriting consultant (like ScriptGal, or Screenplay Mechanic, or check Sites, Services, Software, & Supplies) or put your script on The Black List.
  
• Some screenwriting contests, like the Nicholl and Austin, also offer feedback – but you may have to wait quite a few months to get it.
  
• You could take a screenwriting class – in person or online – and get feedback from your teacher and classmates.
  
• You could form or join a screenwriting feedback co-up and swap notes with fellow writers.
  
  Whatever you do, don’t be a douche about the feedback you get. Accept it with THANKS and graciously, even if you think the reader is an idiot for failing to recognize your genius.
  
  And before you ask anyone for free feedback, read this – and don’t be that guy.
  
  

  Rewrite again and again and again
  

  
  Again, in between rewrites and while you’re waiting for feedback, put your first script aside and work on more scripts.
  
  You could experiment with different formats (feature, TV, short, webisode, etc.), genres, and styles. Discover where your strengths and interests lie.
  
  

  Get more feedback; revise; repeat
  

  
  Repeat as needed until people who know what they’re talking about (not your buddies, not your mom) say it’s good, and/or you start placing in contests like the Nicholl and Austin and/or getting 8s and up on The Black List.
  
  Keep in mind that it may take years, and many drafts of many scripts, before you get to this point… if you ever do. (Most people don’t.)

Here are two screenwriting books that I really love that don't get a lot of love:

Writing for Emotional Impact and The 101 Habits of Highly Successful Screenwriters by Karl Iglesias. Those two go pretty unnoticed but are really insightful.

I also really enjoy:

Directing Actors: Creating Memorable Performances for Film & Television and The Film Director's Intuition: Script Analysis and Rehearsal Techniques by Judith Weston. It really helped give me an understanding on how actors look to find their performances and has really informed how I write both dialogue and character actions.

Let the Crazy Child Write!: Finding Your Creative Writing Voice by Clive Matson is great for just untethering your inner critic in some ways.

Lastly, a bit of an unexpected one The Definitive Book on Body Language which gives some interesting insight on how people behave.

Wow that's a lot of helpful notes, you've given me some really helpful insight for starting the second draft so thank you for that! Like I said this has all been pretty rushed really during the past two weeks so it should work a little better with a bit of refinement and fine tuning.

Only thing I'll say is Frank Phillips did own a bank in Bartlesville aswell as the oil company, try and get a copy of [Oil Man: The Story of Frank Phillips and the Birth of Phillips Petroleum] (https://www.amazon.com/Oil-Man-Story-Phillips-Petroleum/dp/0806146761/ref=cm_cr_arp_d_product_top?ie=UTF8) it's a really great book to read, it's what made me visit Woolaroc when I was in Oklahoma.

EDIT: You said "it seems it should be a lot easier locating beats and acts in a series where commercials doesn't mess everything up." -- I'd say the opposite is true for television. You literally have act breaks on the page for network shows. It really doesn't get clearer than that.

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I struggled with this a lot because I attempted TV pilots after writing features. While simon2it's approach makes a lot of sense, I'd also recommend keeping a few other things in mind:

In network television, commercial breaks DO equal act breaks (at least, that's the norm). And that does mean up to seven acts as opposed to the traditional 4/5 because the number of breaks are on the up. So for studying television structure, broadcast shows (1 hr dramas and 1/2 hour sitcoms) are the best point of entry for newbies, or writers who're trained in features. Watch as many pilots as you can (as these typically lay the structural foundation for episodes to follow), and READ as many pilots as you can. You'll find act breaks on the page. These are available online, but if you struggle to find them, drop me a PM with your e-mail ID and I'll send you a few. I just checked the pilot script for ABC's American Crime, and it has five acts (maybe I'll watch the pilot in a couple days and let you know how this reconciles with the commercial breaks). Mr. Robot doesn't have act divisions on the page.

Next, I'd advise against approaching television structure using Save The Cat or any similar paradigm. I suppose it's theoretically possible, but in my experience, you need to shed "feature thinking" if you really want to understand television structure, which is more liberal and allows you to just focus on telling a really good story. For instance, sitcom episodes are often not goal-driven (as is the norm in features), but tend to build towards a future event which serves as a third-act set piece. Network procedurals might be comparable to features, but things will get really muddy if you use a feature lens to understand cable and streaming.

In sum, to understand television structure: watch tv pilots, and read tv pilots and episodes. Everything you can get your hands on. That's the best education you could possibly have. If you'd like to complement this with theory, I'd recommend these books:

Writing the TV Drama Series, by Pamela Douglas
http://www.amazon.com/Writing-TV-Drama-3rd-Professional/dp/1615930582/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1452403878&sr=8-1&keywords=pamela+douglas

Future of Television, by Pamela Douglas
http://www.amazon.com/Future-Television-Guide-Creating-World/dp/1615932143/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&qid=1452403878&sr=8-2&keywords=pamela+douglas

Into the Woods, by John Yorke
http://www.amazon.com/Into-Woods-Five-Act-Journey-Story/dp/1468310941/ref=sr_1_9?ie=UTF8&qid=1452403897&sr=8-9&keywords=into+the+woods

Daniel Calvisi's books & seminars are helpful -- I'm reading this one right now and it was worth the buy:

https://www.amazon.com/STORY-MAPS-Structure-One-Hour-Television/dp/0983626685/ref=sr_1_2?crid=1L4GN8POKEJFF&keywords=daniel+calvisi&qid=1571069394&sprefix=daniel+calvisi%2Caps%2C345&sr=8-2

I also love this breakdown in The Atlantic re: half hour comedies:

https://www.theatlantic.com/entertainment/archive/2014/12/cracking-the-sitcom-code/384068/

Good luck!

Based on the deficiencies I see now, I suggest you read and write more screenplays. If you did that for six months with moderate dedication, you'd be in a much better place.

My assumption is you don't have a lot of experience writing formally. Looking at your Reddit posts, you write competently in a natural voice. I know you can do it. Your screenplay reads like you're struggling to write it. Only practice can fix that.

You may want to pick up a style guide like Elements of Style. There is a much more modern style guide for American English that's popular but for the life of me I can't remember the title. Maybe /r/writing has something in their sidebar/faq. Familiarize yourself with writing in present tense and active voice. Note: Character dialog does not have to be grammatically correct--we change tense constantly and do all kinds of idiosyncratic things--but the action description does.

Good dialog, like enlightenment, is a life long pursuit. I like William C. Martell's book. His books presuppose you know how to write so they lack the generic rudimentary chapters many screenwriting books share.

Edit: I'm sure structural problems will pop up as you write longer, more complex stories. One step at a time though. Tackle this stuff and build a foundation of skill.

Dr. Strangelove

Act One: General Ripper initiates Plan R.

Act Two: General Ripper goes batshit bonkers and everyone else tries to stop the impending nuclear apocalypse.

Act Three: There's a glimmer of hope, and it is gloriously snuffed out in one of the best examples of black comedy in all of cinema.

I could break down more of them, but I have work to do. But I will say that I have NEVER read a screenwriting book that DIDN'T mention Chinatown. It's a go-to film for discussing narrative and dramatic principles.

I hope that if you have any aspirations of being a screenwriter that you read all of the comments in this thread. I also recommend this book, which I found invaluable when I first started writing screenplays.

Best book I know on character writing is Comic Toolbox by John Vorhaus http://www.amazon.com/Comic-Toolbox-Funny-Even-Youre/dp/1879505215

The best thing I've done for my character development is take an improv comedy class.

Happy to help. Professor's name is David Howard. Here are his books, if you're interested in more from him.

https://www.amazon.com/Tools-Screenwriting-Writers-Elements-Screenplay/dp/0312119089/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1479269952&sr=8-1&keywords=david+howard

https://www.amazon.com/How-Build-Great-Screenplay-Storytelling/dp/031235262X/ref=sr_1_3?ie=UTF8&qid=1479269952&sr=8-3&keywords=david+howard

Grit and determination are mandatory to make it in this biz - not to get all weird and shit, but I found this book to be helpful. I'm 32, and I'm just hitting my stride (in terms of output, my shit still blows) and part of getting to a place where I can write 30-40 pages a week was by learning how to buckle down and fucking get shit done.

EDIT - There's no secret, you just gotta fucking crank pages. BUT I do find the Pomodoro method helpful where I write for 25 minutes, take a 5-minute break and repeat. Its nice because I spend those 5 minutes on reddit which I love :)

What do you think about that book?

https://www.amazon.com/Making-Good-Script-Great-3rd/dp/1935247018

Honestly, I'm curious, because I've heard the book is good and I didn't read it.

I recommend you read Steal Like an Artist, because you're off base here with your understanding of interesting = new = reading lots of academic literature. There is nothing "new" in the artistic world. And this post you've made, in my opinion, is evidence that you need to read more scripts.

Into the Woods is posted here often. I'm currently reading it. It's fantastic. Definitely recommend it.

Edit: Hah - whoops. Just realized I posted this on the wrong thread. I suppose its still relevant.

Invisible Ink

https://www.amazon.com/Invisible-Ink-Practical-Building-Resonate/dp/0984178627

This one only has one point but it separates the shallow from writing that resonates and tells you why.



These go a long way but I think experience helps you understand why this list is so good.
http://www.aerogrammestudio.com/2013/03/07/pixars-22-rules-of-storytelling/


This books got a couple of important points particularly talking about "character vs plot" and the "unity of opposites"

https://www.amazon.com/gp/aw/d/0671213326/ref=mp_s_a_1_fkmr0_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1491923420&sr=8-1-fkmr0&pi=AC_SX236_SY340_QL65&keywords=lejos+egri

Not really, main influence was the book [Oil Man] (https://www.amazon.com/Oil-Man-Story-Phillips-Petroleum/dp/0806146761) about Frank Phillips and a visit to his Wolaroc Ranch which is now a really interesting museum.

Do you have anything you would like me to read in return?

Read ,books on comedy try stand-up for a while. You will learn the structure of comedy in such a way as to see why something is funny and reverse engineer it for your own purposes

The middle ground is to....direct the actors. I don't understand where you're coming from here? w/r/t the "writer on set offering line-reads" scenario you started out with.
If you're just genuinely curious to learn how a director communicates with their actors to shape their performance, you should read a book on direction. This is a good place to start.

Dear Mr./Mrs./Miss Jizzmonger69,

Despite your blatant reduction of proper words and characters, I offer my 2 cents:

• Invisible Ink by Brian McDonald
  
• Story Genius by Lisa Cron
  
  p.s. I do not attempt to insult, but rather to assist you in fortifying your forward momentum toward knowledge. In other words, you will find that despite your willingness to learn, if you do not put in the effort of basic spelling, punctuation, sentence craft –– that many people will not take you seriously.
  
  Bon chance, mon ami.

Ok, spend $20 on a book (I recommend this one ) and spend the rest on beer.

Sunshine: A Screenplay https://www.amazon.com/dp/057123397X/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_api_FPsGAbQJ6J0E8

Grit: the Power of Passion and Perserverence

Absolutely. Most films fall outside of the Hero's Journey structure.

Another good book to read is "The Writer's Journey" by Christopher Vogler.

Yes. http://www.amazon.com/dp/0691006202

I like this book:

http://www.amazon.com/The-Screenwriters-Bible-Complete-Formatting/dp/1879505843

I just ordered...STORY MAPS: TV Drama: The Structure of the One-Hour Television Pilot (Volume 4) by Daniel P. Calvisi

It's arriving tomorrow and will let you know ;)

https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0983626685/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_asin_title_o00_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1

Well I just found this on Amazon, apparently has the screenplays of Solaris, The Mirror, Stalker and The Sacrifice. https://www.amazon.co.uk/Andrei-Tarkovsky-Screenplays/dp/0571142664/ref=sr_1_36?crid=2PW87ZWLQL9KN&keywords=andrei+tarkovsky&qid=1566827097&s=gateway&sprefix=andrei+tark%2Caps%2C148&sr=8-36

Reading.
Lots and lots and lots of reading to get the sense of how stories evolve and unfold.
then, if youre really serious, find a short-ish one you like and type it out page by page so you can get a sense of the pace of actual writing and then adapt it to your own.

oh yeah, and lots of reading.

and when in doubt, get this book:

https://www.amazon.com/Writing-10th-Anniversary-Memoir-Craft/dp/1439156816

• Improv classes. Especially in a school structure that teaches the concept of 'Game'
  
  
• Scott Dikkers (The Onion) How to Write Funny
  
  
• Upright Citizens Brigade Comedy Improvisation Manual
  
  
• Joe Toplyn's Comedy Writing for Late Night TV
  
  
  -----------------
  
  There's three in book form. Take them all and ingest them into your grey matter and develop your own.

Screenwriter's Bible: http://www.amazon.com/gp/aw/d/1879505843?pc_redir=1408078109&robot_redir=1

Story, McKee: http://www.amazon.com/gp/aw/d/B0042FZVOY?pc_redir=1408254965&robot_redir=1

Godspeed.

Also, this: Collected Screenplays (Faber and Faber Screenplays) https://www.amazon.com/dp/0571142664/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_apa_Wti.BbYAR0VM3

http://www.amazon.com/The-Grand-Budapest-Hotel-Illustrated/dp/1623160510

You can buy it from Amazon, ether paperback or on Kindle.

Unless you're Mr Boyle himself, you used the wrong tag :)

You can buy it here https://www.amazon.com/Sunshine-Alex-Garland/dp/057123397X?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1190010089&sr=1-1

It's also written by Alex Garland, not Boyle btw.

hth

Stealing from one source is theft, stealing from a lot of sources is research.

For more reading on the subject - See Austin Kleon's book "Steal like an artist"

I highly recommend checking out Carol Clover's book Men, Women, and Chainsaws. (amazon link)

It's a bit dated since it's almost twenty years old at this point--if she were writing today I don't think she would have to spend as much time justifying the study of horror in the first place--but it's still a phenomenal book of film criticism that tries to theorize what makes horror movies work.