My Problem With Screenwriting Books

[@JetPuff96]

Made me feel better about my screenplay, and I love your snoopy shirt.

[@storyshayleen]

Greatttt video, Pietro and team!

[@valhatan3907]

04:54 I'm strongly agree with this. There's writing approach that I don't align with Hollywood/western way, that's why I lean toward works from Japan for example, Ghibli. Some of their scenes are as mundane as wearing shoe, walking through one setting to another setting, or climbing the stairs. But it made me feel more immersive to the story and character.

[@victorgutierrezmelian]

Thank you for this video. I really needed to listen all that advice.

[@writeforanimation]

Glad it was helpful!

[@matthewlavagna6080]

Watch movies. Read screenplays. Write.

[@dv6165]

I agree with a lot of what you're saying, but let's not undersell story structure. Yes, these books often approach it as a formula or recipe, and that's the wrong way of looking at it. But these do come from best practices in storytelling through the centuries, ever since we first set down around the campfire and asked grampa to tell us once again how he defeated that raging mammoth. Now, these best practices are reciprocal: audiences come to expect certain things from well told stories and we should give it to them (in an original form). That's why it seems so formulaic. I look at story structure the way I look at music theory. Can you write good music without having the knowlegde of music theory? Sure. But great composers understand music theory very well and use it to their advantage. It's a tool box.

[@writeforanimation]

I completely agree with you-you couldn’t have said it better. My issue with screenwriting books was that I used them as a form of procrastination.

[@Tacom4ster]

"Save The Cat" is a crap book, like I would not follow the guy that wrote "Blank Check"

[@dv6165]

So you have written and sold a better movie that was produced and had a theatrical release? If not, maybe withhold your judgement. It'll make you look wiser.

[@writeforanimation]

I think it's a great book once you understand storytelling. The problem is that it can give you the illusion of understanding story. It's common to get notes from execs like "your act break come a little late" Just because they've learned that it should happen on page 21 from Save the Cat.

[@writeforanimation]

Hey @tacom4ster, I get what you mean about wiring books. Many of them are written by people who’ve never seen their stuff come to life. I haven’t seen ‘Blank Check’, but I don’t think it’s a good way to judge the book’s quality. There are so many things that can go wrong with a good script and turn it into a bad movie. Even when the writer is also the producer or director. But I do agree that it's much better to learn from people who have proved to be great storytellers. That's why my awesome team and I are working hard to bring the best animators and writers in the industry to this channel. That way, you can learn from the people behind the movies you love. If you have any ideas for topics or guests, let us know!

[@dv6165]

​@@writeforanimationPage 25, but yes, exactly this! Blake uses great examples from films to prove his points, like how 'The Godfather' has a perfect midpoint. But guess what, 'The Godfather's 1st act break is not on p25. Even if you compensate for length it's 3 to 4 pages late. What you should take from it is: try not to make your 1st act too heavy. You don't need to put all your exposition there. In fact, a great way to expose character traits is when they meet new people in the 2nd act. It allows you to have them talk about themselves casually and not on the nose.