Here is a collection of print and online resources that are useful for writers and anyone else interested in learning more about the fact-based film. We’ll be regularly updating the list.
Online (free content):
Script Magazine (lots of useful info and links) www.scriptmag.com
Coverfly (offers resources, free and paid feedback, and a platform for writers to build a profile with links to their screenplays): www.coverfly.com
John Truby’s Writer’s Studio (lots of paid stuff but also some useful free script reviews of popular films/TV) www.truby.com
Fade In (screenplay formatting software – offers a paid product but the scriptwriting demo program is free) www.fadeinpro.com
Industrial Scripts (the site offers paid services but there’s a useful blog and other free resources): www.industrialscripts.com
Save the Cat! (the website offering of the popular series of ‘how to’ books, including the popular beatsheet breakdowns): www.savethecat.com
Sight & Sound (a selection of free content from the British Film Institute’s long-running subscription film publication): www.bfi.org.uk
Paid instruction/resources:
Stage32 Writers Room (the writers’ area of the Stage32 social network for filmmakers): www.stage32.com
Screenwriting U (classes – sign up for free ad hoc ‘sample classes’): www.screenwritingu.com
Gotham Writers (online classes) www.writingclasses.com/index.php
British Film Institute (BFI) Player (classic, contemporary mainstream and offbeat films to rent, as well as filmed events and interviews with notable filmmakers/writers) www.player.bfi.org.uk
Final Draft (industry-standard scriptwriting software – do some research before investing as there are often special deals on Final Draft floating around in cyberspace) www.finaldraft.com
Film industry news:
Variety: www.variety.com
Hollywood Reporter: www.hollywoodreporter.com
Deadline.com: deadline.com
IMDB: www.imdb.com
Writers’ Guilds:
Writers’ Guild (US): www.wga.org
Writers’ Guild (UK): www.writersguild.org.uk
Scripts:
Here, you’ll find some script sources for free downloadable screenplays for educational purposes (copyrighted material):
Simply Scripts: www.simplyscripts.com
Daily Script: www.dailyscript.com
Script Slug: www.scriptslug.com/
Deadline (Story Arc’s Read the Screenplay series): deadline.com/story-arc/read-the-screenplay-series/
The Internet Movie Script Database: Internet Movie Script Database – Movie scripts free for reading and downloading
Competitions:
Too many to list here, but a good place to start is Coverfly’s curated selection of screenwriting competitions: writers.coverfly.com
Books (general):
In no particular order, here is a selection of well-known titles on screenwriting and real life adaptations:
The Writer’s Journey: Mythic Structure for Writers by Christopher Vogler and Michele Montez (Michael Wiese Productions, 3rd edition, 2007)
Save The Cat! The Last Book on Screenwriting You’ll Ever Need by Blake Snyder (Michael Wiese Productions, 2005) – also see the companion titles, including Save the Cat! Goes to the Movies (same author)
Story: Substance, Structure, Style and the Principles of Screenwriting by Robert McKee (ReganBooks, 1997)
Screenplay: The Foundations of Screenwriting by Syd Field (Delta, revised edition, 2005)
The Anatomy of Story: 22 Steps to Becoming a Master Storyteller by John Truby (Faber & Faber, 2008)
Cut to the Chase edited by Linda Venis (Avery, 2013)
The Screenwriter Activist: Writing Social Issue Movies by Marilyn Beker (Routledge, 2012)
The Art of Adaptation: Turning Fact and Fiction into Film by Linda Seger (Holt Paperbacks, 1992)
How to Adapt Anything into a Screenplay by Richard Krevolin (Wiley, 2003)
A Theory of Adaptation by Linda Hutcheon (Routledge, 2012)
Books (specialised):
If you’re interested in exploring topics discussed on TFBS more fully, here are some authors and works you might like to track down:
Robert A. Rosenstone: An author and historian who a leading scholar in the field devoted to studying the relationship between history and the visual media.
Titles to check out are:
Visions of the Past: The Challenge of Film to Our Idea of History (Harvard, 1995)
History on Film / Film on History (Pearson, 2006, 2nd edition, 2012)
Revisioning History: Film and the Construction of a New Past (Princeton, 1995)
A Blackwell Companion to Historical Film (Wiley-Blackwell, 2013)
The last two are essay collections (co-)edited by Rosenstone. In particular, the Companion to Historical Film contains interesting essays on the Oliver Stone film Nixon (1995) and the treatment of the Iraq war in cinema.
Rosenstone’s biography of John Reed, Romantic Revolutionary (Knopf, 1975), was used as the basis for the Oscar-winning Reds (1981), on which he worked as historical consultant, giving him a unique perspective on transferring history on to the screen.
Other authors’ works:
Whose Lives Are They Anyway? The Biopic as Contemporary Film Genre by Dennis Bingham (Rutgers University Press, 2010): A useful resource for anyone interested in putting real life figures on screen, including detailed analyses and critiques of around 20 biopics.
Film Nation by Robert Burgoyne (University of Minnesota Press, 2010): Looks at American cinema, history and national identity.
Cinema and History: The Telling of Stories by Michael Chapra-Gant (Wallflower Press, 2008): Useful and readable guide to the relationship between cinema and history.
Writing History in Film by William Guynn (Routledge, 2006): A study of how film can function as a form of ‘historical interpretation and representation’.
Cinematic Uses of the Past by Marcia Landy (University of Minnesota Press, 2000): Looks at how British, American, Italian, and African films represent images of the past.
The Screenplay: Authorship, Theory and Criticism by Steven Price (Palgrave Macmillan, 2010): Explores various issues relating to the screenplay.
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