Customer Rating: 
Summary: An absolute must read for aspiring screenwriters.
Comment: This book is a MUST READ for those of you out there that want to write a screenplay. It is not a book on how to write a good movie, it's a book on how not to write a bad movie (big difference). There is not a single page about outlining or prewriting of any kind. There is no preaching about how any story with X plotline won't work so you should make a new story. He doesn't not talk about good or bad plots, JUST GOOD OR BAD SCRIPTS.
This book motivates one to write efficiently. It successfully helped me weed out overwriting from my work. If you've read other screenwriting books before this is still a must read. He talks little about the art of screenwriting and relies almost exclusively on the science of it. It made me aware of flaws in my writing no proofreader or editor could spot and that is completely invaluable. Best eleven bucks and change I ever spent.
Customer Rating:
Summary: A How To Guide
Comment: How Not to Write a Screenplay is a terrific reminder for both the expereinced and beginning screenwriter of all those importnat details that we sometimes leave out of our scripts because we assume "Everyone Knows That". Denny Marting Flinn has a fresh and humourus way of reminding us that the screenplay is a visual medium.
Customer Rating:
Summary: Great Advice
Comment: In reading about screenwriting, I have come to understand that a screenplay is a highly technical document. A blueprint, if you will, for making a movie. And like all technical documents, it should be succinct and clear; above all else, clarity.
Yet it seems many pre-professional screenwriters like me are frustrated novelists who like to pack their work with overly descriptive prose. Flinn's book is a wonderful antidote to this creeping verbosity.
He divides the book into three parts--there is a very short third part that deals with development--but the first two are the major sections and deal with Form and Content, reasoning that screenplays are the same way. In Form, he dissects bad screenwriting and shows why it is bad then contrasts those examples with good ones from 43 screenplays.
Along the way, the author gives you certain guidelines about writing screenplays well. Like, "Do not write ideas and metaphors." I love the specificity of his advice, it's clear and straight to the point. This entire part is filled with such good advice, but the really wonderful thing about it is how easy the writing is; far from pedantic, it's jovial, funny and easily digestible. I read this section in one sitting. I know I will have to return for a more studious reading.
Part 1 or Form takes the lion share of the book. The second part, Content, gives some more examples from produced films to illustrate the author's ideas about what should go into a good movie. In the section on Structure, for example, Flinn discusses the different gurus (Syd Field's three act paradigm, Robert McKee's five part narrative, Truby's seven major steps, Seger's eight sections, and Campbell's Monomyth) and shows how their versions of structure all hardly matter in a practical sense.
What does matter, he writes, is that the writer have structure to a screenplay, pointing out that "in a linear art form (as opposed to painting and sculpture) there is always a start and a finish. You have to begin when the audience is in place, and you have to--eventually-let them go home. How you travel from the former to the latter is your structure."
He also discusses, briefly, such important topics as theme (Don't preach!), suspense, and character, among others. All the while using excerpts from screenplays to illustrate his ideas.
The third part is very short and deals with development. Some basic advice on how to deal with the Hollywood system.
I have given this book five stars because it covers the mechanics of good screenwriting that I haven't seen others do in any adequate manner (with the possible exception of The Screenwriter's Bible: A Complete Guide to Writing, Formatting, and Selling Your Script). "How Not to Write a Screenplay" should be on the desk of every aspiring screenwriter.
Customer Rating:
Summary: Almost Worthless
Comment: There are at least two valuable books on screenplay writing - this is not one of them. Once a writer has read David Trottier's "Screenwriter's Bible" and Robert McKee's "Story", it is obvious that "How Not to Write a Screenplay" is full of obvious points and platitudes that are almost worthless. Most of this book is excerpts from screenplays that blatenly seem to be there so the book has more pages. Don't waste money your money on Flinn's book.
Customer Rating:
Summary: Read this one - but not first.
Comment: I have several "How to" books on screenplay writing. If you do too, then you need this one. It tells you what you are doing wrong. I promise many more than one "Oop!" moment from this entertaining and easy to read work.
Summary: An absolute must read for aspiring screenwriters.
Comment: This book is a MUST READ for those of you out there that want to write a screenplay. It is not a book on how to write a good movie, it's a book on how not to write a bad movie (big difference). There is not a single page about outlining or prewriting of any kind. There is no preaching about how any story with X plotline won't work so you should make a new story. He doesn't not talk about good or bad plots, JUST GOOD OR BAD SCRIPTS.
This book motivates one to write efficiently. It successfully helped me weed out overwriting from my work. If you've read other screenwriting books before this is still a must read. He talks little about the art of screenwriting and relies almost exclusively on the science of it. It made me aware of flaws in my writing no proofreader or editor could spot and that is completely invaluable. Best eleven bucks and change I ever spent.
Customer Rating:
Summary: A How To Guide
Comment: How Not to Write a Screenplay is a terrific reminder for both the expereinced and beginning screenwriter of all those importnat details that we sometimes leave out of our scripts because we assume "Everyone Knows That". Denny Marting Flinn has a fresh and humourus way of reminding us that the screenplay is a visual medium.
Customer Rating:
Summary: Great Advice
Comment: In reading about screenwriting, I have come to understand that a screenplay is a highly technical document. A blueprint, if you will, for making a movie. And like all technical documents, it should be succinct and clear; above all else, clarity.
Yet it seems many pre-professional screenwriters like me are frustrated novelists who like to pack their work with overly descriptive prose. Flinn's book is a wonderful antidote to this creeping verbosity.
He divides the book into three parts--there is a very short third part that deals with development--but the first two are the major sections and deal with Form and Content, reasoning that screenplays are the same way. In Form, he dissects bad screenwriting and shows why it is bad then contrasts those examples with good ones from 43 screenplays.
Along the way, the author gives you certain guidelines about writing screenplays well. Like, "Do not write ideas and metaphors." I love the specificity of his advice, it's clear and straight to the point. This entire part is filled with such good advice, but the really wonderful thing about it is how easy the writing is; far from pedantic, it's jovial, funny and easily digestible. I read this section in one sitting. I know I will have to return for a more studious reading.
Part 1 or Form takes the lion share of the book. The second part, Content, gives some more examples from produced films to illustrate the author's ideas about what should go into a good movie. In the section on Structure, for example, Flinn discusses the different gurus (Syd Field's three act paradigm, Robert McKee's five part narrative, Truby's seven major steps, Seger's eight sections, and Campbell's Monomyth) and shows how their versions of structure all hardly matter in a practical sense.
What does matter, he writes, is that the writer have structure to a screenplay, pointing out that "in a linear art form (as opposed to painting and sculpture) there is always a start and a finish. You have to begin when the audience is in place, and you have to--eventually-let them go home. How you travel from the former to the latter is your structure."
He also discusses, briefly, such important topics as theme (Don't preach!), suspense, and character, among others. All the while using excerpts from screenplays to illustrate his ideas.
The third part is very short and deals with development. Some basic advice on how to deal with the Hollywood system.
I have given this book five stars because it covers the mechanics of good screenwriting that I haven't seen others do in any adequate manner (with the possible exception of The Screenwriter's Bible: A Complete Guide to Writing, Formatting, and Selling Your Script). "How Not to Write a Screenplay" should be on the desk of every aspiring screenwriter.
Customer Rating:
Summary: Almost Worthless
Comment: There are at least two valuable books on screenplay writing - this is not one of them. Once a writer has read David Trottier's "Screenwriter's Bible" and Robert McKee's "Story", it is obvious that "How Not to Write a Screenplay" is full of obvious points and platitudes that are almost worthless. Most of this book is excerpts from screenplays that blatenly seem to be there so the book has more pages. Don't waste money your money on Flinn's book.
Customer Rating:
Summary: Read this one - but not first.
Comment: I have several "How to" books on screenplay writing. If you do too, then you need this one. It tells you what you are doing wrong. I promise many more than one "Oop!" moment from this entertaining and easy to read work.
How Not to Write a Screenplay: 101 Common Mistakes Most Screenwriters Make Reviews: Page 2 of 13
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