How to Build a Great Screenplay

Acclaimed USC screenwriting teacher David Howard has guided hundreds of students to careers in writing for film and television. Drawing on decades of practical experience and savvy, in How to Build a Great Screenplay Howard deconstructs the craft of screenwriting and carefully reveals how to build a good story from the ground up. He eschews the "system" offered by other books, emphasizing that a great screenplay requires dozens of unique decisions by the author.

Howard also offers in-depth considerations of characterization; story arc; plotting and subplotting; dealing with coincidence in story plotting; classical vs. revolutionary screenplay structure; tone, style, and atmosphere; the use of time on screen; the creation of drama and tension; and crucial moments in storytelling.

Throughout this readable and immediately accessible guide, Howard clarifies his lessons through examples from some of the most successful Hollywood and international script-oriented films, including Pulp Fiction, American Beauty, Trainspotting, North by Northwest, Chinatown, and others. The end result is an indispensable text—a bible for the burgeoning screenwriter.