How Not to Write a Screenplay: 101 Common Mistakes Most Screenwriters Make

... and I've read almost all of them. Flinn starts his book with the admission that he has never written any great movies... and then states blatently that he didn't write this book because he can write screenplays, but rather because he has had to read a ton of them.Well thank god he did, because he distills horribly written screenplays into crystal clear examples of why they are poorly written. This information is wonderful, and I found myself delighting in his revealing why I too am unsatisfied with the screenplays I have written.The book is broken into two primary sections with a third "final thought section." The first is devoted to form, and he cuts to the chase providing examples of "good writing" and, even more importantly, examples of "bad writing". He examples are very accessible, and will illustrate to any writer, producer, or director why it is that they want to cut their wrists when reading some screenplays, and can't put others down.The second half of the book is devoted to content. This is not as strong as the first half, but is certainly on par or slightly better than most books on how to write your story. He even quotes from all of the guru's of screenwriting, and shows that they are all ultimately trying to say the same thing.I am absolutely serious when I say it is the best book on screenwriting I have ever read. I think it should be manditory reading for anyone that ever thinks of giving their screenplay to another individual to read. Happy writing!!!

This book does, indeed, tell you a great many things you'll want to avoid when writing a screenplay, but the author comes across as a bit of a snob. I'm not sure what he's so snobby about considering that his one and only production credit is on Star Trek VI: The Undiscovered Country and he's written a bunch of fiction that no one seems to have read. Why isn't he writing great screenplays by now?Don't get me wrong, though. The man definitely seems to know what he's talking about, having been employed as a script reader. His advice is great; his encouragement is not. If, like me, you are working on your first script, you will find the author condescending on occasion and find yourself disheartened by his "this is how Hollywood works" attitude.He indicates that we're supposed to get everything down properly, yet he thinks Alec Baldwin was in "Sliver" when it was really Alec's brother, William Baldwin, who starred in the movie.Flinn also refers to two characters in M*A*S*H (which he thinks is a good movie) as Hawkeye and Pierce. How about Hawkeye Pierce and Trapper John? Come on, Flinn. You're supposed to know this stuff, man!The one thing that really irritated me was when he suggested that the screenwriter NOT pick a song that a character is listening to, implying that the producer or director would pick their own music. Does the guy want details or doesn't he?Despite all this, it's still a very informative read.Love ya, Denny; mean it.

This is an easy read with many good examples on how to write and format a professional screenplay. It is probably not a substitute for a college education, but for story tellers who want to write their story in the form of a script for a movie, this is a must read. There are other books on the topic, but this one seems to cover all the basic elements needed to make your screenplay look professional. I enjoyed reading it because it is not written as a dry text book. Rather it tells a story about how to write a great screenplay from the perspective of the author who has read hundreds of them. This author uses many examples from movie screenplays to keep his story interesting and make the points he wants to impress upon the reader. Those points create the outline for writing a successful professional looking screenplay. My only criticism is some of the examples he uses are longer than needed to make the points. Notwithstanding, as I stated, it was a quick and easy read packed with useful information. I will use it as a reference as I write my screenplay. I am sure I will wear it out.

Read Denny Martin Flinn's: How NOT to Write a Screen Play. It's is a MUST- Read and a hoot to boot! (In addition to being an invaluable guide to eradicating all FLINN's 101 common (baaad) mistakes which I discovered I'd baked into my spec script ( while I imagined I was saving that dratted cat...!) Flinn's 1st section on "FORM' is about more than how to indent and leave all the uniform white spaces in the right places aka the "LOOK' Hollywood expects. Flinn's second section, CONTENT, is for those of us who keep trying to tell instead of show what the darn cat's up to. Flinn's Part 3, DEVELOPMENT is priceless offering nuggets like, "just nod your head and smile" then pursue the point (with the development gurus.) Ask Ok, (if we go with your idea and) the girl doesn't die on page 30, how do we keep her in the story? That's even a pretty good line to pursue even if it's your critique group telling you to kill one of your darling cats. As Flinn says, you mightlearn something. I did.

This is a good book. Very enjoyable. Very easy read. I originally bought it for class, but found myself reading above and beyond the homework requirements.It's great for tips on formatting. It's got some theory about good story writing in general too. The theory stuff is nothing new. I've read pretty much the same guidance in every other writing book. But what makes this book stand out is how fun and easy to read it is, all the many tips about formatting, and the confidence it gives you on how professional you're screenplay will be after applying these tips and rules.It's written by a script READER, though, not a producer or professional screenwriter. Reader's filter the good scripts from the bad ones, and pass the good ones onto a producer or agent. So yes, this is a good book to read and apply to your writing. But no matter how clean and professional-looking your script is, if you don't have a good pitch or strong story, it still won't go anywhere. Fortunately, there's other books that specialize in that. Use this book in combination with those.

Full of great tips which everyone looking to write a script should read. Relevant to professional scripts and those wanting their scripts to be taken seriously.

I got this book and a couple of others last week. This one is astounding. Denny Martin Flinn opens by telling you he isn't some successful writer (he has one Star Trek under his belt - not unimpressive) but does tell you he was a 'reader' for major studios and has read thousands of scripts. And reading is the first part of the process (once you've done your bit) to getting it made. So, essentially, what you have here is a book that shows you how to make your screenplay INTERESTING - a reader telling you what reader loves and hates - end of story. Crack all 101 points and you're halfway there (though a good story will help too but that's for other books). If you're at all serious about writing screenplays for the big screen or tv, get this book. You will not be sorry.

I actually like this book a lot. The five stars are kind of irrelevant on this I feel, as these screenplay books often have different emphases, so are not better or worse, but make their points to varying degrees of success. Some of them are so Hollywood that they are useless outside that context.'How not to' as the title suggests does give you the feeling of being slapped in the face every time you come even close to making one of the 101 common mistakes. This is good, although you may find it disheartening - obviously better to read before spending ages on writing your script. Avoiding many of these mistakes require common sense or the bare minimum of research on the part of let's say, the average writer, such as - Don't divide your screenplay into 3 acts, or People don't talk to themselves. These tips are useful although a good software package like Final Draft or Movie Magic simply makes many of them redundant - the macros in the software set you free to write to a greater extent and leave How not to on the shelf a bit more - not messing about with things like margins etc. There are also areas in which writers outside of the States may wish to depart from - such as length or where to place page numbers - both according to where the screenplay is being targeted.However, there is a greater strength of this book which is not immediately apparent, which is a very well written and concise overview of story elements and structure. Funnily enough I didn't discover this for a long time after I got the book, as I assumed the whole thing was as the cover suggested (which goes to show 'never judge a book by ... you know the rest!) So instead of wading through and deciphering Joseph Campbell (without wanting to detract from his ground-breaking work on story myth), you can get a lot of what you need in this book, which is surprising after Flinn has spent so much time on literally being completely negative, virtually slapping the reader in the face.Obviously read as widely as possible, How not to is a great book for the beginner or experienced screenplay writer to use as reference throughout most stages of the writing process.

I've been dabbling in writing scripts for a while, picked up a lot of bad habits and made loads of mistakes. This book has put me on the right track and taught me so much of what I was doing wrong. I've a long way to go but this was a great start.Not only does it tell you the common mistakes it shows you through example how scripts then get it right. Highly recommended

I've learned quite a bit about scriptwriting through this book, lots of great advice I highly recommend it for anyone looking to write a film script.