And the Best Screenplay Goes to...Learning from the Winners - Sideways, Shakespeare in Love, Crash

Customer Reviews

Average Customer Review




And the Best Screenplay goes to?, October 5, 2008
By Matthew Valentinas (Newton, MA USA)
I found this book disappointing. It was more of an instructual manual for unqualified creative executives than it was for practicing screenwriters. I found Lisa Seger's last book more informative. I know this book received rave reviews in Hollywood, but I found it very obvious with little new to offer than I've read from other books on the subject. The bulk of the book is just notes on the three scripts covered with Lisa's actual notes and analysis written down. I found her statements were directed to the novice writer and was let down overall. The best advice I got from the book was that the entirety of the first act should create the second act which is a little more definition of the term that every page has to advance the story. And one I am not sure if I completely agree with. I think your time would be better spent on reading a book about subtext or thumbing through a friends noted version of this book.



Seger's Best -- and that's saying something, June 17, 2008
By W. Schmidt (Los Angeles, CA USA)
I am a professional TV writer and a fan of Ms. Seger's books. I've learned something from each and most from this one. Here, she brings together all of her insights from her other books and much more besides. Her wisdom and understanding of film/tv writing has no peer.




Too Graphic,, April 5, 2008
By Karen Staunton (Medford, OR USA)
I didn't finish the book, I couldn't push past the graphically written scenes and foul language, however, what I read seemed well written. If you're considering writing a graphic or explicit screenplay or script then it may by your cup of tea. It's just.....couldn't script writers leave something to our readers/watchers imaginations? Anyway, not my style.



Like Going To Screenwriting Camp, March 24, 2008
By John Gaspard
This book is like going to screenwriting camp with some of the world's top screenwriters ... all while staying in the comfort of your own home.

The book is actually like two books in one: Insightful commentary by Dr. Seger on three Academy Award-winning screenplays ("Crash," "Sideways," and "Shakespeare in Love") .... followed by in-depth interviews with the screenwriters themselves.

Who hasn't always wanted to know where Marc Norman stopped and Tom Stoppard started on "Shakespeare in Love"? Or the true genesis of "Sideways" as it made its (sorry) sideways journey through Hollywood? Or how Paul Haggis successfully navigated multiple story-lines in "Crash"? The answers are all here.

This book is a must-have for anyone serious about the art of the screenplay.



Linda Seger Does It Again: Better Than Ever, March 21, 2008
By Christopher Keane (Cambridge, MA USA)
There are perhaps a handful of people in the vast motion picture industry who know more about what makes a script work, and not work, than Dr. Linda Seger. But I don't know who they are.

In her new book, AND THE BEST SCREENPLAY GOES TO... Learning from the Winners - Sideways, Shakespeare in Love, Crash, Dr. Seger breaks down these top notch scripts intro myriad categories: the directing process, theme, nuance, story structuring, rewriting, etc., as they specifically pertain to the three scripts she uses. What an advantage: to see how the points can actually be applied. Theory and practice in abundance.

Reading AND THE BEST SCREENPLAY GOES TO... made me realize how much, as writers, we truly are responsible for -- if we are provided with the awareness of the opportunities themselves. Dr. Seger does just that. Her book opened so many roads into making my script better I needed teams of horses to keep me away from my script until I finished this masterful book.

An added bonus, and a big one, is her voice. Dr. Seger makes it seem as if we're sitting in a room together. Reading AND THE BEST SCREENPLAY GOES TO... has already led to many improvements in my own work, and I know the best are yet to come.