The Screenwriting Formula: Why It Works and How To Use It

Customer Reviews

Average Customer Review




Too much formula, September 2, 2008
By J. Damis
This book is a decent starter for beginners. However, I feel this book makes screenwriting too formulaic. There are too many factors it suggests that a "good script" must have but there are at least dozens of classic films that counter the books many arguments. If you want to learn to write a good screenplay, I suggest reading one yourself. I suggest "Memento/The Following" by Christopher Nolan or "Adventures in the Screen Trade" by William Goldman.



The Screenwriting Formula: Why It Works and How to Use It , April 9, 2008
By Richard T. Najor
If you would like to write a script, this is the book I recommended. I have a lot of self-help screenplay books on my bookshelves. There are few self-help books are worth to keep. Most of them I wasn't really happy with and felt it was wasted of money. Sometime last year, I read somewhere about Rob Tobin, I took a chance to purchase it. Not a day I regret buying this book and worth the money. Everything he wrote in his book, it makes perfect sense. Since he already read over 5,000 scripts in film industry. He's clearly a very good teacher. He had experienced to teach us with information.
Overall, this book is simply the best to give you with straightforward structure in screenplay from beginning to the end. His book will help you to stay focus with one subject, theme or goal for a main character to follow through the movie or script. I use this book as my bible when I write a script.
Good luck on writing!
Richie



Brilliant resource for writers, March 30, 2008
By TV Writer (Los Angeles, CA)
I'm an Emmy-winning TV writer who's read hundreds of books about screenwriting and story. Rob Tobin's is simply the best I've ever seen. It's straightforward without being simplistic, and it relates the various elements of story in a way I've never seen before. For example, a lot of books will tell you that the hero has to have a goal and a flaw, but Tobin shows how the two elements have to interact to get a satisfying story. This book should be on every screenwriter's shelf.



Excellent, Inspiring Tutorial... Until the End., February 2, 2008
By Emily Macdonald (Eastham, MA USA)
This book gave me great, unbridled hope as an aspiring writer! I finally came to the realization that I'm infinitely more suited to screen-writing than novel-writing. Mr. Tobin's book gives the reader exactly the information he/she needs to write a well-crafted, financially- and prestigiously- viable screenplay. I was completely sold...until the last 7/8ths of the book.

Everything Mr. Tobin writes in the beginning and middle, is 100% sound. One could write a brilliant movie based on his wise, and simply explained concepts. Good job Dude!

I must confess, though, that I had a bit of a problem with his "dissing" of the stories of "Titanic" and "Brokeback Mountain".

Yeah, OK, "Titanic" didn't have a whole lot of story going for it, and it's not particularly one of my favorite movies... But Mr. Tobin's complete disdain for the lead characters was a bit of a turn-off, and made me question his understanding of them, and their story.

The other problem for me was the appendix that dissed the screenplay of "Brokeback Mountain". I found this a bit confusing, because throughout the body of the book, Mr. Tobin cites the script for "Brokeback Mountain" regularly, and seemingly reverantly. I think, perhaps, that he was forced by the publishing folks to include that particular essay...?

Those two issues aside, this book will teach you much about screen-writing, and may even change the way you watch and appreciate movies.




Comprehensive, practical, and essential reading, January 6, 2008
By Midwest Book Review (Oregon, WI USA)
When it comes to creating scripts for films and television, professional scriptwriter Rob Tobin's maxim is that 'writing well isn't just a goal, it's a responsibility'. That attitude comes across loud and clear in "The Screenwriting Formula: Why It Works And How To Use It", his deftly written and thoroughly 'user friendly' instruction guide for aspiring screenwriters regardless of the genre they are working in. "The Screenwriting Formula" is nicely organized into three main sections: The Seven Elements (the hero, the flow, enabling circumstances, the opponent, the hero's ally, the life-changing event, jeopardy, combining story elements); The Structure (prologue, act one, act two: parts one and two, act three); The Big Picture (the logline, the outline, high-concept and low-concept stories, a titanic undertaking). Enhanced with the inclusion of two germane appendices (Prewriting Techniques and Adapting Novels to the Screen), "The Screenwriting Formula" is comprehensive, practical, and essential reading for anyone hoping to successful write a screenplay that will measure up to professional standards and commercial viability.