Best “Making Of” Books: The Making of BLADE RUNNER

FUTURE NOIR, the book by Paul. M. Sammon, summarises with amazing detail how the classic sci-fi movie was made. Sammons’s book is a mammoth work on the making of a very unique film. I’ve read many “Making Of” books, but…

How to Make Film Adaptations, According to Linda Seger

The Book The Art of Adaptation: Turning Fact and Fiction into Film Systematizes the Basics of Film Adaptations Linda Seger‘s books are well known among script lovers, particularly, Making a Good Script Great and Creating Unforgettable Characters, the two of…

How to Identify Script Problems: On Syd Field’s THE SCREENWRITER’S PROBLEM SOLVER

Welcome to Syd Field‘s Screenplay (The Foundations of Screenwriting): The Sequel. Which is Not a Bad Thing at all. In fact, if you buy The Screenwriter’s Problem Solver, in my humble opinion, you don’t need to read Syd Field’s original…

Best “Making Of” Books: The Making of CITIZEN KANE

It’s Terrific!, Citizen Kane’s tagline insisted in every poster. For many years considered the best film ever (still now by many), paradoxically, if you were in the American film industry in 1940 most possibly you would think that Citizen Kane…

The 5 Best Books on Making Movies, by Darren Aronofsky

Darren Aronofsky is a prestigious American film writer and director with a very personal style of filmmaking. His career shows widely different movies, some highly distinguished ones, such as π, Requiem for a Dream, The Wrestler and Black Swan. Below,…

Best Screenwriting Books: ESSENTIALS OF SCREENWRITING

The Art, Craft, and Business of Film and Television Writing. In a time when “how-to” screenplay books look very similar despite the fact that they all see themselves as very different and unique, Richard Walter‘s Essentials of Screenwriting is a…

William Goldman’s Ten Commandments of Pitching

From the book Which Lie Did I Tell?: More Adventures in the Screen Trade, the basic rules of pitching. In case you are not familiar with William Goldman (1931-2018), he’s been one of the best screenwriters Hollywood has seen. He was…

Video-Analysis: The First Ten Minutes of THE SILENCE OF THE LAMBS

During the first key 10-15 minutes of any movie, the audience takes a fundamental decision: they make their minds about going with the film or just disengaging. 10-15 minutes is the amount of time that filmmakers, in general, have to…