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timdams007's review against another edition
5.0
+1 star for the funny titles for common concepts in writing, including the title. Great book. The author isnt full of himself and simply shares many great tips and motivational speeches. Each part is short and sharp, resulting in a small, yet incredible interesting book.
ericbuscemi's review against another edition
3.0
I read this after about the hundredth mention I saw of it on the r/movies subreddit. I could talk about how a lot of the advice is incredibly dated (the era of million dollar spec scripts not based on existing IPs is over) or about how the author's big claim to fame is writing a script for a movie which is 14% fresh on Rotten Tomatoes (Stop! Or My Mom Will Shoot), but the truly astounding takeaway from this book is that it teaches you to write formulaically, down to which page every emotional beat should be on. Forget art, the author says, his method will sell. This screenwriting book is Exhibit A on the impact of late-stage capitalism on art. You may ask why I am still giving it three stars, and the answer is simple — it never pretends to be anything other than what it is, and its advice is solid (the bits on screenwriting, not the outdated bits on networking, etc.), that is, if your goal is to write a soulless screenplay that will now inevitably look like it was created by AI.
adamchalmers's review against another edition
5.0
Short, to-the-point and convincing. Lots of genuinely helpful advice. I've got no desire to write for screen, but it's given me a lot of useful ideas for other media.
haydens's review against another edition
informative
fast-paced
1.0
all horseshit. write what you want.
storytold's review against another edition
I seldom record DNFs these days but I wanted to register with prejudice how useless I found this book. The chapter on beats is good, but it could have been an article. The rest of the book is so bloated and gimmicky as to constitute a scam. Save your money: write roughly 40 scenes, including the scene's arc and source of conflict. Good luck to you.
joeydragonfly's review against another edition
4.0
I'm not a screenwriter, but I gleaned lots of useful and interesting information from this book. I liked Snyder's descriptions of the 10 types of movies. Of particular help to me, was his chapter on structure and the Blake Snyder Beat sheet: key moments and turning points for a story to follow. It was helpful to think of the loose structure of my novel, which can be changed as the story progresses.