The Unfilmed Original Screenplay of an American classic.
This is a landmark volume of the epic, original film script written by Lorraine Hansberry, adapted from her stage play. But movie audiences did not know that nearly a third of her powerful screenplay had been cut. This edition restores all of these deletions and delivers the screenplay that is true to Hansberry's vision.

Making a good script great is more than just a matter of putting a good idea on paper. It requires the working and reworking of that idea. This book takes you through the whole screenwriting process-from initial concept through final rewrite-providing specific methods that will help you craft tighter, stronger, and more saleable scripts. While retaining the invaluable insights that placed its first two editions among the all-time most popular screenwriting books, this expanded, revised, and updated third edition adds rich and important new material on dialogue, cinematic images, and point of view, as well as an interview with screenwriter Paul Haggis. If you are writing your first script, this book will help develop your skills for telling a compelling and dramatic story. If you are a veteran screenwriter, it will help you articulate the skills you know intuitively. And if you are currently stuck on a rewrite, this book will help you analyse and solve your script's problems and get it back on track.

Though innumerable biographies have been written about novelists, playwrights, and poets, screenwriters are rarely granted this distinction, even ones as prolific and successful as Richard Matheson. Beginning with The Incredible Shrinking Man in 1957, Matheson has occupied a unique position in writing for television and cinema for more than fifty years. This biography documents his rise to prominence, his literary influences, and the role he played in the horror and science fiction renaissance. The narrative examines each of Matheson's works in chronological order with an index indicating where each can be found, from his early work in the 1950's through I Am Legend in 2007.

With a foreword by Diane Negra and Jorie Lagerway As television has finally started to create more leading roles for women, the female antiheroine has emerged as a compelling and dynamic character type. Television Antiheroines looks closely at this recent development, exploring the emergence of women characters in roles typically reserved for men, particularly in the male-dominated genre of the crime and prison drama. The essays collected in Television Antiheroines are divided into four sections or types of characters: mafia women, drug dealers and aberrant mothers, women in prison, and villainesses. Looking specifically at shows such as Gomorrah, Mafiosa, The Wire, The Sopranos, Sons of Anarchy, Orange is the New Black, and Antimafia Squad, the contributors explore the role of race and sexuality and focus on how many of the characters transgress traditional ideas about femininity and female identity, such as motherhood. They examine the ways in which bad women are portrayed and how these characters undermine gender expectations and reveal the current challenges by women to social and economic norms. Television Antiheroines will be essential reading for anyone with a serious interest in crime and prison drama and the rising prominence of women in nontraditional roles.

Designed for philosophers as well as readers with no particular philosophical background, the essays in this lively book are grouped into four amusing acts.

Act One looks at the four Seinfeld characters through a philosophical lens and includes "Jerry and Socrates: The Examined Life"?

Act Two examines historical philosophers from a Seinfeldian standpoint and offers "Plato or Nietzsche? Time, Essence, and Eternal Recurrence in Seinfeld".

Act Three, "Untimely Meditations by the Water Cooler", explores philosophical issues raised by the show, such as, "Is it rational for George to do the opposite"?

And Act Four, "Is There Anything Wrong with That?", discusses ethical problems of everyday life using Seinfeld as a basis.

Seinfeld and Philosophy also provides a guide to Seinfeld episodes and a chronological list of the philosophers cited in this book.

The acerbically funny and intimate screenplay for acclaimed visual artist Martine Syms's debut film, The African Desperate.The African Desperate follows Palace Bryant on one very long day in 2017 that starts with her MFA graduation in upstate New York and ends at a Chicago Blue Line Station. Set against the lush backdrop of late summer, Palace navigates the pitfalls of self-actualization and the fallacies of the art world. Shot through with Syms's celebrated conceptual grit, humor, social commentary, and vivid visual language, The African Desperate leads us through picturesque landscapes and artists studios, from academic critiques to backseat hookups, and from the night of a wild graduation party to the morning of a lonely trip back home.

As entertaining as it is enlightening, Creating Dialogue for TV: Screenwriters Talk Television presents interviews with five Hollywood professionals who talk about all things related to dialogue - from naturalistic style to the building of characters to swearing and dialect. Screenwriters/showrunners David Mandel (Curb Your Enthusiasm, Veep), Jane Espenson (Buffy, Battlestar Galactica, Once Upon a Time), Robert Berens (Supernatural), Sheila Lawrence (Gilmore Girls, Ugly Betty, The Marvelous Mrs Maisel), and Doris Egan (Tru Calling, House, Reign) field a linguist's inquiries about the craft of writing dialogue. This book is for anyone who has ever wondered what creative processes and attitudes lie behind the words they encounter when tuning into their favourite television show. It provides direct insights into Hollywood writers' knowledge and opinions of how language is used in television narratives, and in doing so shows how language awareness, attitudes and the craft of using words are utilised to create popular TV series. The book will appeal to students and teachers in screenwriting, creative writing and linguistics as well as lay readers.

'Diverting... pleasurable... entertaining' New York Times 'Relevant and fresh... [Good Omens] still has a lot to say about the world' Empire 'Even if you're very familiar with the original novel, this is a different experience... so damned charming and quirky that it feels like a must' Starburst Neil Gaiman's glorious reinvention of the iconic bestseller Good Omens, adapted from the internationally beloved novel by Terry Pratchett and Neil Gaiman, launched on Amazon Prime Video this year to great acclaim. Soon to be shown on the BBC, the series is written and show-run by Neil himself and stars David Tennant, Michael Sheen, Jon Hamm and Miranda Richardson, to name but a few. Before he died, Terry Pratchett asked Neil Gaiman to make a television series of the internationally beloved novel they wrote together about the end of the world. What followed was almost... ineffable. Over six glorious episodes, Neil brought an angel, Aziraphale, and a demon, Crowley, (the only things standing between us and the inevitable Armageddon) to life in some of the most extraordinary television ever made. Here you will find the scripts that Neil wrote, containing much that is new and revelatory and even several scenes throughout that never made the final cut. For the very first time, this edition collects all the missing bits - from a certain Other Four Horsemen to a little demonic shopping trip - and reveals the secrets of the show, which, by its very nature, is known to ask for the impossible. Step backstage and see the magic for yourself. **This edition of The Quite Nice and Fairly Accurate Good Omens Script Book contains an introduction by Neil Gaiman about bringing Good Omens to the screen and all cut scenes**

Two brand-new monologues in the Talking Heads series, as seen on BBC1 and iPlayer 'Given the opportunity to revisit the characters from Talking Heads I've added a couple more, both of them ordinary women whom life takes by surprise. They just about end up on top and go on, but without quite knowing how. Still, they're in good company, and at least they've made it into print.' Alan Bennett's twelve Talking Heads are acknowledged masterworks by one of our most highly acclaimed writers. Some thirty years after the original six, Bennett has written Two Besides, a pair of monologues. Each, in its way, is a devastating portrait of grief. In An Ordinary Woman, a mother suffers the inevitable consequences when she makes life intolerable for herself and her family by falling for her own flesh and blood; while The Shrine tells the story behind a makeshift roadside shrine, introducing us to Lorna, bearing witness in her high-vis jacket, the bereft partner of a dedicated biker with a surprising private life. The two new Talking Heads were recorded for the BBC during the exceptional circumstances of coronavirus lockdown in the spring of 2020, directed by Nicholas Hytner and performed by Sarah Lancashire and Monica Dolan. The book contains a substantial preface by Nicholas Hytner and an introduction to each, by Alan Bennett.

Inspired by Dostoyevsky's short story, The Double tells the story of Simon, a timid man, scratching out an isolated existence in an indifferent world. He is overlooked at work, scorned by his mother, and ignored by the woman of his dreams. He feels powerless to change any of these things. The arrival of a new co-worker, James, serves to upset the balance. James is both Simon's exact physical double and his opposite - confident, charismatic and good with women. To Simon's horror, James slowly starts taking over his life.

This book seeks to reshape the way that writers think about constructing their story, looking at the subject from the inside out. Often practitioners and theorists examine work through the separate lenses of character and/or structure and then bring them together. Within this book, authors Hughes and Wilkes argue that character is structure and one without the other makes for a dissatisfying narrative. Through detailed case studies on films that span all genres, from mainstream franchises like The Hunger Games (2012-2015) and Shrek (2001-2010) to art house films such as Toto Le Heros (1991) and Eraserhead (1977), the authors reveal the dramatic imperative behind the central choices or dilemmas faced by every protagonist in every classic feature length narrative. They argue there is only one of five choices that any writer must make in inventing that key transition from the protagonist's ordinary world into the adventure that will form the heart of their story. Using the universal language of folk and fairy stories, this book gives writers and students a clear framework through which they can reference and improve their own storytelling. In doing so, it enables both the novice and experienced screenwriter to tell their story in the most authentic and impactful way, while keeping their protagonist at the heart of the narrative.

The screenwriter's GPS for writing a great screenplay! Avoid the wrong turns, dead ends, gaping p(l)otholes, and other obstacles commonly encountered when writing a screenplay. The Screenwriter's Roadmap: 21 Ways to Jumpstart Your Story keeps you on route and helps you reach your final destination: a completed screenplay that's full of surprises, emotionally resonant, and ready for the marketplace. Neil Landau, an established Hollywood screenwriter and script doctor, provides 21 questions for you to ask yourself as you write, to help you nail down your screenplay's story structure, deepen its character arcs, bolster stakes, heighten suspense, and diagnose and repair its potential weaknesses. These 21 vital questions have been field-tested and utilized in the creation of some of Hollywood's biggest blockbusters and critically acclaimed films. Each chapter is augmented by end of chapter "homework" assignments, examples from recent blockbusters and timeless classic films, as well as interviews with some of Hollywood's most successful screenwriters including Scott Z. Burns (Contagion), Tony Gilroy (The Bourne Legacy), Laeta Kalogridis (Shutter Island), David Koepp (Spider Man), Jeff Nathanson (Catch Me If You Can), Eric Roth (Extremely Loud & Incredibly Close), David S. Goyer (The Dark Knight Rises), , Billy Ray (The Hunger Games), Melissa Rosenberg (the Twilight trilogy), Sheldon Turner (Up in the Air), and many others.

Once you understand the basics of screenwriting, ideas for your next screenplay are everywhere. Whether it comes from a favorite children's book, a summer novel you discover accidentally, a news story that catches your imagination, or a chapter from your own life - advanced screenwriting strategies should now guide you through your first adaptation. In Screen Adaptation: Beyond the Basics, award-winning screenwriter Eric Williams uses examples from award-winning screenplays to explain new storytelling techniques. His real-world examples illustrate a range of advanced approaches - including new ways to identify and craft tension, how to reimagine structure and character, and how to strengthen emotional depth in your characters and in the audience. Screen Adaptation: Beyond the Basics teaches readers new ways to engage with source material in order to make successful adaptation decisions, regardless of the source material. The book offers: Three detailed examples of award-winning adaptations by the author, including the complete short story and final scripts used in the Voices From the Heartland project; Breakout boxes highlighting modern and historical adaptations and providing examples for each concept discussed in the book; More than fifty charts providing easy-to-use visual representations of complex concepts; New screenwriting techniques developed by the author, including the Triangle of Knowledge, the Storyteller's Parallax, and the idea of Super Genres as part of a Screenwriters Taxonomy.

Wildly charismatic, impossibly brilliant, totally rebellious - Will Hunting is a mathematical genius who lives on the fringes of society, refusing to accept the talent that he has for maths and taking, instead, a job as a cleaner in a university. A psychologist takes him under his wing and tries to help Hunting resolve the traumas that beset him. Matt Damon and Ben Affleck - lifelong friends and two of the best actors of their generation - have written a film that is funny, ironic and profoundly moving; one that is filled with empathy for society's outsiders and their struggle to fight their way through life.

This script by British director Peter Greenaway (born 1942) follows Russian director Eisenstein to Guanajuato, Mexico, in 1930, where he worked for ten days on a never-completed film called "Que Viva Mexico."

For more than twenty years, "Writing Screenplays That Sell" has been hailed as the most complete guide available on the art, craft, and business of writing for movies and television. Now fully revised and updated to reflect the latest trends and scripts, Hollywood story expert and script consultant Michael Hauge walks readers through every step of writing and selling successful screenplays. If you read only one book on the screenwriter's craft, this must be the one.

Othello, the general of the Venetian army, holds much power and influence but becomes the target of an insidious plot to steal his coveted position. He is overcome with paranoia and enthralled with rumors of his wife's potential infidelity. Othello has fallen in love with a senator's daughter, Desdemona, and the two secretly marry. Their partnership generates shock and confusion as Desdemona was also loved by Roderigo, who'd already asked for her hand. Othello's ensign, Iago, is envious of the general and is spurned when he promotes the young Cassio to a higher position. This marks the beginning of a plot in which Iago plans to destroy Othello's personal and professional life. He attacks his marriage by stoking the flames of jealousy, insinuating Desdemona's infidelity. This leads to a violent confrontation with a morbid outcome. Othello is one of William Shakespeare's most well-known plays. It tackles multiple topics including race, gender, politics and revenge. It's a gripping drama that details the dangers of greed, envy and their inescapable consequences. With an eye-catching new cover, and professionally typeset manuscript, this edition of Othello is both modern and readable.

In 1965 there doesn't seem to be too much going on in the ranks of the South Bendigo Communist Party. Even the presence of young recruit Martin Porter has done little to inject life into the weekly grind. While Martin's mum frets about his inexplicable abandonment of the church, short hair and the army reserve, George and Eli Tassekis welcome him into their family like a second son. But Martin is an ASIO spy and he's about to get his new friends into serious trouble. Based on a true story from country Victoria, The Spook reveals the world of activity involving the Communist Party and ASIO in Australian society during the post war decades.

In this amply illustrated book, Hellman and Rogachevskii tell the fascinating story behind the screen adaptation of one of the most impactful novels of all times. Despite its huge global success, Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn refused all offers to have his One Day in the Life of Ivan Denisovich turned into a movie for many years for artistic reasons. It took the full resolve and commitment of the Finnish director Caspar Wrede to bring this challenging project to fruition, eight years after the novel had been published. This second, expanded edition offers an all-encompassing account of the movie's production, reception and impact. Filled with little-known facts, it also gives unique and valuable insights into Solzhenitsyn's complex relationship with the art of film-making.

You've got an idea for the next great screenplay. Maybe you're just getting started or perhaps you've spent time with other screenwriting books, and you have your hero's journey, plot twists, reversals, and cat-saving scenes all worked out. Either way, what stands between you and an outstanding finished screenplay are the blank pages that you must fill with cinematic life, energy, conflict, and emotion. So how on Earth do you do that? The secret is scenewriting. This thorough and effective guide will help the beginner and the professional master the most critical and overlooked part of the screenwriting process: the art and craft of writing scenes. With step-by-step instruction, and numerous exercises, you will learn how to transform an outline into a fully-developed script. Learn how to prepare scenes for writing, construct sparkling, naturalistic dialogue, utilize scene description and the unique structure of the screenplay format to maximum advantage, and polish your scenes so that your idea becomes the script you always imagined it could be. Through scenewriting, great ideas become brilliant scripts.

In this revised and updated edition of the StoryCenter's popular guide to digital storytelling, StoryCenter founder Joe Lambert offers budding storytellers the skills and tools they need to craft compelling digital stories. Using a "Seven Steps" approach, Lambert helps storytellers identify the fundamentals of dynamic digital storytelling - from conceiving a story, to seeing, assembling, and sharing it. Readers will also find new explorations of the global applications of digital storytelling in education and other fields, as well as additional information about copyright, ethics, and distribution. The book is filled with resources about past and present projects on the grassroots and institutional level, including new chapters specifically for students and a discussion of the latest tools and projects in mobile device-based media. This accessible guide's meaningful examples and inviting tone makes this an essential for any student learning the steps toward digital storytelling.

These four early works by the internationally lauded filmmaking team deal with the subject for which they are best known: corruption and crime in situations that combine the real and the surreal with the hilarious.

Blood Simple deals with a cuckolded Texan bar owner who hires a slimy private investigator to kill his unfaithful wife and her boyfriend, but this is merely the start of a grisly chain of back-stabbings and murders.

In Raising Arizona, oddly paired criminal H.I. McDonnough and police woman Edwina marry, only to discover they are unable to conceive a child. In the name of parenthood, the couple kidnap one of the quintuplets of furniture tycoon Nathan Arizona. While trying to keep their crime a secret, H.I's convict friends, his boss, and even the Lone Biker Of The Apocalypse look to use Nathan Jr. for their own purposes.

Miller's Crossing, set in the era of Prohibition, focuses on Tom Reagan, the trusted lieutenant of irish crime boos Leo, endeavours to keeps the peace when Leo gets locked into a feud with rival mobster Jonny Caspar.

This edition also includes Barton Fink—an intense look at the psychological ruin of a New York playwright trying to make it in 1940s Hollywood—which is a masterful culmination of these themes.

An imagination of possibilities, of miscalculations, of futures off-kilter "Probability is a chimera, its head is true, its tail a suggestion. Futurologists attempt to compel the head to eat the tail (ouroboros). Here, though, we will try to wag the tail." -Vilem Flusser Two years after his Vampyroteuthis Infernalis, the philosopher Vilem Flusser engaged in another thought experiment: a collection of twenty-two "scenarios for the future" to be produced as computer-generated media, or technical images, that would break the imaginative logjam in conceiving the social, political, and economic future of the universe. What If? is not just an "impossible journey" to which Flusser invites us in the first scenario; it functions also as a distorting mirror held up to humanity. Flusser's disarming scenarios of an Anthropocene fraught with nightmares offer new visions that range from the scientific to the fantastic to the playful and whimsical. Each essay reflects our present sense of understanding the world, considering the exploitation of nature and the dangers of global warming, overpopulation, and blind reliance on the promises of scientific knowledge and invention. What If? offers insight into the radical futures of a slipstream Anthropocene that have much to do with speculative fiction, with Flusser's concept of design as "crafty" or slippery, and with art and the immense creative potential of failure versus reasonable, "good" computing or calculability. As such, the book is both a warning and a nudge to imagine what we may yet become and be.

An Eclectic Collection of Fiction That Inspired Film
"Memento," "All About Eve," "Rear Window," "Rashomon," and "2001: A Space Odyssey" are all well-known and much-loved movies, but what is perhaps a lesser-known fact is that all of them began their lives as short stories. "Adaptations" gathers together 35 pieces that have been the basis for films, many from giants of American literature (Hemingway, Fitzgerald) and many that have not been in print for decades (the stories that inspired "Bringing Up Baby," "Meet John Doe," and "All About Eve").
Categorized by genre, and featuring movies by master directors such as Steven Spielberg, Stanley Kubrick, Robert Altman, Frank Capra, and John Ford, as well as relative newcomers such as Chris Eyre and Christopher Nolan, "Adaptations" offers insight into the process of turning a short story into a screenplay, one that, when successful, doesn't take drastic liberties with the text upon which it is based, but doesn't mirror its source material too closely either. The stories and movies featured in" Adaptations" include:
-Philip K. Dick's "The Minority Report," which became the 2002 blockbuster directed by Steven Spielberg and starring Tom Cruise
-"The Harvey Pekar Name Story" by reclusive graphic artist Harvey Pekar, whose life was the inspiration for" American Splendor," winner of the 2003 Sundance Grand Jury Prize
-Hagar Wilde's "Bringing Up Baby," the basis of the classic film "Bringing Up Baby," anthologized here for the first time ever
-"The Swimmer" by John Cheever, an example of a highly regarded story that many feared might prove unadaptable
-The predecessor to the beloved holiday classic "A Christmas Story," "Red Ryder Nails the Hammond Kid" by Jean Shepherd
Whether you're a fiction reader or a film buff, "Adaptations" is your behind-the-scenes look at the sometimes difficult, sometimes brilliantly successful process from the printed page to the big screen.