This unusual screenwriting book takes up where William Froug's earlier books left off. It offers the reader a tapestry of short essays and in-depth interviews with top screenwriters. Froug's essays cover such topics as avoiding the obvious, the birth of ideas, the process of rewriting, dealing with writer's block, creativity and spontaneity, handling rejection, breaking the screenwriting "rules, " and episodic forms. The interview subjects are: Frank Darabont (The Shawshank Redemption), Callie Khourie (Thelma & Louise), Eric Roth (Forrest Gump), Ruth Prawer Jhabvala (A Room with a View), David Peoples (The Unforgiven), Janet People (12 Monkeys), Bo Goldman (One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest), Laurence Dworet (Outbreak), Stuart Kaminsky (Once Upon a Time in America), Larry Gelbart (Tootsie). Zen and the Art of Screenwriting is a fresh, insightful, informative and entertaining read for both novice and veteran screenwriters. William Froug is an Emmy-winning writer-producer whose television credits include "Playhouse 90" and "The Twilight Zone" He was named Producer of the Year in 1956 by the Producers Guild of America and received the Writers Guild of America's Valentine Davies Award in 1987. He is a professor emeritus at UCLA, where he founded the present Film and Television Writing Program.

A tapestry of Froug's essays and interviews with top screenwriters, producers, and directors. Once again, Froug proves that he can skilfully pull engaging thoughts from his interviewees and, with his own essays, can use both novice and seasoned screenwriters to rethink what they do. The essays are wide-ranging, covering such diverse subjects as creating your own talent, getting your scripts read, avoiding story-structure gurus, entering screenplay contests, a scene-by-scene look at the film Body Heat, Hollywood's rewrite panic, Hollywood's ephemeral enthusiasms, why rooting interest isn't necessary, the stop-start method for studying films, guarding your surprises, reinventing old ideas, and guilt as a writer's tool.