Table of Contents

List of Figures

List of development strategies

Foreword

Preface

Part 1 Getting Ideas

1 Creativity and general problem solving

2 Triggering good ideas fast from screen models

3 Triggering good ideas fast from other models

4 What film are we in?

Part 2 Conventional Narrative Structure

5 Overview of conventional narrative structure

6 Planning a conventional, three-act structure

7 Normality and disturbance (the set-up)

8 Action line or relationship line?

9 Protagonists and characters who seem like protagonists but are not

10 One protagonist, many antagonists

11 Characterisation

12 The plan and first-act turning point

13 The second act

14 The third act: Climax, resolution, symbolism and myth

15 Structural analysis of The Piano

Part 3 Practical Plotting

16 The nature of the task

17 Close plotting: Beats, interweaving and condensing

18 Plotting: Tips,

Promotional Information

A truly comprehensive overview of the craft of writing for contemporary film and video, by a multi-award winning screenwriter.

About the Author

Linda Aronson is an award-winning scriptwriter, playwright and novelist. Her fiction is published in nine countries. She lectures and consults on film all over the world.