About the Book
If there is one skill that separates the professional screenwriter from the amateur, it is the ability to rewrite successfully. From Jack Epps, Jr., the screenwriter of Top Gun, Dick Tracy, and The Secret of My Success, comes a comprehensive guide that explores the many layers of rewriting.
In Screenwriting is Rewriting, Epps provides a practical and tested approach to organizing notes, creating a game plan, and executing a series of focused passes that address the story, character, theme, structure, and plot issues. Included are sample notes, game plans, and beat sheets from Epps’ work on films such as Sister Act and Turner and Hooch. Also featured are exclusive interviews with Academy Award® winning screenwriters Robert Towne (Chinatown) and Frank Pierson (Dog Day Afternoon), along with Academy Award® nominee Susannah Grant (Erin Brockovich).
Table of Contents:
Introduction
How To Use This Book
Let’s Talk About Rewriting
The Pass Method – Layer By Layer
Movies You Need To See
Part One: Foundations and Fundamentals
Chapter 1 Notes – Receiving and Organizing Notes
Chapter 2 Interpreting Notes – Reading Tea Leaves
Chapter 3 Annotated Draft – Your Reference Guide
Chapter 4 Game Plan – Creating a Road Map for the Rewrite
Chapter 5 Character – Writing from the Inside Out
Chapter 6 Foundation Pass – Strengthening the Core
Chapter 7 Character Pass – The Emotional Core
Chapter 8 The Set-Up – Establish – Complicate – Resolve
Chapter 9 Story & Theme Pass – The Emotional Underpinning
Chapter 10 Structure – What Stays In, What Goes Out, and In What Order
Chapter 11 Structure Pass – Architecture and Design
Chapter 12 Plot – How Will This Turn Out?
Chapter 13 Plot Pass – Cause and Effect
Chapter 14 Feedback on Your Interim Draft – Checking-In
Part Two: Details and Layering
Chapter 15 Opposition Characters – Sources of Conflict and Tension
Chapter 16 Obstacles, Complications, Reveals, and Reversals – Complicate, Complicate, Complicate
Chapter 17 Obstacles, Complications, Reveals, and Reversals Pass – Making Life Much More Difficult
Chapter 18 Relationships – The Ties that Bind
Chapter 19 Relationship Pass – Interconnecting
Chapter 20 Dialogue – Rhythm and Flow
Chapter 21 Scene Pass – Link and Connect
Chapter 22 Consistency Pass – Motivated Actions
Chapter 23 Polish Pass – Dialogue, Text, and Tightening
Chapter 24 Sending Out Your Screenplay – Letting Go
Chapter 25 Working with Directors, Producers, and Executives – Patience, Patience, Patience
Part Three: Screenwriters on Rewriting
Interview with Robert Towne Chinatown, The Firm, Mission Impossible II
Interview with Frank Pierson Cool Hand Luke, Dog Day Afternoon, King Of The Gypsies
Interview with Susannah Grant Pocahontas, Erin Brockovich, The Soloist
Part Four: Examples
Studio Script Notes Turner & Hooch Notes Sister Act Studio Notes and Game Plan
Student Annotated Pages Suicide Girl by Ivy Pruss
Student Script Notes & Game Plans Take Your Grandma To Work Day by David Ngo F@#% The Knot by Romi Barta
Essential Three Act Questions
Acknowledgements
Quote Sources
Index
About the Author :
Jack Epps, Jr. is the co-author of the films Top Gun, The Secret of My Success, Dick Tracy, Legal Eagles, Dick Tracy, and Turner and Hooch. As a script doctor, Epps contributed to such films as Sister Act and Die Hard With A Vengeance. Epps is an Associate Professor and Chair of the Writing for Screen and Television Division in the School of Cinematic Arts at the University of Southern California, USA.
Review :
The book is a great starting point that would teach aspiring screenwriters or students of creative writing how to go about starting, developing and rewriting their screenplays.
And just when we thought we didn't need another book about screenwriting along comes this one, which in short order makes itself a must-have. Jack Epps is a great writer, a master teacher, as smart about character as he is about structure. He's distilled this part of our craft to its essence, and by heeding his book's fine wisdom we will all of us become better rewriters—and better writers.
Never in the history of Hollywood has a screenwriter heard the words: ‘It's perfect; don't change a thing.’ Even if someone were to say that, we know better and would change it anyway, and change it again, and again, and again. This book teaches the why and the how of rewriting and is written by a real, live, honest-to-God professional screenwriter who has successfully had many of his scripts made into movies.
An exemplary text on screenplay writing. Drawing from both his professional and academic experiences, Jack Epps, Jr. provides an excellent distillation of ideal screenwriting practice, creating an indispensable resource for both students and self-taught screenwriters.
