Currently reading...

I'm not a big fan of how to write screenplay books. I've probably bought two in my life and didn't finish either them. This, however, is a different kettle of fish entirely, a collection of 25 articles from Script magazine that detail the process behind 25 recent movies, Gladiator, Black Hawk Down, A Simple Plan and The Hours among them. Talking to the screenwriters involved in each movie, Cohen expounds on their development process, whether the script was rewritten, if so, how much and by who, and how the script compares with the finished film. It's a fascinating and informative read, particularly for anyone interested in writing scripts. Nobody sets out to make a bad film but the law of averages reveals that the majority are, if not bad, then, average. Some scripts start out great and then have the life beaten out of them by development and rewriting, some find purpose in revision, some just don't translate from the page to the screen.