On Story

September 15, 2013

Morgan (cofounder, Austin Film Festival) and Perez (board member, Austin Film Festival) present screenwriting advice from some of the screenwriters who have appeared on the PBS show "On Story." The book describes all aspects of screenwriting from inspiration, story, process, structure, character, and dialog to rewriting and collaboration; lastly, they urge readers to keep on writing despite rejection. Randall Wallace (Braveheart) contributes an interesting chapter on inspiration, in which he talks about giving oneself permission to write badly and persevering nonetheless. The section on process contains a funny chapter from Anne Rapp (Cookie's Fortune) on her writing routine, which involves a lot of picking up dry cleaning, watching SportsCenter, and, when the sun goes down: quittin' time! Lawrence Kasdan's (Raiders of the Lost Ark) strong chapter in the section on character and dialog discusses imparting personality to secondary characters. So many great screenwriters sharing their advice about their work process makes for a compelling read. VERDICT Highly recommended for screenwriters and other wordsmiths.--Sally Bryant, Pepperdine Univ. Lib., Malibu, CA

Copyright 2013 Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

November 1, 2013
This companion book to the Austin Film Festival's TV show, On Story, which airs on PBS affiliates, offers words of wisdom from such venerated screenwriters as Lawrence Kasdan (Raiders of the Lost Ark, 1981), Caroline Thompson (Edward Scissorhands, 1990), Randall Wallace (Braveheart, 1995), John Lee Hancock (The Blind Side, 2009), and many other renowned scribes. Unlike the countless how-to books on the market, this volume offers conversations with the various writers (most no more than 10 pages long), who share their thoughts on topics such as process, structure, rewriting, character, and dialogue. Everyone has a different takefor example, while Bill Wittliff (Legends of the Fall, 1994) believes writing to be far from solitary because of the time a writer spends with the characters he creates, Anne Rapp (Cookie's Fortune, 1999) finds it a lonely venture until she gets lost in the world of the story. Rapp's amusing account of her writing routine is not to be missed. Chock-full of wit and sage advice, this collection is a must-read for writers with silver screen ambitions.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2013, American Library Association.)