Break Into Screenwriting: A Teach Yourself Guide (Teach Yourself: Writing)

For budding screenwriters, this is their go-to, comprehensive, jargon-free guide

Break Into Screenwriting's aim is not just to guide you through the techniques and skills they need to write for the screen (film and television), but also to give them guidance on how to approach the industry as a whole. Focusing on every aspect of screenwriting, from how to set about the writing process to how to develop one's characters, plot and structure, this book will give budding screenwriters all the guidance they need to break into this highly competitive industry and make careers for themselves as screenwriters.

• One, five and ten-minute introductions to key principles to get you started.
• Lots of instant help with common problems and quick tips for success, based on the author’s many years of experience.
• Tests in the book and online to keep track of your progress.
• Extra online articles at teachyourself.com to give you a richer understanding of screenwriting.
• Includes a foreword by Andrew Davies, screenwriter of "Pride and Prejudice," "Little Dorrit," and "Bridget Jones's Diary."
• Fully updated to include discussion of the most recent films and developments in this fast-moving industry.

Topics include:
Acknowledgements; introduction; screenplay layout: your visual language; originating your ideas; developing your ideas: from idea to framework; creating your characters; character growth, motivation and conflict; structure; structural variations; 'deep structure'; enhancing emotion; the next step; the actual writing; the craft of the rewrite; the 'finished' item; assembling your portfolio; copyright; agents: what they do, how to get and keep one; adaptations, shorts, soaps, series, sitcoms and collaborations; the industry: how it works and your place in it; your career as a writer; final comments; appendices