Screenwriting : Screenwriting books by Anthony Lucas

If you only buy one, make it The Screenwriter's Bible by Dave Trottier, it's a must have.

Okie dokie skipper.

I was at a WGA masterclass event last night hosted by one of the writers of Birdman. He swears by "Poetics". lots of Oscar writers are students of Aristotle.

Including Aaron Sorkin who says if there are issues with his work he refers back to "Poetics" for the answer.

save the cat

Well, Save the Cat is not considered an "industry bible." It is, rather, an approachable easy-to-grasp intro to screenwriting created and meant as a guideline for beginners or those new to screenwriting. Many within the industry have never even heard of it. ;)

Anthony, I don't think there are any one or a few "official" books that would be considered as such. However, there are a ton of fantastic books on craft and story structure. For industry standards on formatting, The Screenwriter's Bible is a must-have—as Pierre mentioned above. The Hollywood Standard: The Complete and Authoritative Guide to Script Format and Style by Christopher Riley is another good one. Anything written by Dr. Linda Seger is a great resource: Making a Good Script Great; Creating Unforgettable Characters; Writing Subtext, What Lies Beneath, etc, etc. Poetics has already been mentioned... A book recommended to me by an exec/producer is 20 Master Plots, And How to Build Them by Ronald B. Tobias. Also, Screenwriting, The Sequence Approach; The Hidden Structure of Successful Screenplays by Paul Joseph Gulino. Other great books: Writing for Emotional Impact; Advanced Dramatic Techniques to Attract, Engage, and Fascinate the Reader from Beginning to End by Karl Iglesias; and How NOT to Write a Screenplay; 101 Common Mistakes Most Screenwriters Make by Denny Martin Flinn. The list goes on and on and on... You gotta just dive in and find what resonates with you. :) Hope that helps!

Agree with the “bible” a must have. Also Linda Seeger is great. Plus add Mckee’s “Dialogue” found it a hard read read but invaluable resource into subtle nuances of dialogue. Learned a lot about writing speeCH AND MOOD from it and Seger’s Writing subtext.

I also agree “save the cat” is not an industry standard although I found a couple of very good points I use consistently. The whole plan though is an ABC method.

One final one I think is essential is the writers journey - by Chris Vogel’s. Based on the hero’s journey by Joseph Campbell which focuses on the essence of storytelling over civilization. Vogel’s takes it to scripts. I think it it one of the best if not the best tool I’ve ever read. Of course Campbell’s stuff is great too.

New writers can benefit from reading a book or two on the basics, but only if those books are written by people that actually KNOW the basics. It's terrifying how many 'experts' are out there with no actual experience in the industry, and how much misinformation gets tossed around.

I found "Crafting Screenwriting" to be particularly useful because it covers much of the same material I've seen in other books, but it puts emphasis on the things that matter. It never gets bogged down with formulas or so-called "Rules."

William Goldman's "Adventures in the Screen Trade" was great.

Mostly, I'd say the BIBLE would be 10 or 12 great scripts. :)

Agree. That’s why I love the writers journey. Focuses on story telling and character development.

Just saw a professor from UCLA in a lecture say that most writers never learn the essential elements of story telling _ that being things like there are only 18 types of protanganist and every hero fits into these. (I tried but he’s right) there are a limited number of sub characters types that add to a journey. There are only three basic desires and all others are sub forms of these. Writers journey delves into these in detail. Not a formula but taken over centuries of story telling.