ABSTRACT

Reading and Writing a Screenplay takes you on a journey through the many possible ways of writing, reading and imagining fiction and documentary projects for cinema, television and new media. It explores the critical role of a script as a document to be written and read with both future readers and the future film it will be giving life to in mind.

The book explores the screenplay and the screenwriting process by approaching the film script in three different ways: how it is written, how it is read and how it can be rewritten. Combining contemporary screenwriting practices with historical and academic context, Isabelle Raynauld provides key analytical tools and reading strategies for conceptualizing and scripting projects based on the impact different writing styles can have on readers, with various examples ranging from early cinema to new media and new platforms throughout.

This title offers an alternative, thought-provoking and inspiring approach to reading and writing a screenplay that is ideal for directors, producers, actors, students, aspiring screenwriters and readers interested in understanding how an effective screenplay is created.

chapter |8 pages

Introduction

The screenplay as text

chapter 1|15 pages

What constitutes a “good” screenplay?

chapter 2|29 pages

The screenplay as text

chapter 5|15 pages

Structures

chapter 6|16 pages

Point of view

Telling a story from a certain perspective

chapter 7|20 pages

The scene

chapter 8|15 pages

The character

chapter 9|30 pages

Writing sound

chapter 10|15 pages

Writing for documentary

chapter 11|19 pages

New media, new forms of writing

Towards expanded screenwriting practices

chapter 12|12 pages

Reading a screenplay

Reading modes from analysis to writing

chapter |6 pages

Conclusion