The Screenwriter's Bible

This 7th edition marks the 25th anniversary of one of the most popular, authoritative, and useful books on screenwriting. A standard by which other screenwriting books are measured, it has sold over 340,000 copies in its twenty-five-year life. Always up-to-date and reliable, it contains everything that both the budding and working screenwriter need under one cover — five books in one! A Screenwriting Primer — that provides a concise course in screenwriting basics; A Screenwriting Workbook — that walks you through the complete writing process, from nascent ideas through final revisions; A Formatting Guide — that thoroughly covers todays correct formats for screenplays and TV scripts; A Spec Writing Guide — that demonstrates todays spec style through sample scenes and analysis, with an emphasis on grabbing the readers interest in the first ten pages; A Sales and Marketing Guide — that presents proven strategies to help you create a laser-sharp marketing plan. Among this books wealth of practical information are sample query letters, useful worksheets and checklists, hundreds of examples, sample scenes, and straightforward explanations of screenwriting fundamentals. The 7th edition is full of new examples, the latest practices, and new material on non-traditional screenplay outlets.

Author Biography

David Trottier is a script consultant, writer, producer, and screenwriting teacher. Trottier has sold, optioned, or developed numerous screenplays and stories for The Walt Disney Company, Jim Henson Pictures, York Entertainment, On the Bus Productions, Hill Fields (for ABC television) and New Century Pictures. More recently, he wrote A Penny Promise (produced; winner of awards at two film festivals) and sold Hemingway’s Twin, an inspiring story about the Hemingway women. As a teacher and script consultant, he has helped hundreds of writers sell their work, break into the biz, and win contests. He has taught at the major screenwriting expos and conferences, has lectured or led seminars at over 30 American universities, and teaches occasional writing classes at the University of Phoenix. Trottier was a senior writer and columnist for the national print edition of Script Magazine during its entire existence (1989-2012), and has published hundreds of articles in national publications. Trottier is also known as Dr. Format because he has been the go-to guy for screenplay formatting. His book The Screenwriters Bible was the basis for the software Script Thing, which later became Movie Magic Screenwriter.