Thursday, May 20, 2010

101 Things I Learned in Film School by Neil Landau with Matthew Frederick

Hachette Book Group kindly sent me this book for review. It's a fun book to read with lots of great information!

Each page has a bullet idea, short and sweet, with a couple of paragraphs to make the point.

It's easy to read, is in form that is memorable, and much of what is said could also be applied to writing. I found it very useful and that the points made were very pertinent.

One point was: Conceal the action. Don't show them everything, make them imagine part of it. And that immediately brought to mind the Columbo shows. He had a wife and talked about the Mrs. a lot, but you never got to see her. It kept you watching the show, though!

Another point: Film, novel, television or stage? They talk about the best venue for your writing. One amazing point for me was that they pointed out that MASH was a novel, movie, television series and stage production. I never knew it was a novel, I just loved the movie.

There are many points in this book. Who knows which ones will talk to you and which ones will give you a push in learning to write better films?

Hachette has agreed to provide copies of this book for giveaway.

If you would like to have a copy of this book, follow the two steps below:

1) Leave a comment here on the blog;

2) Send me an email at info @ bookfaerie.com (take the spaces out) with your name and address and why you would like to win the book.

I'll pick the winners in about a week.


Additional note: Brianne Beers will be interviewing this author on June 2nd at 1 PM. The link to the show is: http://tinyurl.com/LandauBTR Go listen and learn more about the film industry!

4 comments:

Anonymous said...

My nephew would love this book! He is going to college in the fall and is majoring in film.

Kris

SusanB said...

I have a student that works for me and is majoring in film. I believe this book would be beneficial as he begins his career next year.

Anonymous said...

101 Things I Learned In Film School sounds like the perfect book for both established screenwriters and wannabes. There
is always something more to learn. For the moment, I am bogged down in awkward transitions, compounded by the major question
surrounding certain scenes and whether or not they are even necessary. I need a more objective viewpoint -- similar to that of the author's. Help!!

Nicole K/GothamGal said...

I would love to win this, as I participate in Script Frenzy (writing a 100 page script in the month of april) as well as act as the leader of the akron, ohio group--it would be a great reference!
Thanks for the chance, and thanks to Hachette for their offer!

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