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(More customer reviews)Screenwriter manuals can be potentially great resources, but the best advice is the simplest: read the damn scripts yourself, taking care to identify what you like and what you don't. A close reading of "Michael Clayton" or "Chinatown" yields more insight into the art of screenwriting than anything in Syd Field. In that sense, "Understanding Screenwriting" is more helpful than most screenwriting books because it challenges its audience to glean lessons from good, mediocre and bad screenplays.
Unfortunately, the book itself is filled with largely banal and mostly unhelpful tips and pointers. Each chapter reads like a book report on a particular screenplay; superficial recaps of the movie's plot are combined with loose observations about glaring plot holes or character inconsistencies (amusingly, when Stempel offers suggestions for smoothing over the clumsy plotting that undermines the final third of "Collateral," his suggestions are even more outlandish, like adding a conniving, bloodthirsty prosecutor). Throughout, the tone is more descriptive than analytical, and on the few occasions when Stempel pauses to address larger concerns about rhythm, structure, pacing or theme, his conclusions are just plain wrong.
Perhaps the best example is his analysis of the Coen Brothers' (or "Cohen Brothers," as he sometimes spells it) movie "Fargo." The most challenging aspect that "Fargo" poses to a screenwriting instructor is how to grapple with the curious (and controversial) scene midway through when Marge Gunderson talks with her former high school classmate Mike Yanagita. Mike makes a hilariously awkward attempt at hitting on Marge, which she politely rebuffs. He then tearfully confesses that he's been lonely since his wife and former classmate Linda Cooksey died of cancer. Later in the film Marge discovers that this story was a lie, and that Mike was actually harassing Linda, who is still alive.
As Stempel points out, viewers have a lot of questions about this scene. Why is it in there? What is its purpose? The conventional wisdom is that it's simply a funny scene that underscores how nice Marge is. Stempel repeats this idea: "Marge is so smart, so nice, so warm, so perfect, that we need to see a little human weakness, vanity in this case, to make her as well rounded as she is."
A deeper, better explanation (and one I confess I found on a discussion thread on a movie web site) is that when Marge later learns about Mike's lies, she decides to again interview Jerry Lundegaard, played by William H. Macy. It's at that point that she begins to believe that Jerry, whom she didn't otherwise suspect, was lying to her. Mike's connection to the rest of the film is subtle, but it underscores Marge's dawning realization of just how deceptive and selfish people can be. The scene is also a beautiful illustration of how the Coen Brothers calibrate and structure their scripts. Unfortunately, this is the kind of insight that's otherwise lacking in this thoroughly pedestrian book.
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Understanding Screenwriting: Learning from Good, Not-Quite-So-Good, and Bad Screenplays"Understanding Screenwriting" dissects 21 successful and unsuccessful screenplays. It analyzes why certain aspects of a screenplay work and others do not.This is an opinionated book, not in any way meant to be a comprehensive survey. Like any opinionated book, especially one aimed at students, this one rises or falls on the sure-handedness of the author. Stempel is engaging, responsible and level-headed. "This book isn't about me, it's about you" is the way it begins. "I am a teacher, not a guru. As a wise teacher once said, with a guru it is all about the guru - his vision and the students' loyalty to him. Whereas with a teacher, it is all about the students learning...You should be reading this book because you, as screenwriters, directors, producers, development executives, critics, historians, students in those disciplines, and just plain movie fans want to learn about screenplays." Above all, Stempel gets the reader to see as well as to think as budding screenwriters.There are 21 films discussed at length along with 52 short bits.What Stempel has attempted is a cross-section: adventure, sci fi, horny-teenage, romantic comedy, history - films mostly of large budgets that many people would have seen. To give a few examples, Stempel looks at how the script of "Lawrence of Arabia" varies from the source; "Rear Window", further discusses screenplay adaptations; in "Fargo": he asks why a screenwriter would introduce a hero so far into a script; "Bull Durham" begins with a monologue. Stempel aims for an 'interactive approach' and is successful in drawing in the reader.
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