Story Sense: A Screenwriter's Guide for Film and Television

Book Description

This is the first true textbook for a course in screenwriting. Story Sense provides specific strategies for writing story, character, and script. A wealth of techniques are suggested so that screenwriters can select those that work best for them. The book has been conceived as a working manual for screenwriters and offers hands-on advice for solving the many problems that crop up as the work progresses. In addition, the book includes examples of script format, a glossary of film terms, the Writer's Guild's compensation terms, and such insider examples as a sample studio script evaluation form, a sample script analysis, a sample studio reader's questionnaire, and a sample re-write.

Customer Reviews:

Story Sense.......2007-07-18

If you are serious about becoming a screenwriter, this book will be a valuable addition to your professional library. Lucy goes into depth on subjects other authors ignore or treat lightly. Usually if you can learn one or two things from a screenwriting book, it's worth reading. This book clarifies subjects other authors fail to explain. Lucy not only explains all the loose ends, but ties them together. There are a lot of good books on screenwriting, and this is one of them. Cynthia Whitcomb has a couple of books on screenwriting that you might also want to read.

One of the Best.......2006-01-01

This should be required reading for any type of writer--novelist, screenwriter, playwright. The sections on plot and character development are worth double what this book costs.

Too many "how-to" books on writing perpetrate the image of a writer as a conduit for mysterious creative forces. While I'm not entirely discounting that image, there needs to be a balance between writing as an art and writing as a craft. This book falls firmly in the craft column. It demands you cast aside any artistic pretensions and get down to the plumbing of creating a story. And it doesn't stop with the obligatory pep talk--Lucey shows you how it's done. And he shows it better than any other writing how-to out there.

If I could give this ten stars I would. Highly recommended.

Most In Depth, Useful Screenwriting Book.......2004-11-01

This book should be a mandatory read for writers of all types and all levels. Story Sense offers the tools to develop an entertaining, clever plot with emotionally and psychologically dimensional characters. It takes you step by step through idea, plot, and character formulation, as well as explains how to develop structure, dramatization, and everything else you need to write the perfect screenplay or fictional story. You will find yourself highlighting passages and constantly refering back to this "bible" throughout your writing journey. Keep this book close by, it has all the answers you need as a writer.

The best screenwriting I've seen!.......2003-05-08

I have read many screenwriting books and this is the most complete. It takes you by the hand through each step of the process. I would recommend it to anyone interested in screenwriting. The book even states that if you follow the steps in the 12 chapters it should take you 120 hours and would be equivelent to a college course. No need for any other training. This book is it!

Absolutely great book.......2003-02-18

When ordering several books on screenwriting this book caught my eye because of the high ratings afforded it by others. After reading it I fully concur with what others had to say. I went out and purchased DVDs of the four main example films (The Verdict, Terminator, Sleepless in Seattle, and Witness) that Mr. Lucey focuses on and they allowed me to pick up the fine points described in the text. His vast experience in script writing shows through in each of the topics discussed. I cannot recommend this book highly enough. For a detail-oriented individual such as myself, this book met all my expectations. If you are interested in this topic, this book is a "must have" by all means.

Average customer rating:

Disturbing, yes. But very good to know!

Odiousness Cubed

Repellent

Just Plain Stupid

Worthless!

How to Cheat Your Friends at Poker: The Wisdom of Dickie Richard
Penn Jillette , and Mickey D. Lynn
Manufacturer: St. Martin's Press
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover

Gambling | Card Games | Puzzles & Games | Entertainment | Subjects | Books
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The Expert at the Card Table: The Classic Treatise on Card Manipulation

Catching Poker Cheats: Illustrated Methods of How Hustlers Take Your Money

Penn & Teller's How to Play in Traffic

Sock Sock

Penn and Teller's How to Play with Your Food

ASIN: 031234905X
Release Date: 2005-09-29

Book Description

From the bestselling co-author of Penn Tellers Cruel Tricks For Dear Friends comes the ultimate players handbooksure its fun to win a professional poker game, but its even more satisfying to stack the deck against your pals Home poker games shouldnt just be about winning: theyre about stripping your opponents bare without their ever suspecting a thing. Based on conversations with an old-time card hustlerhere called Dickie Richardwho has made a six-figure living year in and year out with the moves in this book, Penn Jillette reveals a lifetimes worth of professional poker players secrets. Lousy with attitude, stylish with swagger, How to Cheat Your Friends at Poker will teach readers how to: Pick your marksrope in the cockiest players to make the big bucks Mark cardsthe trick? Your thumb nail Use shiners to keep track of all the cards in play Cut cardsso they open like a showgirl doing a scissor kick Stash holdoutsand remember to un-stash em Introduce a cold deckmake it warm with your form Bottom dealeven if you dont have a big mitt Make your game cheat-proofhandy top-ten list included. This is not a book about how to play pokerthe shelves are already full of thoseits about how to cheat, make money, and win big. If youre in the game, youre either a fish or a shark. This is the ultimate sharks playbook. The ideal gift for any poker-obsessed male, How to Cheat Your Friends at Poker comes complete with a phony title printed on the case so none of your marks will suspect a thing.

Customer Reviews:

Disturbing, yes. But very good to know!.......2007-09-26

It begins as I'd expect from Penn Jillette: a tongue-in-cheek romp with a dash of course language, and it's funny for those not offended. But by page 20 I realized that, yea verily, this is a serious treatise on cheating techniques.

Imagine all the card tricks that a career magician like Penn Jillette must know, and him focusing that expertise on cheating in a poker game. He's done us a favor in this age of unprecendented poker popularity by wising us up. I *agree* that it's disturbing, but one can take heart in something he points out: "You can't buy the practice." In other words, these techniques take a long time to perfect.

This is useful for vigilance. One can acknowledge that, yes Virginia, there ARE such things as "card mechanics" however rare, or one can hide one's head in the sand. When Barry Greenstein (BG) mentioned "a false shuffle and cut" I wondered how anyone could get away with such a thing! Well folks, here's how it's done. BG recommends being aware of losing when you think you should be winning. Penn actually gets into the nuts and bolts of how the cheater does it.

This also got me thinking about other ways cheating could occur in a casino (such as a modified ShuffleMaster). Disturbing, but good to have tucked away somewhere in one's awareness. There is a section on cheat-proofing your own home game, and the thickest (and crudest) glossary of poker slang I've seen to date.

Odiousness Cubed.......2007-07-23

It may well be that the real Penn Jillette is an admirable human being, a thoughtful, kind, generous and honorable man--honorable like Brutus and Cassius and all the rest, all, all honorable men. But I have never encountered the real Penn Jillette. I know only his odious public persona.

This is a book by Jillette (and some collaborator or other.) It is an odious book by an odious man about an odious man--odiousness cubed, in short. As I write this, the averaged rating assigned by the previous twelve Amazon reviewers is two-and-a-half stars. I am astonished that the book is so very highly regarded.

In his introduction, Jillette spins a little tale to the effect that the core of this book is a set of polished up anecdotes about the life and thoughts of a rootless, no-good, no-account, card-cheating grifter to whom Jillette (and his collaborator) have assigned the name "Dickie Richard," from material supplied in much rougher form by the said rootless, no-good, no-account, card-cheating grifter.

Now, because Jillette is a stage magician, a profession not notoriously devoted to telling the whole truth and nothing but, some readers may feel a disinclination to take him at his word. Among the twelve reviewers already posting on this site, five seem to have accepted the actual existence of Dickie Richard, four expressed varying degrees of dubiousness about his reality and three did not touch on the point. (Presumably, no ten-foot poles were conveniently available.)

Here is what Jillette says in his introduction to the book: "Dickie is as colorful as you can get. He is a totally fictitious character, talking large and cutting up jackpots (that's slang for `telling stories')." You have to give Jillette full credit here: those are weasel words worthy of a famous stage illusionist. By calling Dickie Richard "fictitious," does Jillette mean that he has no objective existence? Or does he mean that Dickie has completely wrapped himself in a covering of fictions and lies? Which, if either, is the truth? I don't know. On general principals, though, I don't trust Jillette. On anything. Ever.

Let's assume that Dickie is an out-and-out lie. If so, than for what reason has the odious Jillette inflicted his odious creation on us? Whatever the reason, I think it is safe to say that art had little or nothing to do with it. As for the financial reward, considering that I found my copy in the cut-rate, get-this-junk-outta-here section of a steroidal chain bookstore outlet, it must have been small to laughably minuscule.

Let's assume that Dickie is real. If so, then Dickie is the out-and-out liar. His lie doesn't involve his techniques for cheating with the cards. He gives precious little specific information there. In fact, about the only useful thing he says for budding card-sharps is look up another man's book, study it and (like the man trying to get to Carnegie Hall) practice, practice, practice. If Dickie Richard actually exists, his lie isn't about him being a rootless, no-good, no-account, card-cheating grifter. That's self-evidently true enough. No, the lie is that he is a SUCCESSFUL, rootless, no-good, no-account, card-cheating grifter.

Dickie tells us that he constantly and successfully trolls for home poker games, that he casually assumes whatever character traits will make him appear to be an acceptably like-minded, comfortable, trustworthy, likeable card-playing buddy--until, of course, he seduces whatever women are in the immediate vicinity, scoops up whatever portable valuables are left unprotected in the home of his host, cheats, lies and steals whatever money is to be had, and then permanently departs over the hills and far away.

I say nonsense. No way. Not a chance!

Just consider his anecdotes. The man hasn't an ounce of wit or charm or grace. He says he can talk the talk of the pool hall and the country club with equal facility. No he can't. This crude little man is as far from being a silver-tongued devil as is possible to get. W. C. Fields, even when completely sozzled, had a more winning and believable line of patter. His every word, his every story, his every thought shouts out that he is a low-life.

The Big Anecdote in the book is Dickie's drawn out tale of his Big Game, the one into which he introduced himself, then gradually raised the stakes of the regular Big Money Game of some well-heeled Big Shots up in New Hampshire. He returns to the tale of this game again and again, until he comes to the day he brought in his five million dollar stake in anticipation of the Big Killing. He tells us how he won Big, and then through sheer hubris, how he lost even Bigger. Finally he laments the permanent ruin of the Big Game, from which he emerged a poorer but definitely not wiser man.

Nuts! Dickie with five million bucks? The same Dickie who recommends that you poke a sticky-coated paddle into the cash box at a home game in order to extract loose bills and chips? THAT Dickie? Don't make me laugh! Nah, this is a guy who far more likely drives (and probably sleeps in, often as not) a third-hand car and makes hamburger money from the good old boys at the Elks Hall.

Dickie Richard with five mill? Hah! One star for this busted flush.

Repellent.......2006-12-30

You really have to wonder how a person like "Dickie Richards" could exist, or why, if he's fictional, anyone would think that a book by such a character would be funny.

The title is a lie - the book doesn't teach you how to cheat, and the author repeatedly says he has no friends. I have no idea where they got the "157 classic and crafty tricks" line from.

That Penn would put his name on this book is just more evidence that, as a thinker and a writer, he's a pretty good magician.

Just Plain Stupid.......2006-07-18

Unless you are thrilled by crude language don't bother,as this book really doesn't offer anything else. i read it as i am a penn + Teller fan but it was very disappointing.

Worthless!.......2006-06-20

My advice, Go spend MUCH LESS on Expert At The Card Table and keep this Penn & Teller related JUNK on the bookstore shelf.

How to Cheat Your Friends at Poker: The Wisdom of Dickie Richard

Average customer rating:

How to Cheat Your Friends at Poker: The Wisdom of Dickie Richard

Manufacturer: St Martins Press
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback
ASIN: B000GSUF56

Book Description

Tells the compelling story of one of the finest palaces in Europe, situated on the banks of the River Thames south-west of London and a centre of court life in England from 1529 to 1737. Celebrates one of the most visited and intriguing architectural ensembles in Britain, including the palace's original sixteenth-century buildings of Henry VIII's reign to the late seventeenth-century Baroque additions by Sir Christopher Wren. Includes full coverage of Hampton Court's famous and ever-popular formal gardens, a precious survival of gardening three hundred years ago. Reveals the lifestyles of monarchs, mistresses and courtiers as well as life `below stairs'. In the same series as Merrell's highly popular official illustrated histories of the Tower of London and Kensington Palace

The Gardens and Parks at Hampton Court Palace

Average customer rating:

Five centuries of gardening. The gardens & parks of Hampton Court Palace
A STUNNING JOURNAL OF GARDENS AND PARKS

The Gardens and Parks at Hampton Court Palace
Todd Longstaffe-Gowan
Manufacturer: Frances Lincoln
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover

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ASIN: 0711223688

Book Description

This book explores the history of the Hampton Court Palace landscape. Among the many themes it addresses are the role and impact of patrons, designers and estate workers; planting and horticultural techniques; statuary, fountains and other garden ornaments; and maintenance and conservation.

Customer Reviews:

Five centuries of gardening. The gardens & parks of Hampton Court Palace .......2006-08-28

A well organised and attractively produced book giving a scholarly account of the history of these magnificent and much loved Gardens. Hampton Court Palace is the finest of English Renaissance gardens and of great importance to any student of horticulture and garden or landscape history.
The avenues and the venerable ancient trees of the parks along with the even older pruned and pleached trees of the formal gardens are among the treasures of the gardens. Along with the newly restored privy garden, the statuary and the architecture these are well illustrated with photos and drawings ancient and modern

A STUNNING JOURNAL OF GARDENS AND PARKS.......2005-07-17

Todd Longstaffe-Gowan, Gardens Adviser to Hampton Court Palace and Vice Chairman of the London Historic Parks and Gardens Trust, and photographer Vivian Russell have combined their considerable talents to offer readers, most especially garden enthusiasts, a stunning journal of the gardens and parks at Hampton Court Palace.

Not only is Hampton Court an historic landscape covering 2,000 acres, bounded on its south and east sides by the River Thames, it is also a site of great antiquity indicating that there were settlements in the site dating back to the Bronze Age. However the estate began to form very much as it is seen today in 1086. It was in 1514 that Hampton Court was leased by Cardinal Wolsey, until he became persona non grata at court and was forced to leave by Henry VIII.

As soon as the estate was under his care Henry began a 20 year building, the like of which had not been seen. Since that time various royals have left their marks upon the estate as it has been used as a guest house. Queen Victoria declared that the palace "should be thrown open to all her subjects without restriction, and without fee or gratuity of any kind.." While this order was not deemed wise by many, the palace did become a popular vacation resort.

The gardens were neglected during World War I, but by 1919 improvements were being overseen by a committee of horticultural and landscape garden experts. Since the early 1990s major restoration work has taken place within the palace which has been coordinated with landscape improvements. Today, the estate stands as a "great emblem and monument of English history," and attracts over a million visitors every year.

Thanks to Longstaffe-Gowan and Russell for making it also available to armchair travelers.

- Gail Cooke

The Great Fire at Hampton Court (Miscellaneous)

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The Great Fire at Hampton Court (Miscellaneous)
Michael Fishlock
Manufacturer: New Amsterdam Books
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

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ASIN: 1871569494

Book Description

On Easter Monday 1986, a spectacular fire severely damaged the Wren wing of Hampton Court Palace. Within hours, experts were sifting through the ruins to salvage Grinling Gibbons's carving and other priceless artifacts. Michael Fishlock has written a dramatic first-hand account of the fire itself and the challenging restoration scheme, recounting the critical decisions made about what to conserve, what to restore, what to build anew; the wonderful discoveries of handprints from the 17th century; the graffitti left by Wren's workmen; the seashells beneath the floors that were the sound insulation.

Average customer rating:

The Tudor Kitchens Cookery Book

Manufacturer: Printline Limited
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback
ASIN: B000GSG7DA

Hampton Court: A Social and Architectural History

Average customer rating:

a visual treat
TUDOR MEETS STUART

Hampton Court: A Social and Architectural History
Simon Thurley
Manufacturer: Paul Mellon Centre BA
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover

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ASIN: 0300102232

Book Description

Hampton Court-probably Britain's most important secular historic building complex-was a center of court life and politics from the late fifteenth to the middle of the eighteenth century. It was also a place of architectural innovation and the site of the most ambitious formal gardens ever built in Britain. This book offers the first history in over a century of Hampton Court, its gardens, and its parks. Lavishly illustrated, the book brings to life the entire history of the building, including the terrible fire of 1986 and the twentieth-century opening of the complex to the public. Simon Thurley, the unrivalled authority on Hampton Court's architecture, interior decoration, and history, sets the building in political and social context. He explores the lives and motivations of its builders, telling the stories of the architects and others who fulfilled the whims of kings and princes. In addition to throwing light on the character of court life, the book makes important new attributions to architects Hugh May, Nicholas Hawksmoor, William Talman, Colen Campbell, Edward Blore, and others.

Customer Reviews:

a visual treat.......2007-02-01

I have to admit a weakness for coffee-table books about palaces, stately homes etc, but this sumptuous, oversize volume is among the better ones of the genre. It is a detailed history of Hampton Court Palace - its origins, construction, additions, renovations, decoration and gardens, but also it touches on the lives and motivations of its people - builders and architects, kings and princes, bureaucrats and functionaries, tenants and visitors.

Richly illustrated with floor plans, drawings, paintings, prints, portraits, and photographs, this account of Hampton Court brings the story of the famous palace up to the 21st century.

When I last visited Hampton Court a quarter century ago, both house and gardens were looking decidedly shabby and, apparently, it got much worse before it got better. Tourists were passing it up in droves. Scandalous mismanagement, including a 3 million pound contractor fraud, dismantled fire detectors and gateways too narrow for fire engines, led up to a disastrous fire in 1986 and resulted in 2 deaths.

Although this is a serious work, one (unintentionally?) hilarious episode described in the book is the comic-opera visit to view the fire damage by the then Secretary of State for the Environment (& the man ultimately responsible for Hampton Court), Nicolas Ridley. Ridley, a chain smoker, his wife who was claustrophobic and ten other dignitaries were descending in the lift when it jammed between floors; the emergency manual door-opening device failed to function; the elevator maintenance man could not be located. Two hours later the Fire Brigade forced the doors open with a hydraulic jack. Heads rolled afterward - if only metaphorically.

New schemes have since been put in place for restoration and refurbishment, for improved property management and to enhance the attractions of the historic old palace for new generations of visitors.

TUDOR MEETS STUART.......2006-03-19

Britain does not possess a Versailles or a Caserta, but Hampton Court is about the close as it gets. Hampton Court is really two palaces, one built for Cardinal Wolsey, stolen by the gluttonous Henry VIII and finished in magnificent style by Sir Christopher Wren. Its history is really more interesting than the building itself. Hampton Court, though spectacular in many ways, will make nobody forget Fountainbleu or the Lourve. This book has wonderful images and the text is sholarly and enlightening. I highly recommend this book to anyone with any interest in British history, or storied structures.

All the King's Cooks : The Tudor Kitchens of King Henry VIII at Hampton Court Palace

Average customer rating:

A combination cookbook and industrial history

All the King's Cooks : The Tudor Kitchens of King Henry VIII at Hampton Court Palace
Peter Brears , and Brears
Manufacturer: Souvenir Press Ltd
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover

General | Cooking, Food & Wine | Subjects | Books

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Tudor Cookery: Recipes and History (Cooking Through the Ages)

ASIN: 0285635336

Customer Reviews:

A combination cookbook and industrial history.......2002-02-28

Peter Brears intersperses a thorough examination of Henry VIII's kitchens at Hampton Court with recipes drawn from period sources.

The palace kitchens at Hampton Court were a large-scale industrial enterprise that fed 600-1200 people every day - everyone from the lowliest servant to the King himself. The author does a grand job of describing how the system procured, stored, and prepared immense amounts of raw materials each day.

Product Description

Official Guide Book filled with colored photographs and interesting information.

The Environment Committee Session 1984-5: Hampton Court Palace

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The Environment Committee Session 1984-5: Hampton Court Palace
T R; Strong, B; Lacey, C N; Gray, I Hornsby
Manufacturer: Her Majesty's Stationery Office
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback
ASIN: B000GRGD80

Average customer rating:

Hampton Court
R. J Minney
Manufacturer: Cassell
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Unknown Binding

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