Gardner's Guide to Screenplay: From Idea to Successful Script (Gardner's Guide series)

Practical and inspiring for both beginning and experienced screenwriters, this guide shows how to structure a film story by focusing on character development. Featuring the "Eleven Step Story Structure," a template that takes the haphazardness out of the process of writing, the book reasons that a strict outline can be turned into a strong script with room for creative and original ideas. Many examples, exercises, and story breakdowns of major motion pictures are provided to spark creativity, as well as advice on necessary selling information to get the script into the right hands.

Jule Selbo is a screenwriter whose film credits include Cinderella Two; Hard Promises; Hunchback of Notre Dame, Part Deux; HBO's Prison Stories: Women on the Inside; and George Lucas's Young Indiana Jones Chronicles. She lives in Santa Barbara, California.