The Film Novelist: Writing a Screenplay and Short Novel in 15 Weeks

(Paperback)

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Description

The Film Novelist is the first primer on writing film novels whether you are a beginning novelist, a seasoned writer wanting to cross over into script/novel writing, or a creative writing teacher looking for proven ways to launch new writers.
So, what is the difference between a screenplay and a film novel Screenplays indicate solely what the audience is to see or hear on screen. Film novels are short, and take about as long to read as a feature film takes to watch. The description, dialogue, and narration of a film novel can simply be lifted out and used as the description, dialogue, and voice-over narration for a script.
The author has devised a fifteen week program starting from a one-sentence pitch to the novel itself, which includes filming a scene from your script/novel. He grounds the discussion of early film novels, like The Maltese Falcon, Of Mice and Men, and The Misfits, to provide historical and theoretical background while detailing the practical, sequential approach for completing a short novel and script.

Reviews

The Film Novelist is a must read for teachers, students and anyone else who loves films and novels. Packard has written a uniquely informative, surprisingly deep yet practical handbook on how to multi-task the creative writing process. -- Jane Kagon is an international media/education consultant and Senior Fellow at the USC Annenberg School's Center for the Digital Future, former Director of UCLA's continuing education division for entertainment professionals
Excerpts included in Gotham Writer's Workshop monthly e-newsletter for screenwriters. http://www.writingclasses.com/mailing.phpid=2419
Rather than Balkanizing, categorizing, and compartmentalizing among the various formats and media, Packard's book offers more of a synthesizing, rather than an analytical, orientation. Professor Richard Walter, UCLA Screenwriting Chairman
Clear, concise and instructive. If in trouble, go back to the basics. This book's clarifying points will help more than you may think. --Anne Perry, International bestselling historical fiction novelist
Packard has, miraculously enough, come up with something that is truly newa practical, pragmatic guide in getting scripts and novels on the page that can be marketed to both communitiesliterature and filmat the same time, with a sale in one market enhancing and expanding the opportunities in the other. -- Prof. Richard Walter UCLA Screenwriting Chairman

Author Bio

Dennis J. Packard is a professor at Brigham Young University. He holds a PhD in Philosophy (Stanford) and in Theater and Film (BYU). Packard has produced two films (Firecreek, Hottieboombalottie), and is currently involved with two in pre-production.