Writing in pictures - Joseph McBride

Unlike most how-to books on screenwriting, Writing in Pictures is highly practical,
offering a realistic guide to the screenwriting profession, as well as
concrete practical guidance in the steps professional writers take to
write a screenplay that comes from the heart instead of the pocketbook.
The readeris taken through the nitty-gritty process of conceiving, outlining,
constructing, and writing a screenplay in the professional format, with
clear and concise examples offered for every step in writing a short
dramatic film.

Writing in Pictures offers straight talk, no
mumbo-jumbo or gimmicks, just a methodical, step-by-step process that
walks the reader through the different stages of writing a screenplay --
from idea to outline to character biography to treatment to step
outline to finished screenplay.

Using well-known films and screenplays, both contemporary and classic, to illustrate its lessons, Writing in Pictures also offers comments from famous screenwriters past and present and insightful stories (often colorful and funny) that illuminate aspects of the craft.