Screenwriting is Rewriting: The Art and Craft of Professional Revision

This book is a masterclass on screenwriting. Veteran screenwriter and teacher Jack Epps, Jr. illuminates the fundamentals of the craft, presenting them with great clarity and depth. It taught me many new ways of thinking about screenwriting, and revealed new facets of concepts I had encountered before.The book explores various challenges that arise when trying to create compelling and emotionally satisfying stories, and offers many helpful tools for diagnosing and addressing those challenges. It emphasizes process, laying out a guide for organizing and executing a series of targeted passes to help rewrite a script as effectively as possible.There is solid practical advice on the mental game of rewriting, with tips on how to think about it at different points along the way and how to stay the course. There is advice on notes — how to use them to improve a script, and how to navigate them in a professional setting, like working with studios and actors. Various sets of notes are included as examples. There are also examples of rewriting game plans, outlines, and interviews about writing with legendary screenwriters.This book is a gold mine. It contains a wealth of hard-earned writing wisdom as well as savvy professional advice. For those of us who can’t take Mr. Epps’s class, we’re lucky to have this guide that we can keep within reach at the writing desk and revisit often.

Outstanding book that answers so many questions! If you're tired of reading theory and what you SHOULD be doing to make your script great, but don't know HOW to do it, Epps gives the answers aspiring writers have been waiting for. Each page is filled with encouraging words and examples of how you shouldn't give up, but with real life, proven methods you can follow step-by-step. He doesn't preach about formulas, but mentors with both humor and tough love. This guy "wasn't optioned once," he's a pro - look up his credits to see that he KNOWS what it's really like out there! Professional screenwriting is WORK, but totally worth it. Once you realize that the author penned Top Gun, you will seek his wisdom like Archer for the nearest bar.

I got this book a year ago when my advanced screenwriting professor suggested to the class that this is a great book for all to have as we continue working in our script. At that time I wrote my first feature length screenplay of 130 pages.After a year of excuses and without knowing where to start, how to put my thoughts in order and what kind of hard decisions to take for my rewrite I finally opened this book. I’m in page 70 right now and I feel that I’m on the right path.I have no words to express my gratitude to the author for the clear and easy to understand method of rewrite that he suggests, and I definitely agree with his steps.Following all he says it will take really a lot of time, but just going this journey all the way, one step at s time I believe that will help me, and most likely everyone who is willing to work hard, to write a great script, and become s better writer.I rarely write a review but I felt that this book for a screenwriter is a must own, read and consult often until writing becomes organic!

I got a lot out of this book and enjoyed the helpful advice. I took off a star for poor editing and grammar mistakes. For instance, “Throughout the entire” appears numerous times and is redundant. A decent editor should know that. In other cases poor wording, grammar, and spelling distract from what is otherwise a fantastic, must-own book. I will be using it as reference for years.

I am a producer developing a script with a writer who has been writing for many decades. I have benefited from reading around 40 screenplay book. Jack Epps' book contains most of the concepts in those other books, and they are stated succinctly. It is more than a rewrite book. It is also a great recap of all the important principles of screenwriting and film story. I shy away from the term "must read", but I know this book is one I will return to again and again.

"Screenwriting is Rewriting" is definitely true. There's an art and craft of revision. Jack Epps, Jr. , the master teacher, shows you how to do it right. If you are a novice or a seasoned pro, this is a must read book. Your rewriting will definitely improve. You'll be on your way to a great screenplay.

I've taken to sampling bits of this book book before I dive into the writing day each morning, and I can't tell you how helpful it's been to have everything at the front of my brain as a result. It's a perfect match for the surgical elements of draft-digging, crafted to be dipped into as a handbook as readily as it is to be read from front to back. In short: it 100% proves Mr. Epps knows what he's talking about in the screenwriting game, and I can't recommend it enough.

If you’re passionate about screenwriting? Get this book. If you’re a beginner writer? Get this book. I’ve been writing for years and this book brought a different perspective of how you look at your work versus how they’ll be looking at your work. Now it can be a little repetitive on what he talks about, but I think he’s making sure you’re getting it. And by the way, buy this book.

The man behind Top Gun, Dick Tracy and Turner & Hooch wades into the pool of screenwriting books with a different perspective: instead of long sermons about Aristotle, three act structure and negation of negations, Epps focuses more on the actual process of rewriting your screenplay and getting it into the best shape possible. Across linked chapters, he breaks down and discusses ways to identify problems, create game plans and give oneself targets during rewrites.Easily one of the more refreshing titles to have hit the market in some time, the chair of the School of Cinematic Arts at USC provides a book less interested in esoterics and more in practical use to the writer. Epps' focus is firmly on technique and planning, rather than grousing about drama, making for a book that acts as a handy refresher when one is in trouble. Epps' methods may appear, on the surface, to be slower than what we normally associate with rewrites (recommending individual passes over one big attack), but there is a clear process at work, and in each chapter, Epps very plainly breaks down the how, why and what (dialogue, characterisation, pacing, scenes) in a manner not disimlar to a good teacher. He even readdresses and recontextualises concepts and processes throughout the book, showing how every piece of a screenplay must be carefully considered and nothing left to luck or chance as they affect one another.This more matter of fact approach is the book's greatest strength, feeling completely unpretentious and just focused on giving the writer clear tools on how to make a script better. As a bonus, he even provides examples of his techniques in action, both on his own projects as well as former students, just to hit home that this is not snake oil. Those with more of a taste for drama/literary theory, however, will not get much from the book's bluntness and mind on application rather than analysis or philosophy. This is a work tome, not a quick or casual read. However, there are already plenty of titles that fill that cavity in, and it's good to have something more immediately useful to a practising screenwriter in a market often criticised for not providing such tools. Well worth a look-in.

This is an excellent book full of all kinds of useful advice. Epps nails it when he says any screenwriter better get used to rewriting and learn to love it. His theories are similar to other books, but the unique angle of 'rewriting' as the focus hits the mark. Can't recommend it enough. I have read it twice and will keep it open on my Kindle for a good long time.

having read most of the screenwriting books over the years this one is in the top 3 for practical usefulness, highly recommended.

A fantastic book. The storytelling and screenwriting insights presented in this text are exceptionally powerful. It's a masterclass from an amazing screenwriter.