The Best How-To Screenwriting Books

Robert Gosnell has been a screenwriter for more than thirty years, with scripts produced in network television, syndicated television, basic and pay cable and theatrical and independent films.  Find his classes and website here.

While The Screenwriter’s Workbook is an older book, it’s timeless from a giant in the art of screenwriting, Syd Field.

For decades, Lew Hunter’s Screenwriting 434 class at UCLA has been the premier screenwriting course, launching a generation of the industry’s most frequently produced writers.

In The Tools of Screenwriting, David Howard and Edward Mabley illuminate the essential elements of cinematic storytelling, and reveal the central principles that all good screenplays share.

The Power of Myth prompted a resurgence in Joseph Campbell’s work, who believed mythology was the “song of the universe, the music of the spheres” and had a profound influence on George Lucas.

Kathie explains the processes of developing, pitching, and submitting stories. The book includes such unique information as a 10-point checklist for a completed script and a lot more tips and lists.

Any of Martell’s books are amazing. Now fully revised! The Screenwriting Book recommended by an Oscar Winning Screenwriter and a Screenwriter with *Four* of the Top Twenty Box Office Movies Of All Time!

William Goldman is a legend. Any of his books are Golden.
Remember he wrote The Princess Bride, Butch Cassidy…, Misery etc. You can’t go wrong.

John Truby is one of the most respected and sought-after story consultants in the film industry. His students have gone on to pen some of Hollywood’s most successful films, including Sleepless in Seattle…

Iglesias’s book not only shows how to be a screenwriter, but what it’s actually like to be one. An inspiration to all would-be screenwriters.

I’d be remiss in mentioning Robert McKee’s Story. A dense book filled with my notes and dozens of page flags.