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500 Ways to Beat the Hollywood Script Reader: Writing the Screenplay the Reader Will Recommend | 
 enlarge | Author: Jennifer Lerch
Publisher: Fireside
Category: Book
List Price: $13.00
Buy Used: $2.10
You Save: $10.90 (84%)
New (38) Used (36) from $2.10
Rating:  48 reviews
Sales Rank: 356555
Media: Paperback
Pages: 176
Number Of Items: 1
Shipping Weight (lbs): 0.4
Dimensions (in): 8.5 x 5.4 x 0.4
ISBN: 0684856409
Dewey Decimal Number: 808.23
EAN: 9780684856407
ASIN: 0684856409
Publication Date: July 13, 1999
Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days
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| Editorial Reviews:
Amazon.com Review
So you want to write a movie! You could consult Robert McKee's influential Story, Syd Field's rather schematic Screenplay, which extrapolates lessons from famous films, or novelist-turned-screenwriter Meg Wolitzer's literate Fitzgerald Did It, inspired by her own experience. But the script you pour your soul into won't be read by a single soul you've ever heard of. If a star or mogul reads anything about your story, it will be in the form of "coverage," a brief report reducing your screenplay to a one-sentence summary, with a very few pages of synopsis and ratings of your characters, dialogue, and plot. That report is written by a Hollywood reader, who is likely to be a smart woman desperate to find something she can recommend to her boss--someone like Jennifer Lerch. If her eyes glaze over, you're dead. Your eyes won't glaze over reading Lerch's 500 brisk mini-lessons. How many pages can you turn in? Not over 120. How crucial are the first 30 pages? Utterly. How many big, climactic moments do you need in those 30 pages? Two. How many scenes do you need in the dramatic opening sequence? Three to five. How many parenthetical comments directly addressed to the reader can you include? One or two per script. How about your favorite passages, where you plumb your characters' inner depths? Throw them away: "If the character doesn't say it, wear it, or do it, delete it." How do pros write? "Staccato. Economical." That's how Lerch writes. And if you want to get anywhere in Hollywood, you'll have to please someone just like her. Know your enemy--and make her your best friend. --Tim Appelo
Product Description
If Your Screenplay Can't Get Past the Hollywood Reader, It Can't Get to Hollywood This ultimate insider's guide to screenwriting is designed to get you past the fiercest gatekeepers in Hollywood: the Hollywood script readers. This small army of freelancers will be among the first to read and evaluate your script and then to recommend it -- or not -- to the studios, directors, and stars. Designed for quick and easy access, these 500 points are a step-by-step recipe. They cannot guarantee success, but failure to follow them can almost certainly guarantee failure. Tips include: * Get your foot in the door: 23 ways to make a good first impression on the Hollywood Reader
* Screen talk: why it is essential to write dialogue that looks good on the page
* Your goals in each act: how to make your story unputdownable from beginning to end
* Specific genre issues: writing a romance? a mystery? a thriller? Learn their special requirements and pitfalls
* The final scenes: how to go out with a bang that will wow the Hollywood Reader
* Still didn't get positive coverage? Inside info on what to do and how to do it Written by an industry insider who has recommended scripts that have sold for as much as one million dollars, this is the only book to show you what the Hollywood Reader wants to see. Clear, smart, and completely authoritative, 500 Ways to Beat the Hollywood Script Reader is by far the simplest, most practical book ever to hit the entertainment shelf.
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| Customer Reviews: Read 43 more reviews...
Valuable and does the job you wanted May 7, 2008
J. Hartranett
This is a useful book that I will plan to pick up over and over again. She gives you five hundred reasons that make sense, even though they may come across as the same things over and over again, it isn't. I haven't professionally sold a script; I have been writing for twenty years and she gives great advice on what to avoid when writing it. Thanks to the author.
 Cuts to the chase! March 23, 2006
Jeff Coatney (Los Angeles, CA USA)
4 out of 5 found this review helpful
I have bought this book 12 times as a gift for various friends who aspire to be screenwriters. This book is deceptively easy to read and at first glance, it's easy to dismiss the content as "phoned in". Once you begin reading the 500 suggestions, you begin to see the structure and form of "Drama" come through. I keep referring to this book over and over as I write because One writes to be read. What Jennifer Lerch accomplishes is the gentle reminder that screenplays are literary experiences before they are visual experiences. That in order to get produced, the screenplay must sell the story and create a reasonable expectation in the reader's mind of what the audience will experience once the film is made. I've read all the other screenplay books and taken the seminars and all that and this book is the one I keep around because it reveals more information the more times you read it and take it's lessons to heart.
Fast and easy... January 27, 2006
ZETAZEN (Maryland)
3 out of 4 found this review helpful
As I surfed Amazon.com looking for good books to improve my craft, I came across this book and each time I saw it, I decided NOT to purchase it.
For some reason...it just seemed cheesy. Perhaps it's the cover or the title.
Well, now that I am finished my screenplay, I decided to come back to this book. And I must say...it isn't as what I thought it would be. Each one of the ways she listed it good information of what to look for within your screenplay to see if you've minimized any mistakes that would stand out to a Hollywood Reader.
The book is written in simplistic terms. It's fast and easy to read. Yet it packs a lot of good insider information that will assist even a novice of how to get their script read instead of flipped through.
I recommend this book as a secondary resource.
A Great checklist for improving your screenplay September 4, 2005
Phil A. del Phia (San Diego, CA)
7 out of 7 found this review helpful
Many of the reviews I've read of this book I feel seem to be missing the point of this book. This is not the one and only book on screenwriting that anyone should read. Not even Robert McKee's "Story" or Chris Vogler's "The Writer's Journey" can claim to be that. There are books to teach you structure, books to teach you about format, and books to teach you about character and plot development. This book is none of the above.
I see this book more as a reference guide. The first 200 or so tips are for complete newbies who have never written a script in their life However, when you get to Part 2 of the book, which covers tips for Acts 1 through 3, that's the real meat of the book and the real reason to buy it.
While writing your screenplay or even while plotting your outline, read this book. It is no more and no less than a 500-point checklist of what you should and shouldn't be doing in your script.
Sure, some tips would make more sense if they were combined with others. And yes, some tips are reworded versions of previous tips, but that's what it took to reach the 500 number.
On the positive side, I have lost count of the number of times I have found a hole in my plot or realized that I could eliminate or scene or two without damaging my story thanks to one or more of the tips in this great book.
So, if you're reading it hoping it will explain the awe and mystery that is screenwriting, you'll be sorely disappointed. If you use it as a checklist, you should find it quite valuable. I know I did.
500 Reasons You Should By This Book July 27, 2005
Ray Pryor (Chicago, IL)
10 out of 12 found this review helpful
Forget the bad reviews; this book is a WINNER. It may not teach detailed structure or delve into the intricate process of creating a solid concept, but I don't think that's the point. IMHO, this is more of a book for *quick* starters, or intermediates / pros. Once you already know you have a good story and know the ins and outs of structure, read this book and it'll put you over the top. For one, it forces you realize that you are writing for an audience, who is expecting to see certain things. In this respect, Lerch's perspective is invaluable. After reading Rob McKee's Story, Trottier's Screenwriting Bible and also books by Seger and more, I think that this book's exploration of 'Act Goals' is a superb resource that I haven't seen anywhere else. I imagine that I'll constantly refer back to these gems as I write. To sum it up, DO NOT PASS this book. The best $12 I've spent all year.
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