The Soul of Screenwriting

On Writing, Dramatic Truth, and Knowing Yourself

Keith Cunningham

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English

Continuum
15 November 2008

Film, TV & Radio; Film movie scripts & screenplays; Television scripts & screenplays; Screenwriting techniques; Literary studies: from c 1900 -; Literary studies: plays & playwrights

"Uniquely inspired by the work of mythologist Joseph Campbell and psychologist Jean Houston, The Soul of Screenwriting demonstrates how the ""screenwriting by numbers"" approach that offers templates into which the writer may mechanically drop his or her story idea is fundamentally incomplete. Keith Cunningham maintains that in doing so, one ignores the process of writing. Screenwriting is a long journey and even the most gifted screenwriters get lost along the way. Getting lost, Cunningham reminds us, is part of the process too.

What the writer experiences in the act of writing has never been taken into account, yet this is where the screenplay comes from: the writer's here-and-now experience while working on the story. Information-left-brain concepts and techniques about plot structure, character development and orchestration, the dynamics of scenes and

sequences-is all necessary. But it is what one does with the information that makes a truly great screenplay. In The Soul of Screenwriting, Cunningham demonstrates that good screenwriting is more than hitting the big ""plot points"" with exciting action. G ood screenwriting also has integrity and authenticity. It has a ""voice,"" and because it has a voice it speaks to the audience. To gain a voice, the writer needs the heat of creative imagination: passion, commitment, enthusiasm, a drive to know the truth of the characters, and an urge to get to the core of the dramatic conflict without resorting to escapism. These are qualities of the heart, and as Cunningham argues, screenwriting can indeed be, in Carlos Castañeda's phrase, a path with heart."

By: Keith Cunningham
Imprint: Continuum
Country of Publication: United Kingdom
Dimensions: Height: 228mm, Width: 153mm, Spine: 25mm
Weight: 748g
ISBN: 9780826428691
ISBN 10: 082642869X
Publication Date: 15 November 2008
Audience: College/higher education , A / AS level
Format: Paperback
Publisher's Status: Active

Reviews for The Soul of Screenwriting: On Writing, Dramatic Truth, and Knowing Yourself

Mention --Book News, November 2008 Mention -Book News, November 2008 Mention Book News, November 2008 [This book] demonstrates that good screenwriting is more than hitting the big plot points with exciting action Writers Forum, November 2008 Keith Cunningham's The Soul of Screenwriting: On Writing, Dramatic Truth, and Knowing Yourself...offers an unusual survey inspired by the mythic approach of Joseph Campbell and tinged by the psychology background of Jean Jouston, providing a survey of the act of screenwriting and how the writer's brain and experience juxtaposes to influence technique, character development, scene dynamics and results. It's a scholarly analysis recommended for any film or drama collection. -Midwest Book Review, (The Bookwatch), December 2008 US script-writing guru Keith Cunningham's hefty self-help guide Total film, 1 May 2009--Sanford Lakoff