Screenwriting...

Framework: A History of Screenwriting in the American Film
by Tom Stempel

My favorite anecdote from this history of screenwriting is about Columbia studio head Harry Cohn. The story goes that one afternoon Cohn was walking past the writer's building on the Columbia lot. When he heard no sound of keys tapping through the open windows he went into a rage, yelling, "Where are the writers? Why aren't they working?" The air was suddenly filled with the clicking of typewriters. Cohn responded, "Liars!" It's no doubt that screenwriters are perhaps the most maligned group of authors around, and it's easy to see why — most movies are dull and uninspired. But there are also films that transcend their medium and shine as examples of cinematic art. In both cases the image starts with the word. In Framework, professor of cinema Tom Stempel takes readers through the backdoor of the movie-making business and into the writer's domain. From the rise of the studios to the fall of the independents, Framework charts the course of the screenwriter, through the formation of the Writer's Guild to the black-listings of HUAC to the squabbles over who exactly is the auteur of the film, the writer or the director. With information on more than two dozen of the most prominent screenwriters in the business — from Nunnally Johnson and Lamar Trotti to Alan Rudolph and John Sayles — Framework is the history book for the budding screenwriter.
Adventures in the Screen Trade
by William Goldman
   and
Which Lie Did I Tell?: More Adventures in the Screen Trade
by William Goldman

"Nobody knows anything." William Goldman has given us these three simple words to sum up the backroom chatter and deal making that goes on between studio executives trying to figure out why one movie becomes a hit and another tanks. Of course there is no solution, or else many a screenwriter would be out of business. With humbleness, wit, and sarcasm, Goldman gives us an unusual glimpse into the craft of screenwriting. Both of these volumes offer up a wildly incisive look at the writing process for the major studios as well as a cautionary tale for those foolish enough to want to take a stab at screenwriting. Adventures in the Screen Trade also contains the full script of Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid, while Which Lie Did I Tell? boasts an unproduced original screenplay called The Big A, which rumors say Robert Rodriguez used as a template for his Spy Kids films.
Thinking in Pictures: The Making of Matewan
by John Sayles

Before you even begin to write your screenplay you need to know how to visualize it. Thinking in Pictures is more than just John Sayles's account of what it took to make his intellectually satisfying film Matewan — it is also a primer for the would-be filmmaker. Containing detailed production notes and storyboards as well as a complete copy of the script, Sayles instructs the reader in a way that is much more engaging that any graduate level film course.
Rebel without a Crew: Or How a 23-Year-Old Filmmaker with $7,000 Became a Hollywood Player
by Robert Rodriguez

Robert Rodriguez threw down seven thousand dollars on his debut film El Mariachi, but you only need to spend a fraction of that to get all the insights that he learned. Anybody who's seen his later films (Spy Kids, Once Upon a Time in Mexico) will know that the tricks of the trade revealed in his "10 minute film school" classes have served him well. How many other writer/director/editors have two successful franchises going simultaneously?
The Art of Dramatic Writing
by Lajos Egri

If you begged me to give you the title of one "how-to" book on the topic of screenwriting and wouldn't give up until I told you, then it would have to be this classic introduction to the craft. Often used as a textbook in screenwriting classes, Lajos Egri's The Art of Dramatic Writing gives writers the focus needed to attack a scene and create memorable character arcs. Another reason to recommend this book to young screenwriters is that it references many of the important dramas that may have been overlooked in high school, such as works by Ibsen, Moliere, and Synge.
Ethan Coen and Joel Coen: Collected Screenplays 1: Blood Simple, Raising Arizona, Miller's Crossing, Barton Fink
by Ethan and Joel Coen

Arguably the most talented filmmaking siblings around, the Coens have blessed the cinema with their unique blend of dark humor, kinetic insanity, and mid-western values. To open one of their screenplays is to behold some of the finest screenwriting currently being produced. Perhaps most intriguing about the Coen brothers screenplays is what has been said by the actors working with them — they never rewrite on the set. Not only is this practically unheard of in Hollywood, it also shows how organized it must be inside their heads. Surely anyone who's seen Barton Fink knows the pressures of "the life of the mind" — the Coens perfectly capture that personification.
The Collected Works of Paddy Chayefsky: The Screenplays Volume 2: The Hospital, Network, Altered States
by Paddy Chayefsky

In many ways Chayefsky's work has melded the diametrically opposed concepts of the studio driven era of the '50s with the emergence of the new Hollywood in the '60s and '70s. Starting in television, Chayefsky made an impact with his 1953 teleplay Marty starring Rod Steiger. (A film version was later done in 1955 with Ernest Borgnine that won Best Picture, Actor, Director and Screenplay.) This collection covers the end of his career, when he was using his unpretentious eye to explore such topics as medical reform, mass-media culture (with a surprising hint at television's current obsession with reality TV), and the psychedelic religious experience. The three screenplays that make up this collection, The Hospital, Network, and Altered States, comprise a thoroughly engrossing cross-section from one of Hollywood's most sagacious writers.
Being John Malkovich,
Human Nature, and
Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind
by Charlie Kaufman
   and
Adaptation
by Charlie and Donald Kaufman

I don't even know how to begin writing anything in relation to the work of Charlie Kaufman. Is he really the most original voice working in Hollywood — or, just an escaped mental patient who has gone undetected amidst the denizens of LA? In either case I love his work. I also love the incentive he gives us to want to buy one of his screenplays: not just for the script itself, but for the wildly funny introductions and deadpan mock interviews — the one in Human Nature had me scratching my head, until I realized he was doing a send-up of a P. T. Anderson interview about Magnolia — hilarious! Adaptation also has a great piece of critical commentary by Robert McKee, whose screenwriting seminar book Story was as much a basis of the script as was Susan Orlean's The Orchid Thief. And, for those of you who have been wondering, "When will Charlie Kaufman release a new picture that will send shockwaves through my brain?" you don't have long to wait. Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind is being released in theaters in March 2004.