Bennett X. Screenwriting Tips, You Hack 150 Practical Pointers

New York: Focal Press, 2011. — 224 p. — ISBN13: 978-0240818245"Bennett's pointers cover all aspects of the writing process, beginning with the mental preparation necessary before you ever put pen to paper, or, fingers to keyboard. He then leads us through the full arc of drafting, revising, polishing, and ultimately pitching and selling your screenplay. Like most screenwriters, Bennett is well-versed in pop culture, and his movie references are a geek's delight...Unless of course, you're too much of a geek, and you notice that his reference to Rocky III teaching us that there's no easy way out actually refers to Rocky IV. Hair-splitting aside, Bennett's easy-to-apply screenwriting tips can only improve your writing."--MoviePie"I've never written a screenplay, but I still believe that Xander Bennett's Screenwriting Tips, You Hack, has made me a better writer. I'm not being facetious here; Bennett's book has given me a much better appreciation for techniques of screenwriting and helped me ask questions about how I write my still-non-screenplay work."--review on DGSwartz.com"Screenwriting Tips, You Hack elaborates upon close to 200 tips from the popular micro-blog that's now under the umbrella of The Black List. These great tips are compiled into helpful chapters on outlining, characters, ideas, rewriting, etc., which makes the book great for referencing when you've hit a particular roadblock in your writing. It also features a ton of helpful real-life examples, from Top Gun and Forrest Gump to Groundhog Day and Breaking Bad. Bennett's experience as a reader definitely informs his effective prose, but the book is filled with suggestions as opposed to complaints. Screenwriting Tips, You Hack is definitely a book that can help you think about your script in a new way - or help you get started on your first script!"--AspiringTVWriter.blogspot