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My POV
by Brian A. Wilson
Book Review
"The Savvy Screenwriter" by Susan Kouguell
$14.95 US
The latest entry into the crowded "how to sell a screenplay" horse race, "The Savvy Screenwriter" provides another explanation of the workings of Hollywood.
Author Susan Kouguell's credentials include being a screenwriter, filmmaker, associate producer, script consultant and, currently, an instructor for Harvard University's extension school.
Her book succeeds in being a concise presentation of a script's journey around the track from computer to the big screen. Chapters include "Is My Script Ready for Submission?", "The Quest for a Winning Query Letter" and everybody's odds-on favorite, "Finding an Agent." Topics contained within each chapter run only two to five pages, so the book is a quick read. It is designed to be read in a non-linear fashion, so one can turn to it for speedy reference on a particular topic.
The downside to this approach is, much of the information and many of the anecdotes are repeated in more than one place. Consequently, the book doesn't pack as much information as it might into the available space.
Kouguell peppers the book with fictionalized recaps of sad-but-true Hollywood tales she has experienced; these are presented in screenplay format. Additional personal anecdotes appear in courier font. In either form, the recollections mostly repeat information presented in the "true" text of the book. This choppy formatting, while unique, does more to hinder presentation of the information than to help it.
By repeating information, giving in to formatting gimmicks and covering so many topics briefly rather than a few in depth, the book ends up feeling skimpy, and appears to have a tough time filling its mere 184 pages.
For screenwriters at an intermediate or advanced stage, who have shelves bulging with books on the art and craft of screenwriting, "Savvy Screenwriter" won't provide much new information for fifteen bucks.
However, if you're just getting started and want a compact reference that briefly addresses a wide assortment of basic questions about screenwriting craft and business, "The Savvy Screenwriter" may be your winner by a nose. |
