Cut to the Chase: Writing Feature Films with the Pros at UCLA Extension Writers' Program [Paperback]

Millions of people dream of writing a screenplay but don't know how to begin, or are already working on a script but are stuck and need some targeted advice. Or maybe they have a great script, but no clue about how to navigate the choppy waters of show business. Enter Cut To The Chase, written by professional writers who teach in UCLA Extension Writers' Programme, whose alumni's many credits include Pirates of the Caribbean: Curse of the Black Pearl; Twilight; and the Academy Award nominated Letters from Iwo Juima. From learning how to identify story ideas that make a good movie to opening career doors and keeping them open, this authoritative, comprehensive, and entertaining book, edited by Writers' Program Director Linda Venis, will be the film-writing bible for decades to come. A well-organized soup-to-nuts manual for aspiring Nora Ephrons and Charlie Kaufmans, from the faculty of a notable screenwriting program. . . . A readable writer's how-to that goes down smoothly. - Kirkus Reviews Cut to the Chase is now the ONLY book I use for my advanced feature screenwriting class at S.I. Newhouse School of Public Communications at Syracuse University. It’s a book for aspiring screenwriters, written by professional screenwriters. The layout of the material follows an organic work-flow that mirrors the writer's process.  It’s the type of book that will one day be thanked at the Oscars!
—Keith Giglio, Professor, Syracuse University; Screenwriter and Executive Producer whose credits include Cinderella Story

A classic. Very readable. Very informative.
—Producer Julie Corman (New World Pictures, New Horizons Pictures)

Cut to the Chase is a state-of-the-art collection of articles by some of the best (and most prolific) teachers at the UCLA Extension Writers' Program. In addition to practical informatilc2