This is a pretty good read and an interesting take on the "how to write screenplays" genre that seems to be flooding the market. It's not perfect, but it does kind of rewire a person's brain in how to look at movies and your scripts in a different light. I'm very cautious reading any of these types of books in large part because it's usually a retelling of the same ideology handed down from Syd Fields, who I think is the biggest farce ever.

Everyone takes his theory as gospel, when if you look at it, is nothing more than him just saying every story (i.e. movie) has a beginning, middle and an end. He leaves so much un accounted for that "learning" from him doesn't exist. Telling me a plot point occurs at the 60 minute mark does not tell me anything about characters, plots, etc...

The guy is a sham. In this book, at least the author Blake Synder is giving you clear ideas of what your story has to have in order to fit a specific type of story you are going for. It's kind of a "paint-by-numbers" approach, which can be viewed as cheating. But who the f uck cares? If it gets you to write, then it's successful. All Syd Field's mumbo jumbo has made me want to punch him in the face for conning so many people and brainwashing them to think in his terms, which are unrelatable to the craft of sitting down and writing.

This is definitely worth a Rent if you want to see a different take on the same ideas.

I no longer seek those books out. Only when I first started creative writing and wanted to learn how to write screenplays did I dive into the market  to learn the basics. Ironically enough, the first book that people told me to check out was Syd's book. I thought it was the dumbest thing ever in how he was presenting it and the more I looked into other books, the more other authors were ripping "him" off. But somehow he managed to paint it as his own. Anyone interested in the art of writing will tell you that Syd swiped it from Aristotle in his Poetics book. So, with all these people regurgitating the same theory over and over, I would stay away from these 'flash in the pan' books.

Every few years when I hear that someone has broken the mold of how to approach writing scripts, I will read for myself. This book and approach, although not new in itself, was a good read none the less.