Alternative Scriptwriting, 6th Edition

Foreword

When Ken and Jeff asked me to co-author the sixth edition of Alternative Scriptwriting, I was delighted. Several years ago, Alternative Scriptwriting was the text I most referred to when, a year out of grad school and frustrated by the limitations of the three-act structure, I needed guidance on other ways to tell a screen story. The text became foundational to my understanding of screenwriting and the basis for which I teach storytelling today. The two key lessons I took from that early 3rd edition—and the ones I hope I’ve communicated to my students and clients over the years—are one, there’s more than one way to tell a story, and two, how you tell a story is just as important as the story you tell.

We agreed my primary tasks would ...