Screenwriting is rewriting : the art and craft of professional revision

Includes bibliographical references and index.

Introduction -- 1. Notes: Receiving and Organizing Notes -- 2. Interpreting Notes: Reading Tea Leaves -- 3. The Annotated Draft: A Reference Guide To Your Rewrite -- 4. Game Plan: Creating the Road Map for the Rewrite -- 5. Character: Writing from the Inside Out -- 6. Foundation Pass: Strengthening the Core -- 7. Character Pass: The Emotional Core -- 8. The Set-Up: Establish, Complicate, Resolve -- 9. Story and Theme Pass: The emotional Underpinning -- 10. Structure: What Stays In, What Goes Out, and In What Order? -- 11. Structure the Pass: Architecture and Design -- 12. Plot: How Will This Turn out? -- 13. Plot Pass: Cause and Effect -- 14. Feedback on Your Interim Draft: Checking-In -- 15. Opposition Characters: Sources of Conflict and Tension -- 16. Complications, Obstacles, Reveals, and Reversals: Complicate, Complicate, Complicate -- 17. Complications, Obstacles, Reveals, and Reversals Pass: Making Life Much More Difficult -- 18. Relationships: The Ties That Bind -- 19. Relationship Pass: Interconnecting -- 20. Scene Pass: Link and Connect -- 21. Dialogue Pass: Rhythm and Flow -- 22. Consistency Pass: Quality Control -- 23. Polish Pass: Dialogue, Text, and Tightening -- 24. Sending Out Your Screenplay: Letting Go -- 25. Working with Directors, Producers, & Executives: Navigating the Executive Experience. .

"If there is one skill that separates the professional screenwriter from the amateur, it is his or her ability to rewrite successfully. But rewriting can be confusing and difficult even for the most battle-hardened screenwriter. From the screenwriter of Top Gun, Dick Tracy and The Secret of My Success comes a comprehensive guide that explores the art and craft of rewriting. Jack Epps, Jr. guides the writer to identify the weaknesses in his screenplay by using the pass method to solve individual story or character problems one at a time, rather than the common model of trying to fix everything in one giant rewrite, by taking the writer on a journey from First Draft to Final Polish. With Screenwriting is Rewriting, Epps gives practical tips on organizing notes, creating a game plan, and then executing a series of precision focused passes that address the major story, character and plot issues. He includes sample notes, game plans and beat sheets from the his own work on films such as Sister Act, Tootsie and Top Gun. Also included are exclusive interviews about rewriting with screenwriting masters Robert Towne (Chinatown), Frank Pierson (Dog Day Afternoon), and Susannah Grant (Erin Brockovich), and a companion website containing an instructor's guide for a 10 week term or 16 week semester"--

"A step-by-step guide that takes the mystery out of rewriting and leads the writer through a series of focused passes which address the core fundamentals of screenwriting resulting in a polished, professional screenplay"--