Hi Douglas,

Syd Field confidently announces that it takes him no more than ten pages to tell if a screenplay is worth reading or not. I admit that it took me about the same amount of time to decide how valuable his book was ... for me at least. For screenwriters, his formula (er, form) may be solid gold. But for those of us versed in other forms of narrative, his slavish devotion to the script chafes like underwear that's a bit *too* supportive (if you get my drift).

Field does not mean to stifle creativity; it just comes naturally. He approaches narrative as a game to be played, like chess, rather than as a form to be played with, like sculpture. And why? Well, to Field the game of writing a screenplay is played to win ... by selling the script, of course.

True this poor student would never turn down a studio offer from the other James G. Robinson (executive producer of Young Guns, Ace Ventura, and Juwanna Mann). But god help me if I ever consciously wrote a script in which my protagonist's age was chosen simply because Britney Spears could fill the role. I laughed heartily during his description of a character brainstorming session in which he helps a committee of "students" to build a hackneyed family scenario cobbled together from every trite lawyer show you've ever seen. For this they paid $500 a class?

Oh yes, because that money -- just like the $15.95 cover price on this book -- is an investment in a very real sense of the word. Field should be commended for following his own advice: he's got his eyes on the ending, and it ain't art ... it's cash. Could it be that that's what keeps linear narrative on the straight and narrow?

Best,

James