Framework: A History of Screenwriting in the American Film, Third Edition

by Tom Stempel

Overview

Updated and expanded for the third edition, this volume combines scholarship with movie lore to present a comprehensive account of the development and influence of the American screenwriter. The text is written in an informal style and includes anecdotes and stories that spotlight writer's creative work and their struggle to achieve recognition.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780815606543
Publisher:	Syracuse University Press
Publication date:	11/01/2000
Series:	Television and Popular Culture
Edition description:	3RD
Pages:	323
Product dimensions:	6.00(w) x 9.00(h) x 0.79(d)

About the Author

Tom Stempel is a professor of cinema at Los Angeles City College. He is the author of five books, including Storytellers to the Nation: A History of American Television Writing (also published by Syracuse University Press) and Talking Back to the Screen: American Moviegoing since 1948 from the Audiences' Point of View. His articles on film have appeared in the Los Angeles Times, Film Comment, and Sight and Sound.

Editorial Reviews

A fascinating, entertaining romp through the forest of writing for films. You will encounter flora and fauna of the art and business of cinema dramaturgy. It is com-pulsory reading for professional and layman alike.-- "David Brown, Producer, The Sting and Jaws"

Individual chapters on the narrative styles of the major studios offer fascinating evi-dence of the way in which a single producer could determine the structure of all scripts under his control. . . . An invaluable resource for anyone interested in film, popular culture, or twentieth-century American writing.-- "The Georgia Review"

Informal in style and anecdotal in approach, this perceptive account is filled with stories spotlighting writers' creative work and their struggle to achieve recognition.-- "American Cinematographer"

Stempel offers the first general account of the development and influence of the American screenwriter. . . . He discusses hundreds of individual writers, the workings of the writing departments of the big studios during Hollywood's heyday, the impact of McCarthyism and the blacklist on the profession. . . . A real cornerstone item for film studies collections and a genuinely, enjoyably readable one.-- "Booklist"

From the Publisher

Stempel offers the first general account of the development and influence of the American screenwriter. . . . He discusses hundreds of individual writers, the workings of the writing departments of the big studios during Hollywood's heyday, the impact of McCarthyism and the blacklist on the profession. . . . A real cornerstone item for film studies collections and a genuinely, enjoyably readable one.

Booklist

A fascinating, entertaining romp through the forest of writing for films. You will encounter flora and fauna of the art and business of cinema dramaturgy. It is com­pulsory reading for professional and layman alike.

David Brown

Individual chapters on the narrative styles of the major studios offer fascinating evi­dence of the way in which a single producer could determine the structure of all scripts under his control. . . . An invaluable resource for anyone interested in film, popular culture, or twentieth-century American writing.

The Georgia Review

Informal in style and anecdotal in approach, this perceptive account is filled with stories spotlighting writers' creative work and their struggle to achieve recognition.

American Cinematographer

Stempel offers the first general account of the development and influence of the American screenwriter. . . . He discusses hundreds of individual writers, the workings of the writing departments of the big studios during Hollywood's heyday, the impact of McCarthyism and the blacklist on the profession. . . . A real cornerstone item for film studies collections and a genuinely, enjoyably readable one.

Booklist

Stempel, a screenwriter and professor of cinema at Los Angeles City College, presents a history of the art and craft of screenwriting from the silents to the present, with information and stories about those who write and have written for film. Includes anecdotal insights into the working lives of directors, producers, and stars, as well as how American movies get made. Annotation c. Book News, Inc., Portland, OR (booknews.com)

Booknews