Pt. 1. Clearing your head. The popular genre -- What is docudrama? -- Choosing a dynamic subject -- pt. 2. Starting to work. Research -- The dramatic elements -- Shaping the total drama -- pt. 3. From treatment to script. The outline treatment -- Writing dialogue and narration -- Beginning your script -- pt. 4. Special considerations. Adaptations -- Print the legend? -- Rights and legal issues -- Afterword -- Appendix A : Broadcast guidelines -- Appendix B : Marketability.
Summary:
Over the past decade, movie audiences have become hungry for films based on real people and historical events. Never was this more evident than during the best-picture showdown between 'The King's Speech' and 'The Social Network' during the 2011 Academy Awards, a scene then repeated, with 'Argo','Lincoln' and 'Zero Dark Thirty' in the 2013 awards. While Hollywood moguls have come to recognize the box-office revenue and critical acclaim that accompany such films and are now fast-tracking many docudramas into theaters, there remains a need for more reality-based film scripts. In this book, writer, director, and producer Alan Rosenthal presents a manual for screenwriters to develop their bio-pic or docudrama from concept to completion. This comprehensive guide begins with an overview of the genre before providing screenwriters with all the techniques and insights needed to navigate the often intimidating landscape of screenwriting for reality-based scripts.
This resource is supported by the Institute of Museum and Library Services under the provisions of the Library Services and Technology Act as administered by State Library of Iowa.