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Uniquely inspired by the work of mythologist Joseph Campbell and psychologist Jean Houston, The Soul of Screenwriting demonstrates how the "screenwriting by numbers" approach that offers templates into which the writer may mechanically drop his or her story idea is fundamentally incomplete. Keith Cunningham maintains that in doing so, one ignores the process of writing. Screenwriting is a long journey and even the most gifted screenwriters get lost along the way. Getting lost, Cunningham reminds us, is part of the process too.What the writer experiences in the act of writing has never been taken into account, yet this is where the screenplay comes from: the writer''s here-and-now experience while working on the story. Information-left-brain concepts and techniques about plot structure, character development and orchestration, the dynamics of scenes and sequences-is all necessary. But it is what one does with the information that makes a truly great screenplay. In The Soul of Screenwriting, Cunningham demonstrates that good screenwriting is more than hitting the big "plot points" with exciting action. G ood screenwriting also has integrity and authenticity. It has a "voice," and because it has a voice it speaks to the audience. To gain a voice, the writer needs the heat of creative imagination: passion, commitment, enthusiasm, a drive to know the truth of the characters, and an urge to get to the core of the dramatic conflict without resorting to escapism. These are qualities of the heart, and as Cunningham argues, screenwriting can indeed be, in Carlos Castaneda''s phrase, a path with heart.>
Inhaltsverzeichnis
Part One : The Living Story Chapter One: The Night of the King Coho
Chapter Two: Mirrored in the Story
Chapter Three: The Mythic Dimension of Screenwriting
Chapter Four: Need vs. Mode, The Core of Conflict
Chapter Five: The Story Molecule
Chapter Six: Character Webs and Story Worlds
Chapter Seven: Orchestrating Character and Style
Part Two: Plot and the Dynamics of Creation Chapter Eight: The Soul of Screenplay Structure
Chapter Nine: The Journey in Four Movements
Chapter Ten: Act, Sequence, Scene, Beat: The Dramatic Present
Chapter Eleven: The Sixteen Story Steps
Chapter Twelve: The Creative Journey of Story Development
Epilogue: Writing Practice is Life Practice
Über den Autor / die Autorin
Keith Cunningham is a screenwriter and consultant based in Chicago, Illinois and Munich, Germany. He taught for many years in the Columbia College Film and Video Department. With Tom Schlesinger, he has been leading screenwriting and story development seminars worldwide since 1984-including seminars for the Director's Guild, and The Writer's Guild of America. His essays on myth, cinema, and creativity have appeared in numerous journals and books.
