The Screenwriter's Guidebook - by Christine List & Christine Houston (Paperback)

About the Book

More than a basic how-to guide for aspiring writers, the Screen Writer's Guidebook is a teaching tool and teaching model designed to inform readers of a genre of writing that defines popular culture. While both television and film writing have their own nuances in presentation, this book discusses both the similarities and the distinctions that make it such a difficult business to enter. Yet and still, List and Houston want readers to enter and excel in this business. While you may not become a famous TV writer overnight (although Houston did), and you may not have a film that was shown at the Cannes Film Festival (although List did), you will be better informed and more prepared when you do pitch your first script.

Book Synopsis

Christine Houston wrote Two Twenty Seven, a play about her childhood growing up at 227 E. 48th Street, located in what is now known as Bronzeville. She went on to win the ANTA West, the Lorraine Hansberry and the Norman Lear Playwriting contests. The latter took her to Los Angeles where she wrote a teleplay for the TV series The Jeffersons. Marla Gibbs, one of the stars of The Jeffersons, performed the play at her theater and received the NAACP Image award for best actress, while Mrs. Houston received the NAACP Image award for playwriting. Mrs. Houston went on to become a staff writer on the Punky Brewster TV series, and in 1985, Two Twenty-Seven was adapted to television and became NBC'S hit television series 227. Professor Houston continues to write for stage and screen. Most recently, she finished her first novel called Laughing Through the Tears and co-wrote a textbook with Christine List entitled, The Screenwriter's Guidebook: Learning from African American Film and Television Writers.

About the Author

Christine List Screen Writer's Guidebook Christine List holds a Ph.D. from Northwestern University, Department of Radio- TV-Film. She is an award-winning filmmaker whose work has been exhibited and broadcast both locally and internationally. In addition to receiving numerous production grants for her creative work, List has served as a media grant evaluator for various arts organizations, including the National Endowment for the Arts. She has been a jurist for international cinema competitions (Chicago International Film Festival, Women in the Director's Chair, ABC New Talent Television Competition) and has published more than a dozen articles and book chapters on film, as well as a book on the history and theory of Chicano cinema, Chicano Images: Refiguring Ethnicity in Mainstream Cinema. Her forthcoming book Screenwriter's Guidebook: Inspiring Lessons for Film and Television Writers was co-written with Christine Houston, the Creator of the NBC television series "227."" Dr. List has also served as co-editor of the academic journal of the Union for Democratic Communication, The Democratic Communique