Writer Boy’s thoughts drifted back to when he first bought the Screenwriter’s Bible, what he had learned, and where it had failed him. At the time of his first purchase it was a no-brainer; Screenwriter’s Bible was the perfect starter’s tool and it had served him well since then. The question was, if he were a new screenwriter would it still serve him best? Was this the first book a new screenwriter should buy?

THE REVIEW
Times change, books change, rankings come and go, (unless you are the Cubs and then the outcome is fixed regardless) and the real value of a book can change with new opponents for your reading and learning dollar. The Screenwriter’s Bible is widely considered a basic requirement for the new screenwriter. When I started on the path to screenwriting, there were far, far fewer books to pick from to learn the craft. The majors have remained, well, these majors: Syd Field, William Goldman, Cole/Hagg, the list goes on and on all the way to Aristotle and for the purposes of this review, David Trottier.

The market for screenwriting books has gone from damned near zero in the 1980s to the 57 books suggested by Mr. Trottier in his Screenwriter’s Bible in 1998, to the Amazon search today that yields more than 100 current titles and I am sure many more esoteric ones. The number of people doing consulting, writing, advising to pending and hopeful screenwriters has exploded. Contests pop like dandelions; the Creative Screenwriting Magazine Expo has grown beyond imagination since I attended my first one. Yes, it is a brave new world; a new world with competition even for the classics.

So, how well does the Screenwriters Bible age? How well does it compete with the new bucks that seek to make a buck? It really depends on what you want. This is The Bible’s forth iteration. Improvements are expected even though it was an amazing solid tool when I originally bought the 3rd Edition. Improvements require a solid basis to work from. I started from a baseline of the 3rd edition and it was, for me, a great place to start.

I find it to be a bit of a giggle that they use “book” as a section classification; but hey, who I am to judge, I haven’t sold books like Mr. Trottier has. The sections (books) inside the Bible cover: basics, a useful workbook, a formatting guide, a section on specs, marketing and a extremely useful resource guide. As I said earlier, the resources available to new writers have exploded lately and guidance is of real value. Everything in the book is clear, well developed and of substantial use over the entire term of your career in screenwriting.