Screenwriting looks at the foundation on which every great film is built—the script. Whether an original concept or an adaptation, the screenplay is the key to the success of a movie—good dialogue, story pacing, and character development are the framework everything else hangs on. Featuring in-depth interviews with modern masters of film including Stephen Gaghan, Guillermo Arriaga, Caroline Thompson, Hossein Amini, and Jean-Claude Carrière, this book reveals the mysteries behind how the best scripts are written and reach the screen.

Responsible for hiring all members of cast and crew from the director onwards, the producer’s role is central to the making of any film and responsibilities can include everything from script development to securing financing to masterminding a film’s marketing campaign. While few film producers are household names, they wield a degree of control that only the biggest name directors can aspire to. As with all of the FilmCraft titles, this book is based on new indepth interviews and features such greats as Tim Bevan, Marin Karmitz, Jeremy Thomas, Jon Kilik, Lauren Shuler Donner, Jan Chapman, and Peter Aalbæk Jensen.

The value of the editor's craft to a finished film cannot be underestimated, and it's no surprise that directors rely heavily on the same editor over and over again. Seventeen exclusive interviews with some of the world's top film editors, including Walter Murch, Virginia Katz, Joel Cox, Tim Squyres and Richard Marks, explore the art of film editing; its complex processes, the relationship with other film practitioners, and the impact of modern editing techniques. The Filmcraft series is a ground-breaking study of the art of filmmaking-the most collaborative and multidisciplinary of all the arts. Each volume covers a different aspect of moviemaking, offering in-depth interviews with a host of the most distinguished practitioners in the field. Forthcoming titles include Cinematography, Directing, Costume Design, Production Design, Producing, Screenwriting, and Acting.

Ultimately responsible for the creative content on screen, directors are the captains of the ship on every film. All actors and heads of department report to them. Some directors are also writers, employing unique styles of dialogue and characterizations. Others, like Pedro Almodóvar, create inimitable visual and tonal styles that set their films apart from the crowd. Unlike the other volumes in the FilmCraft series, Directing covers all the disciplines of film art that pass through the director's hands, from development and writing, to working with actors, designers and cinematographers, to post-production and distribution.

As chief collaborators with the directors on a film, cinematographers are artistic masters in their own right. In Cinematography sixteen of the world's greatest "painters of light" share their insights, anecdotes, and technical achievements through a series of exclusive interviews. Fascinating for both film fans and practitioners, this book is the perfect companion for anyone who wants to stand on the other side of the camera, with some of the greatest film artists of our time.

Production Design, the fifth title in the FilmCraft series, addresses one of the most important roles in cinema. Production designers do nothing short of creating whole new worlds, turning the bare bones of the script into a physical 3D environment that can be filmed. This book introduces that art in the words of the people best-equip to explain it, as well as looking at the legacies of the great innovators of the past. This volume also looks at the work of key influential figures, like Sir Ken Adam (winner of two Academy Awards and two BAFTAs) and Oscar winner Rick Carter (Jurassic Park, Avatar). These in-depth interviews with some of today's most distinguished practitioners, examine the training, personal qualities, pitfalls, technical expertise, management, luck and qualities which this demanding job requires.

Actors often say they only really assume the identity of their character when they have donned the costumes painstakingly created for them by the costume designer. In this volume of the FilmCraft series of books, 16 of the world's leading costume designers come together to share their inspiration and knowledge with the reader. They provide insights into the challenges of building a team, working with budgets, and collaboration with production designers, actors and directors. Designers featured include Academy Award winners Janty Yates, Jenny Beavan, Lindy Hemming and Yvonne Blake.