Discover the secrets of Hollywood storytelling in this fascinating collection, in which fifty screenwriters share the inside scoop about how they surmounted incredible odds to break into the business, how they transformed their ideas into box-office blockbusters, how their words helped launch the careers of major stars, and how they earned accolades and Academy Awards. Entertaining, informative, and sometimes startling, Tales from the Script features exclusive interviews with film's top wordsmiths, including John Carpenter (Halloween), Nora Ephron (Julie & Julia), John August (Charlie and the Chocolate Factory), and David hayter (Watchmen). Read along as: Frank Darabont explains why he sacrificed his salary to preserve the integrity of his hard-hitting adapta-tion of Stephen King's novella The Mist. William Goldman reveals why he's never had any interest in directing movies, despite having won Oscars for writing All the President's Men and Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid. Ron Shelton explains why he nearly cut the spectacular speech that helped cement Kevin Costner's stardom in Bull Durham. Josh Friedman describes the bizarre experience of getting hired by Steven Spielberg to adapt H. G. Wells's classic novel War of the Worlds—even though Spielberg hated Friedman's take on the material. Paul Schrader (Taxi Driver) analyzes his legendary relationship with Martin Scorsese. Shane Black (Lethal Weapon) reveals why the unrelenting hype around his multimillion-dollar script sales caused him to retreat from public life for several years. Tales from the Script is a must for movie buffs who savor behind-the-scenes stories—and a master class for all those who dream of writing the Great American Screenplay, taught by those who made that dream come true.

Imagine for a moment that the Spirit of God will allow you to mysteriously travel the limits of time and space through a passageway in a terrifying trail of tales and encounter various characters in diverse places, acting as storytellers revealing some horrifying tales from seldom read portions of Scripture. Through the pages of this book, you will experience these Tales from the Script, the Scripture, that is! Yet these accounts from the Bible are much more than just stories, myths, or fairy tales, as some people may attribute to tales. The accounts in the Scriptures actually happened, or prophetically will happen, as the Word of God describes.

The script to the multimedia podcast novel. Gnathal, a virginal game-boy-human-cellphone, goes into debt to buy a custom automobile to seduce a gypsy fortune-teller belly-dancing professional escort who calls herself Vampire Elvirus. The State will not allow him to come of age, and when he expresses his frustration, he gets fired. He joins the DevaCops, gets kidnapped, and escapes to live as a hermit amongst Genetically Modified Organisms. When the equestrian daughter of a SuperUser rescues him, Daddy doesn't approve of their relationship until Ganthal becomes the murdered Godhead "Christopheles Rex," who promised to erase the inequities of iniquity, raise the late departed, and decease the ceased. Drugged into a confession, sentenced to Civil Death, Gnathal doesn't know he must enlist the aide of his lust object to rescue his fiance, who carries the seed of a new human race, or something worse... Our near future, as human cellphones that need a revolution.

Discover the secrets of Hollywood storytelling in this fascinating collection, in which fifty screenwriters share the inside scoop about how they surmounted incredible odds to break into the business, how they transformed their ideas into box-office blockbusters, how their words helped launch the careers of major stars, and how they earned accolades and Academy Awards. Entertaining, informative, and sometimes startling, Tales from the Script features exclusive interviews with film's top wordsmiths, including John Carpenter (Halloween), Nora Ephron (Julie & Julia), John August (Charlie and the Chocolate Factory), and David hayter (Watchmen). Read along as: Frank Darabont explains why he sacrificed his salary to preserve the integrity of his hard-hitting adapta-tion of Stephen King's novella The Mist. William Goldman reveals why he's never had any interest in directing movies, despite having won Oscars for writing All the President's Men and Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid. Ron Shelton explains why he nearly cut the spectacular speech that helped cement Kevin Costner's stardom in Bull Durham. Josh Friedman describes the bizarre experience of getting hired by Steven Spielberg to adapt H. G. Wells's classic novel War of the Worlds—even though Spielberg hated Friedman's take on the material. Paul Schrader (Taxi Driver) analyzes his legendary relationship with Martin Scorsese. Shane Black (Lethal Weapon) reveals why the unrelenting hype around his multimillion-dollar script sales caused him to retreat from public life for several years. Tales from the Script is a must for movie buffs who savor behind-the-scenes stories—and a master class for all those who dream of writing the Great American Screenplay, taught by those who made that dream come true.

Takes a look into the lives and workspaces of screenwriters, who share their best practices in their own writing careers.

The Newest Screenwriting Secrets What do an erstwhile stripper, an ex–gambling addict, and a stoned Canadian teenager have in common? They wrote your favorite movies, and they're not who you'd expect. Diablo Cody (Juno), Darren Aronofsky (The Wrestler), and Seth Rogan (Superbad) are among the scribes interviewed in Script Tease, your main line to the most current screenwriting wisdom. Their funny, even touching tales of how they made it despite the odds will give you a revealing look into what it really takes to get into the industry. With the guidance of recent greats like Aaron Sorkin (The Social Network) and the Coen Brothers (True Grit), you will learn how to hone your craft and make it in an industry where only the best succeed.

THE BESTSELLING AUTHOR OF PITCH ANYTHING IS BACK TO FLIP YOUR ENTIRE APPROACH TO PERSUASION. Is there anything worse than a high-pressure salesperson pushing you to say "yes" (then sign on the dotted line) before you're ready? If there's one lesson Oren Klaff has learned over decades of pitching, presenting, and closing long-shot, high-stakes deals, it's that people are sick of being marketed and sold to. Most of all, they hate being told what to think. The more you push them, the more they resist. What people love, however, is coming up with a great idea on their own, even if it's the idea you were guiding them to have all along. Often, the only way to get someone to sign is to make them feel like they're smarter than you. That's why Oren is throwing out the old playbook on persuasion. Instead, he'll show you a new approach that works on this simple insight: Everyone trusts their own ideas. If, rather than pushing your idea on your buyer, you can guide them to discover it on their own, they'll believe it, trust it, and get excited about it. Then they'll buy in and feel good about the chance to work with you. That might sound easier said than done, but Oren has taught thousands of people how to do it with a series of simple steps that anyone can follow in any situation. And as you'll see in this book, Oren has been in a lot of different situations. He'll show you how he got a billionaire to take him seriously, how he got a venture capital firm to cough up capital, and how he made a skeptical Swiss banker see him as an expert in banking. He'll even show you how to become so compelling that buyers are even more attracted to you than to your product. These days, it's not enough to make a great pitch. To get attention, create trust, and close the deal, you need to flip the script.