The most essential screenplay book I have found thus far is definitely Cole/Haag's *The Copmlete Guide to Standard Script Formats Part I* (Part II is for television scripts). I find it chock-full of usefull tips. It's a reference book I keep going back to. Another good book is David Trottier's *The Screenwriter's Bible*. Although it's not as in-depth as the Cole/Haag book, it covers more ground and a fun read. Screenwriting professors will tell you the importane of backstory and two good books for creating that and good characters are Lajos Egri's *The Art of Dramatic Writing* and *The Art of Creative Writing*. They do not deal directly with screenplays, but they're good nonetheless. Hope I could be of help Dani ---- To signoff SCREEN-L, e-mail [log in to unmask] and put SIGNOFF SCREEN-L in the message. Problems? Contact [log in to unmask]