My advice, after ten years of teaching screenwriting, is to just write out your script as a visual story BEFORE you consult any screenplay books. Unfortunately, so many students and beginning screenwriters fixate on the format of a script (things like layout and "plot points" and "triggering events", etc., that they write mechanical stories. See lots of good movies and absorb them and take notes. Then consult a book. To be honest, most books are pretty much the same. The writers all seem to have read each other. Syd Field used to be cheap and easy--therefore a best- seller. Any of the following would serve: Lucey: Story Sense Lew Hunter: Screenwriting 434 Swain: Film Scriptwriting Howard/Mabley: The Tools of Screenwriting Armer: Writing the Screenplay Dancyger/Rush: Alternative Screenwriting Also, check the internet for websites. Gene Walz University of Manitoba ---- To signoff SCREEN-L, e-mail [log in to unmask] and put SIGNOFF SCREEN-L in the message. Problems? Contact [log in to unmask]