A step-by-step guide to writing a screenplay from an industry expert For decades, Lew Hunter's Screenwriting 434 class at UCLA has been the premier screenwriting course, launching a generation of the industry's most frequently produced writers. Here, he shares the secrets of his course on the screenwriting process by actually writing an original script, step by step, that appears in the book. "I wish this book had been around when I was a student. I heartily recommended it. For beginners and pros alike." — Steven Bocho writer/producer NYPD Blue Lew Hunter has master’s degrees from the University of California Los Angeles and Northwestern University and a doctor of letters from Nebraska Wesleyan University. He has worked for Columbia, Lorimar, Paramount, Disney, NBC, ABC, and CBS as a writer, producer, and executive. Currently he is chair emeritus of the screenwriting department at UCLA, and is the founder of the Lew Hunter Superior Screenwriting Colony in Superior, Nebraska. Table of Contents   Title Page Copyright Page Acknowledgements   Chapter 1 - IDEAS Chapter 2 - THE TWO-MINUTE MOVIE Chapter 3 - BUILDING YOUR CHARACTERS Chapter 4 - THE OUTLINE FOR YOU AND “THEM” Chapter 5 - THE ACT ONE SCRIPT (The Situation—to page 17) Chapter 6 - THE ACT TWO SCRIPT (The Complications-to page, maybe, 85) Chapter 7 - THE ACT THREE SCRIPT (The Conclusion—to pages 100-110) Chapter 8 - THE REWRITE(S)   FADE OUT INDEX ABOUT THE AUTHOR Garlands and potted plants to my beloved students, Bill Froug, and my wife, Pamela. All beloved but not in that order.         Perigee Books Published by The Berkley Publishing Group A division of Penguin Group (USA) Inc. 375 Hudson Street New York, New York 10014     eISBN : 978-1-101-00718-1   Visit our website at www.penguin.com   Copyright © 1993 by Lew Hunter Productions   All rights reserved. This book, or parts thereof, may not be reproduced in any form without permission.   The Library of Congress has cataloged the Perigee trade paperback edition as folows: Hunter, Lew. Lew Hunter’s screenwriting 434 / Lew Hunter. p. cm. Includes index. eISBN : 978-1-101-00718-1 1. Motion picture authorship. I. Title. PN1996.H-32927 CIP 808.2’3—dc20     Most Perigee Books are available at special quantity discounts for bulk purchases for sales promotions, premiums, fund-raising, or educational use. Special books, or book excerpts, can also be created to fit specific needs.   For details, write: Special Markets, The Berkley Publishing Group, 375 Hudson Street, New York, New York 10014. ACKNOWLEDGMENTS Super Editor, Steve Ross The World’s Greatest Agent, Richard Curtis Rubin Carson Richard Ray Walter Andrea Rich Gil Cates Howard Suber Robert Rosen Bob Gray Ruth Schwartz John Young Jorge Preloran Jerzy Antczak Alex Ayres Stephanie Riseley Edgar Bravo Tony Caballero   Deanne Barkley, Harve Bennett, Dick Berman, John Ray Bernstein, Mel Bloom, Steven Bochco, Ray Bradbury, Richard Brenne, Stan Canter, Bruce Cowgill, James Dalessandro, Ken Dancyger, Lon Diamond, Barry Diller, Walt Disney, Dick Donner, Genevieve Ebsen, Michael Eisner, Jules Epstein, Maggie Field, Christine Foster, Len Goldberg, John Graves, Peter Guber, Bill Haber, Dean Hunter, Esther L. Hunter, Joe Hunter, Ray Lewis Hunter, Scott Hunter, Paul Jensen, Terry Keegan, Robert Lewis, Paul Lucey, John McMahon, Mike Medavoy, Shannon Morris, Steve Mills, Janet Neipris, Richard Newton, Dennis Olson, Jr., Michelle Olson, Michael Ovitz, Alex Petry, Frank Price, Stan Robertson, Stu Robinson, Ed Ropolo, Bill Sackheim, Jeff Sagansky, Bill Self, Michael Severid, Aaron Spelling, Eileen Rae Hunter-Sweeney, Brandon Tartikoff, Sam Thomas, Grant Tinker, Godbrother David Titcher, Card Walker, Lew Weitzman, Larry White, John Wilder, and the UCLA Writers Block.   A tremendous merci beaucoup to the above and the names in the index for their inspirational roles in my screen and book writing and professing careers. Lewis Ray Hunter Superior, Nebraska FADE IN REDUX What is different for screenwriting in the ten years that have rocketed by since the first publication of this book? Give up? OK, the answer is: NOTHING! Yes, little things that relate to the form—and one piece of craft I am going to tell you about in this new introduction—but in the total overall, I repeat, nothing, without caps so I don’t get too pushy. Gertrude Stein wrote, “A rose is a rose is a rose”; I write, “A story is a story is a story.” We professors are charged by academia and our institutions, UCLA in my case, to “break new ground,” “conquer new horizons,” clichés that relate more to horticulture or astronomy than screenwriting. Every time someone tries something new, it seems as if they end up making a divertissement for the mirror, for the shelf in a lab or, if they are lucky, something direct-to-video/DVD. Geoff Gilmore, co-director of that wonder of modern film wonders, The Sundance Film Festival, told me they screen more 1200 feature length films each year and pi