Screenwriting Books: 89 Books Every Screenwriter Should Read

Screenwriting books help you learn your craft, so put these books on your list.

89 Screenwriting Books To Put on Your Reading List

From industry classics to hidden gems to memoirs and more, there’s something for everyone on this list.

• Save the Cat: The Last Book on Screenwriting You’ll Ever Need by Blake Snyder
• Save the Cat Strikes Back: More Trouble for Screenwriters to Get Into … and Out of by Blake Snyder
• Story: Style, Structure, Substance, and the Principles of Screenwriting by Robert McKee
• Dialogue by Robert McKee
• The Idea: The Seven Elements of a Viable Story for Screen, Stage or Fiction by Erik Bork
• Screenplay: The Foundations of Screenwriting by Syd Field
• The Screenwriter’s Workbook: Exercises and Step-by-Step Instructions for Creating a Successful Screenplay by Syd Field
• The Screenwriter’s Problem Solver: How to Recognize, Identify, and Define Screenwriting Problems by Syd Field
• Four Screenplays: Studies in the American Screenplay by Syd Field
• Adventures in the Screen Trade by William Goldman
• Which Lie Did I Tell?: More Adventures in the Screen Trade by Willam Goldman
• The Anatomy of Story: 22 Steps to Becoming a Master Storyteller by John Truby
• Getting it Write: An Insider’s Guide to a Screenwriting Career by Lee Jessup
• Into the Woods: How Stories Work and Why We Tell Them by John Yorke
• Story Line: Finding Gold in Your Life Story by Jennifer Grisanti
• The Artist’s Way by Julia Cameron
• Writing Movies for Fun and Profit: How We Made a Billion Dollars at the Box Office and You Can, Too! by Thomas Lennon and Robert Ben Garant
• The Writer’s Journey: Mythic Structure for Writers by Christopher Vogler
• Screenwriters on Screen-Writing: The Best in the Business Discuss Their Craft by Joel Engel
• The Guide for Every Screenwriter: From Synopsis to Subplots: The Secrets of Screenwriting Revealed by Geoffrey Calhoun
• The Producer’s Brain: A Pocket Guide to Thinking Like a Film Producer by David Kaufmann
• The Nutshell Technique: Crack the Secret of Successful Screenwriting by Jill Chamberlain
• The Screenwriter’s Bible: A Complete Guide to Writing, Formatting, and Selling Your Script by David Trottier
• 150 Screenwriting Challenges by Eric Heisserer
• The Hollywood Standard: The Complete and Authoritative Guide to Script Format and Style by Christopher Riley
• Poetics by Aristotle
• Lew Hunter’s Screenwriting 434: The Industry’s Premier Teacher Reveals the Secrets of the Successful Screenplay by Lew Hunter
• Three Uses of the Knife: On the Nature and Purpose of Drama by David Mamet
• Screenplay: Writing the Picture by Robin U. Russin and William Missouri Downs
• How to Manage Your Agent: A Screenwriter’s Guide to Understanding (and Getting the Most From) Your Hollywood Representation by Chad Gervich
• The Hero with a Thousand Faces (The Collected Works of Joseph Campbell) by Joseph Campbell

 Scene from “Game of Thrones”

• The Power of Myth by Joseph Campbell
• Crafting Short Screenplays That Connect by Claudia Hunter Johnson
• The Coffee Break Screenwriter: Writing Your Script Ten Minutes at a Time by Pilar Alessandra
• On Writing: A Memoir of the Craft by Stephen King
• Making a Good Script Great by Linda Seger
• Creating Unforgettable Characters by Linda Seger
• How Not to Write a Screenplay: 101 Common Mistakes Most Screenwriters Make by Denny Martin Flinn
• The Complete Guide to Standard Script Formats by Hillis R. Cole and Judith H. Haag
• The Art Of Dramatic Writing: Its Basis in the Creative Interpretation of Human Motives by Lajos Egri
• The Art of Creative Writing by Lajos Egri
• The 101 Habits of Highly Successful Screenwriters, 10th Anniversary Edition: Insider Secrets From Hollywood’s Top Writers by Karl Iglesias
• Writing for Emotional Impact: Advanced Dramatic Techniques to Attract, Engage, and Fascinate the Reader From Beginning to End by Karl Iglesias
• Pulp Fiction: A Quentin Tarantino Screenplay by Quentin Tarantino
• Your Screenplay Sucks!: 100 Ways to Make It Great by William M. Akers
• The 21st Century Screenplay: A Comprehensive Guide to Writing Tomorrow’s Films by Linda Aronson
• Inside Story by Dara Marks
• The War of Art: Break Through the Blocks and Win Your Inner Creative Battles by Steven Pressfield
• My Story Can Beat Up Your Story: Ten Ways to Toughen Up Your Screenplay from Opening Hook to Knockout Punch by Jeffrey Alan Schecter
• Writing Screenplays That Sell, New Twentieth Anniversary Edition: The Complete Guide to Turning Story Concepts Into Movie and Television Deals by Michael Hague
• Screenwriting: The Sequence Approach by Paul Joseph Gulino
• Down and Dirty Pictures: Miramax, Sundance, and the Rise of Independent Film by Peter Biskind
• Easy Riders, Raging Bulls: How the Sex-Drugs-and-Rock ‘N’ Roll Generation Saved Hollywood by Peter Biskind
• Seeing Is Believing: How Hollywood Taught Us to Stop Worrying and Love the Fifties by Peter Biskind
• Independent Ed: What I Learned From My Career of Big Dreams, Little Movies, and the 12 Best Days of My Life by Edward Burns
• Like Brothers by Jay Duplass and Mark Duplass
• Breakfast With Sharks: A Screenwriter’s Guide to Getting the Meeting, Nailing the Pitch, Signing the Deal, and Navigating the Murky Waters of Hollywood by Michael Lent
• Rebel Without a Crew: Or How a 23-Year-Old Filmmaker With $7,000 Became a Hollywood Player by Robert Rodriguez
• Hitchcock by Francois Truffaut
• Cinematic Storytelling: The 100 Most Powerful Film Conventions Every Filmmaker Must Know by Jennifer Van Sijll
• Conversations With Wilder by Cameron Crowe
• The Three Stages of Screenwriting by Douglas Eboch
• Writing Movies: The Practical Guide to Creating Stellar Screenplays by Gotham Writers’ Workshop, edited by Alexander Steele
• Cut to the Chase: Writing Feature Films With the Pros at UCLA Extension Writers’ Program by Linda Venis
• The Secrets of Story: Innovative Tools for Perfecting Your Fiction and Captivating Readers by Matt Bird
• Supporting Characters & Subplots by William C. Martell
• The 3rd Act: Writing a Great Ending to Your Screenplay by Drew Yanno
• The Complete Book of Scriptwriting by J. Michael Straczynski
• Good in a Room: How to Sell Yourself (and Your Ideas) and Win Over Any Audience by Stephanie Palmer

Scene from “Adaptation”

• In the Blink of an Eye: A Perspective on Film Editing by Walter Murch
• On Film-making: An Introduction to the Craft of the Director by Alexander Mackendrick
• The Philosophy of Horror, or Paradoxes of the Heart by Noël Carroll
• Ways of Seeing by John Berger
• The Craft and Business of Screenwriting: The Ultimate Guide to Writing for Film and Television and Navigating Hollywood by Ken Miyamoto
• The Man Who Heard Voices: Or, How M. Night Shyamalan Risked His Career on a Fairy Tale by Michael Bamberger
• The Devil’s Guide to Hollywood: The Screenwriter as God! by Joe Eszterhas
• Your CUT TO: Is Showing: The Most Complete Spec Screenplay Formatting Guide Ever Written by T.J. Alex
• Writing Short Films: Structure and Content for Screenwriters by Linda Cowgill
• The Perfect Pitch: How to Sell Yourself and Your Movie Idea to Hollywood by Ken Rotcop
• Teach Yourself Screenwriting by Ray Frensham
• Crafty Screenwriting: Writing Movies That Get Made by Alex Epstein
• Essentials of Screenwriting: The Art, Craft, and Business of Film and Television Writing by Richard Walter
• Genre Screenwriting: How to Write Popular Screenplays That Sell by Stephen V. Duncan
• How to Write a Movie in 21 Days: The Inner Movie Method by Viki King
• The Way of the Screenwriter by Amnon Buchbinder
• Projected Fears: Horror Films and American Culture by Kendall R. Phillips
• Painting With Light by John Alton
• Something Like an Autobiography by Akira Kurosawa
• The Filmmaker’s Handbook by Ed Pincus and Steven Ascher

One of the best things you can do as a screenwriter is to read screenplays! Further resources include:

• Screenwriting Reddit
• Writer’s Guild of America
• The Internet Movie Script Database
• No Film School resources
• Screenplay Lab Facebook group
• Go into the Story, including:
  • How to Read a Screenplay
  • Script Reading & Analysis Series
  • 1, 2, 7, 14
  • A Screenwriter’s Guide to Aristotle’s Poetics
  • Script download links
• The Black List
• Screenwriting eBooks

Check out these bestsellers in screenwriting for further reading!

If you’re interested in learning more about screenwriting, apply to Nashville Film Institute to gain professional qualifications as a filmmaker.