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The art of writing a screenplay — instructions and insights based on Mr. Snider’s 25 years as a screenwriter, and the lectures he offers at the University of Toronto.

Illustrating the multifaceted art of screenwriting, this guide expertly navigates its vital aspects ­ dramatic structure, the creation of character, and story development. The nature of the writer’s role in the film and television industry — both in Hollywood and in Canada — is explored, and the art of collaboration and the practicalities of writing for commercial production are examined in detail. Chapters cover classic three-act structure and its multi-character variation, story arc, adapting material from other forms of media, and creating dramatic movement in character. From portraying morality and establishing good and evil to fashioning the element of suspense, this sophisticated handbook also explores film as a business, considering agents, producers, and the arduous task of breaking into the industry.

Norman Snider of Toronto is a screenwriter (Dead Ringers,Call Me, Rated X), journalist, lecturer, and fiction writer. His screenplay for the film Casino Jack, starring Kevin Spacey, premiered at the 2010 Toronto International Film Festival, and is available in full as the first book of the Exile Silver Screen Series. He has also published Smokescreen: One Man Against the Underworld and The Roaring Eighties and Other Good Times (with Exile Editions).