Armchair to Zulu

From inspiration, to visualisation, collaboration, and realisation, the BFI National Library can offer the researcher an insight into a scriptwriter's journey.

September's display promoted the publication of the first issue of the Journal of Screenwriting and its principal editor, Jill Nelmes' appearance at our September Researchers' Tales event. Over the years there has been a demand for information on screenwriting from a British perspective, and we are very pleased to be able to support a publication which will provide exactly that.

There are over 30,000 unpublished scripts, in all formats, held as part of our Special Collections, from the television drama series Armchair Theatre to the 1964 film Zulu. Some of these will be on display. The library also holds over 2,000 published scripts, some of which will be on display. Selected by the editors of the Journal of Screenwriting, the following titles, and more, will also feature.

• Adventures in the screen trade: a personal view of Hollywood and screenwriting, by William Goldman (New York: Warner Books, 1983)
• The Journal of British Cinema and Television (2008)
• 5:2 The Screenwriter. (Edinburgh: Edinburgh University Press)
• Screenwriting: history, theory and practice, by Steven Maras (London: Wallflower, 2009)
• Story: substance, structure, style and the principles of screenwriting, by Robert McKee (London: Methuen, 1998)
• Storytelling in the new Hollywood: understanding classical narrative technique, by Kristin Thompson (Cambridge, MA; London: Harvard University Press, 1999)
• The writer and the screen: on writing for film and television, by Wolf Rilla (W.H. Allen, 1973)

And here are a few which already grace our Reading Room shelves:

• Framework: a history of screenwriting in the American film, by Tom Stempel (Syracuse, NY: Syracuse University Press, 2000)
• The Hollywood standard: the complete and authoritative guide to script format and style, by Christopher Riley (Studio City, CA: Michael Wiese Productions, 2005)
• Now that's funny!: writers on writing comedy, by David Bradbury and Joe McGrath (London: Methuen, 1998)
• Scenario: the craft of screenwriting, by Tudor Gates (London; New York: Wallflower, 2002)
• Story and character: interviews with British screenwriters, edited by Alistair Owen (London: Bloomsbury, 2003)
• Teaching scriptwriting, screenplays and storyboards for film and TV production, by Mark Readman (London: BFI Education, 2003)
• Writing for animation, comics, and games, by Christy Marx (Amsterdam; London: Focal Press, 2007)
• Writing for television, by Gerald Kelsey (London: A & C Black, 1999)
• Writing long-running television series: lectures from the first PILOTS workshop, edited by Julian Friedmann (Madrid: Media Business School, 1994)
• Writing treatments that sell: how to create and market your story ideas to the motion picture and TV industry, by Kenneth Atchity and Chi-Li Wong (New York: Henry Holt, 2003)

Please note that if you want to see any items from our collection which are housed at Berkhamsted these will need to be ordered in advance.