That said, certain books are more worth your time than others. Here are the ones I most recommend:

Books on screenwriting.

• The Secrets of Action Screenwriting by William C. Martell. (Out Of Print)
  Currently out of print, but this is the best nuts-and-bolts book on screenwriting I’ve ever seen. Plus, unlike most other screenwriting books, Bill’s a screenwriter first, having had some 19 movies produced from his scripts. Bill’s been shopping it to publishers (it was initially self-published), and at some point somebody should bite — copies sell on eBay for $200 and up!
• The Complete Book of Scriptwriting by J. Michael Straczynski.
  One of the few other books by an actual working writer. More or less glosses over the technical stuff, but a nice overview of scriptwriting, plus an appendix with one of the best Babylon 5 scripts for an example (”The Coming of Shadows”).
• Screenwriting from the Soul by Richard Krevolin. (Out Of Print)
  OK, it had an annoying conceit, basing its structure on Rilke’s Letters to a Young Poet. But the information in it was pretty solid and well-communicated. Even the Kant reference made good sense. And how many screenwriting books reference Kant, or any philosopher, in any capacity?
• The 101 Habits of Highly Successful Screenwriters by Karl Iglesias.
  A great book to dip into, rather than read straight through. Iglesias interviewed more than half a dozen successful screenwriters, and lets them speak directly to the reader under a vast array of subjects.
• Story by Robert McKee.
  It’s easy to knock his over-analytical method, and he does get buried in minutiae. But it’s relatively easy to get past that and see what he’s getting at. And what he’s getting at is good, an antidote to navel-gazing art films and action films that use shakycam and explosions to cover up plot holes (or total lack of plot altogether).

Books on writing:

• The Art of Fiction by Ayn Rand.
  It doesn’t matter whether you disagree with her philosophy — the knowledge and advice she shares here on constructing fiction is invaluable. And if you turn out not to like her methods, then try:
• On Writing by Stephen King.
  Pretty much a polar-opposite approach to Rand’s, King believes in giving total control to your subconscious, and not plotting anything ahead of time. His advice on how to do it is pretty good, even if he does neglect to make clear that his methods, even for him, lead to as many trainwrecks (Bag of Bones) as masterworks (The Shining). Point being, he doesn’t believe in analysis or planning at all, just in going with your gut. Some people need to work that way. If you’re one of them, then this book is for you. And if you’re not, it’s still a very good read.

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I’m in love with the title, the very Max Brand-ish Dead Man’s Reckoning. It gives a sense of the story’s Western roots, and lets you know right off there’s going to be a big to-do at the climax. The first two words also work on two levels, literal and metaphorical, but we’ll get to that in a bit.

Anyhow, I took a few cracks at a logline. Here’s the first draft: Dead Man’s Reckoning is a story in which:

A bounty hunter hired to transport a very wanted man gets caught up in another man’s quest for vengeance.

OK, that’s three characters in the logline, which already is a bit much (and there’s more to come), and overall it’s kind of bland. But the real conflict of the story is there, and I like the “very wanted man” bit, too. Still, who is this protagonist? 19 words, nice and concise.

Second draft:

World-weary bounty hunter Joel Marquette, hired to transport a wanted man, gets caught in the path of another man’s vengeance.

Now you’ve got a name for the protag that’s kind of interesting, I hope (a bounty hunter named Joel?), and you know more about hiim. The conflict also feels stronger — instead of getting caught up in another man’s vengeance, he’s caught in its path, like it’s an oncoming truck. 20 words (21 if you don’t let the hyphen join the first two), still under the 25 word “limit”.

Still, missing some stuff I’d like to work in. Ergo,

Third draft:

Hired to transport a wanted man, world-weary bounty hunter Joel Marquette gets caught between a man set on bloody vengeance and the beautiful young woman that man vowed to rescue — and kill.

I like this one a lot better, even though it’s too long (32 words) and more of a mess with four characters in play and a bit of awkward construction toward the end.

But this is the one I like best, even though it needs work and paring down. You’ve got the protagonist, the job that lands him in the situation, the main conflict, and the stakes he’s going to be fighting for.

There’s still some things that could be better. You don’t get the sense that the protagonist is pretty young, world-weary before his time, which is kind of important to the story and theme. And is the primary feature of the young woman really that she’s beautiful? But she is, and that’s a factor in the story.

What’s also interesting is what I’m leaving out — this is a vampire movie, but the vampires are actually peripheral to the real story. The “dead man” of the title can be read literally as the head vamp, but it could also be our protagonist, whose emotional life is deadened, or to the antagonist, who is spiritually dead. None of that needs to be in the logline except by implication, which some of it is. Although it might be nice to work the vamps in, I like it without.

For the nonce, I’m sticking with this one, at least till I have a draft of the script done that I’m willing to show people. After that, I’ll try to get the logline into better shape.

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The other is one of the more sure–fire high–concept ideas I’ve ever had. The entire idea of the story in twenty not–especially–carefully–chosen words. It’s a silly idea, by my lights, but also one of those things that almost certainly will sell to somebody, if I get a halfway decent script out of it.

I’ve even got a title for it, but I’m holding onto it for the moment.

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Dead Man’s Reckoning — Stalled on a draft because I seemed to wander away from the story (and to blow the potential budget and shooting time way up). If I can keep on task, it’s going to be cool.

TOP SECRET PROJECT — Outlining a public domain property that has never been adapted, and nothing like it has ever been filmed, to the best of my knowledge. If I pull it off, it would be the best calling-card script I could ever hope for.

Under Alien Eyes — Rethinking the structure, trying to figure out how to sharpen and simplify the story, because the draft or three I wrote got out of hand. I love the story, but need to keep it low budget, because I don’t think it would ever be a blockbuster.

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