Which Are the Best Screenplays cum Movies for Screenwriting Study / Analysis Purpose?

[kurushdeboo]

I want to start reading scripts (Original as well as Adapted Hollywood, Foreign and Indie Films) and watching movies (of chosen screenplays) to study, analyse "screenplay, style, structure, plots, sub-plots, plot point I & II, Beginning, Climax, Characters, Characterization, Revealing Characters (Character is Action - Syd Field).

Kindly share your learning / study experience. Which are your best favourit screenplays - cum - movies (Hollywood, Foreign, Indie Films)?

Please don't forget to specify your favourit "DRAFT No. / Shooting Script / Spec Script" to each script.

I am going to buy Two Books for Script / Structure Analysis Examples:
1. Secrets of Screenplay Structure - by Linda Cowgill
2. Myth & The Movies: Discovering The Myth Structure of 50 Unforgettable Films - by Sturat Voytilla.

Do you suggest any better books for Scripts Analysis or agree with my choice?
Thanks.

 

[Unknown Screenwriter]

Not the end all to structure...

I want to start reading scripts (Original as well as Adapted Hollywood, Foreign and Indie Films) and watching movies (of chosen screenplays) to study, analyse "screenplay, style, structure, plots, sub-plots, plot point I & II, Beginning, Climax, Characters, Characterization, Revealing Characters (Character is Action - Syd Field).

Kindly share your learning / study experience. Which are your best favourit screenplays - cum - movies (Hollywood, Foreign, Indie Films)?

Please don't forget to specify your favourit "DRAFT No. / Shooting Script / Spec Script" to each script.

I am going to buy Two Books for Script / Structure Analysis Examples:
1. Secrets of Screenplay Structure - by Linda Cowgill
2. Myth & The Movies: Discovering The Myth Structure of 50 Unforgettable Films - by Sturat Voytilla.

Do you suggest any better books for Scripts Analysis or agree with my choice?
Thanks.

Seems like I remember a few of us on IndieTalk already went through a fairly exhaustive list of books with you a little while back... Most if not all those books talk about structure... Don't let the name of Cowgill's book fool you... It does NOT contain the end-all of structure... My recommendation is to start with that list of books we've suggested to you before and go through them and read about structure and become a student of structure if you really want to understand it.

By doing this, you'll either come up with your own structure theory OR find a structure theory that really works for YOU. When this happens, it's quite a revelation however, you won't learn everything there is to know about structure (not even the MAJORITY of what there is to know) from Cowgill's book.

As for recommended screenplays to read... The problem here is finding the original spec script... Very difficult to do... Here are my own personal favorites that I feel will reveal massive amounts of structure theory if you know how to find it...

Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid
The Fugitive
North By Northwest
Casablanca
Cool Hand Luke
The Long Hot Summer
Se7en
8mm
Good Will Hunting
Little Big Man
Straw Dogs
Marathon Man
Kramer Versus Kramer
Slience of the Lambs
Alien
American Beauty
Psycho (original)
Blood Simple
Body Heat
The English Patient (read this to learn what NOT to do! LOL)
Fight Club
Erin Brockovich
Pulp Fiction
Reservoir Dogs
A Few Good Men
Fargo
The Exorcist
Leaving Las Vegas (minimalist structure)
Lost Highway (anti structure)
Lock Stock and Two Smoking Barrels
The Last Boy Scout
The Long Kiss Goodnight
Schindler's List
Thelma and Louise
Three Days of the Condor
Tombstone
Trainspotting
Training Day
The Usual Suspects
The Verdict
Vertigo
U-Turn
Unforgiven

I'm probably forgetting some but if you read all these screenplays first... Then watch the film and take notes, you'll be farther along than 90% of everyone out there "trying" to break into the business with their own script...

Good luck with it,
filmy