Screenwriting Unchained: Reclaim Your Creative Freedom and Master Story Structure

In Screenwriting Unchained, writer and industry expert Oberg sets out a dogma-busting, innovative method for developing screenplays

This practical, no-nonsense guide leaves behind one-size-fits-all story theories and offers a refreshingly modern approach to story structure, making it a precious resource for anyone involved creatively in the Film and TV industry (or aspiring to be): writers, directors, producers, development execs, showrunners and, more generally, storytellers keen to reach a wide audience at home and abroad without losing their creative freedom.

Oberg identifies three main story-types – plot-led, character-led, theme-led – then reveals in a clear, conversational style how each of these impacts on the structure of any story and how we can use a single set of tools to develop any screenplay, from an independent crossover to a studio blockbuster. Crucially, he also looks at hybrids and exceptions, those unique gems that don't fit any of the story-types but still work beautifully.

This leads to the Story-Type Method®, a powerful yet flexible way to handle the script development process. Oberg's inspiring framework doesn't tell filmmakers what to write and when, but focuses instead on why some storytelling tools and principles have stood the test of time, and how to use them in the 21st century.

If you've ever questioned why screenplays should be structured in three acts, eight sequences, fifteen beats or twenty-two steps then this first volume in the series was written for you. And if you never have, well... no time like the present!

Including case studies from films as diverse as Gravity, Silver Linings Playbook, Crash, The Intouchables, Birdman, Edge of Tomorrow, The Secret in Their Eyes, L.A. Confidential and The Lives of Others, Screenwriting Unchained will transform the way you write, read, pitch, design, assess and develop screenplays. Guaranteed!