Zen and the Art of Screenwriting

This collection of new essays and interviews with some of Hollywood’s top screenwriters, producers, and directors is a sequel to Froug’s highly popular Zen and the Art of Screenwriting.  Here, Froug once again weaves fascinating, informative interviews with essays that provide sage advice and fresh, thought-provoking insights for both novice and seasoned screenwriters.


The essays cover such diverse subjects as creating your own talent, guarding your surprises, reinventing old ideas, using guilt as a writer’s tool, getting your scripts read, Hollywood’s rewrite panic, story-structure gurus, entering screenplay contests, Hollywood’s ephemeral enthusiasms, and why rooting interest isn’t necessary.


Interviewed are 

Scott Frank (Get Shorty, Dead Again)

Brian Helgeland (L.A. Confidential, Payback)

Nicholas Kazan (Reversal of Fortune, Fallen)

Frank Pierson (Dog Day Afternoon, Cool Hand Luke)

Eric Roth (The Horse Whisperer, Forrest Gump)

Aaron Sorkin (A Few Good Men, The American President)

Robin Swicord (Little Women, Practical Magic)

Richard Donner (Lethal Weapon, The Omen)

Lauren Shuler-Donner (Any Given Sunday, Bulworth).