The Nutshell Technique

A veteran Hollywood script consultant unlocks the secrets of storytelling in this “clever, fresh way of analyzing structure” (Creative Screenwriting magazine).

Veteran script consultant Jill Chamberlain knows that most first-time screenwriters don’t understand how to tell a story. These writers may have snappy dialogue, interesting characters, and clever plot devices—but what they deliver isn’t a story. It’s a situation. In order to explain the difference, Chamberlain created the Nutshell Technique, a method whereby writers identify eight dynamic, interconnected elements that are required to successfully tell a story.

In this book, Chamberlain uses easy-to-follow diagrams (“nutshells”) to explain how the Nutshell Technique can make or break a film script. She takes readers step-by-step through thirty classic and contemporary movies, showing how such dissimilar screenplays as Casablanca, Chinatown, Pulp Fiction, Little Miss Sunshine, Juno, and Argo all have the same system working behind the scenes. She then teaches readers how to apply these principles to their own screenwriting.