Has Syd Field ever written a screenplay that's become a film?

[GihanE]

In a discussion with my Film teacher about this,



Has Syd Field ever written a screenplay that's been picked up by a major production company and brought to the cinema?



I know that primarily he makes his money from his books, I'd really like to know the answer to this question!



Thanks!

[sippog]

Not to my knowledge - but then neither has Robert Mckee, the other most well known screenwriting guru. He has however made a comfortable living from optioned work that was developed but never reached the screen. This is not uncommon.



Syd Field is now regarded as rather old fashioned in some quarters. I have always found him overly prescriptive.



If what you really want to know is whether he should be judged by his success or lack of it, consider this: good writers don't necessarily make good teachers or communicators. It's a completely different skill.

[will.15]

Those books particularly Fields have a lot of "don'ts" that are contradicted by the movies that get made with them. I'm not impressed with this he gets projects optioned unless we know who did the optioning. If it was from a minor production company that never gets any movies made and it was for a few thousand dollars, whoopee do.



In my opinion, all you need to know to write a screenplay is understand how to format, don't go over 120 pages, and understand three act structure. And be able to write, which is the hardest part.

[waldo_lydecker]

I think it's all a bit 'much of a muchness'. I mean, William Goldman telling people 'nobody knows anything' doesn't REALLY help any more than, or as much as, Field and Co. In fact a lot of what Goldman says gets inflated in importance because he HAS made some films. Looking from the outside surely has some benefit, as good critics have shown?