When we first wrote Alternative Scriptwriting in 1990, the formulaic approach to structure of the Hollywood screenplay was dominant. By exploring alternatives to that model, we hoped to contribute to the deeper question of what makes a compelling, creative screen story.
Today, the world of screen stories still struggle with this challenge. But much has changed. Who would have thought that the center of formula— television—would become in the first decade of the twenty-first century the dynamic creative center of screen storytelling? And who would have foreseen the explosion of screenwriting books, gurus, and screenwriting programs all over the world?
It is with these phenomena in mind that we include in this fifth edition chapters on television series screenwriting and deeper deliberations on the role of genre in the writing of and teaching of writing screenplays.
We hope these new chapters will add to the deepening of teaching and learning of screenwriting and to their outcomes—the scripts to come.