In the book, successful scriptwriter and lecturer Pat Silver-Lasky takes the reader through the basics and beyond. As she freely admits, she can't teach talent, but she can teach techniques and concepts that will make it easier for you to use your own vision and creativity successfully in today's market. The book includes: - Writing techniques: elements of the screenplay; constructing a scene; character vs. characterisation - Genres - How comedies translate in the international market - Translating a novel into a script - changing a cerebral work into a visual one - Formula writing, but good formula writing, how to break up the formula structure successfully - Procedures for getting your script accepted in the UK and in the US - Marketing and the marketplace in the 21st century, how to protect your material