I received a review copy for a film class that I help teach. In reading through the first few chapters, I noticed it has a rather casual, slapdash style that is all too common in many recent film how-to texts.



Focal Press has slipped in recent years, especially when it comes to their editions from overseas. It would seem that the cachet of having a foreign author is authority enough to justify the publication of a particular book.



I stopped reading when I came to the paragraph where the author states, to paraphrase, "Sometimes the screenwriter neglects to number his / her scenes due to laziness and the production manager has to do it for him." ( With no explanation of the "spec script" rules of format vs. "production scripts." It was at this point I became convinced of the author's lack of understanding of the production management process.