The reason Mr. Field uses other writers' screenplays as examples is basically because he doesn't know how to write a screenplay himself. Considering that, how can anyone take this guy seriously? This type of so-called advice will only fill your head with bad ideas and ruin you for years to come. Instead, I suggest, you look up writer/directors like Joe Carnahan and find out how they did it and what they have to say. Listen to talented and accomplished filmmakers who are actually doing it (and then devise your own system), but stay away from guys like Syd Field who has never written anything that was produced. I truly believe this guy's misguided advice will only derail and hurt the novice movie writer.

...The main thing that bugs me about Syd Field is that he writes from the point of view of the story editor, not of the screenwriter. He focuses on how to evaluate, not on how to create. Which is fine, but not how his books are marketed, and not what i'm looking for.

I'm a novice screenwriter, just starting my first screenplay. I've read a number of books, including Keane, Field, and Trottier and found little new or interesting here. Field even repeats a fair bit from his other books, rather than showing how his other books principles would apply. What little there was might be marginally helpful if I want to be a story critic, but not at all helpful if i want to write and create.

He basically gives a rehash of plot and shows some scenes intended to illustrate principles. Since I've seen all the movies, about 60% of what he writes is redundant. His example of showing good screenwriting were simplistic and his analysis of why it works were, from my view, just plain wrong.

Look at Trottier's book for a better example of how to create a scene using the good screenwriting principles, and as a better example of why a scene was created the way it was.

First off, if you are going are going to read Syd Field's "Four Screenplays: Studies in the American Screenplay" wih an eye towards writing your own great screenplay, then you should have his companion volumes, "Screenplay," "The Screenwriter's Workbook," and "Selling a Screenplay." Second, these are not the scripts for "Thelma & Louise," "Terminator 2," "The Silence of the Lambs," and "Dances With Wolves," but rather analyses of each work.

This particular quartet of films offers Fields the change to comment on four different screenwriting situations: (1) Callie Khouri's original script for "Thelma & Louise," her first movie script, illustrates how rewriting the rules of a genre and playing against type can work. (2) James Cameron's script for "Terminator 2" deals with creating a successful sequel as well as dealing with big time special effects. (3) Ted Talley faced the daunting task of adapting Thomas Harris's best selling novel "The Silence of the Lambs" into a film, while (4) Michael Blake had the joy of adapting his own novel in "Dances with Wolves." In each of these instances Field combines analysis of the key scenes, dialogue and action in the scripts with excerpts from interviews with the writers. Consequently Field is able to provide choice examples of what each screenwriter was attempting to do and how what is written gets translated to the screen.

I used this book a couple of times in my film class, along with these films and the Harris novel, to give students a better appreciation for how films are created. Obviously, I wanted to focus more on the writing involved rather than the production values. Field writes in a conversational style, so you do not have to contend with the pretentiousness of academic criticism, but also provides insights into even a minor scene or specific line of dialogue can be vitally important to the dynamic of the film. Of course, the more you are familiar with these films (and novels) the better you will appreciate this short course in contemporary American screenplays.