The Nutshell Technique: Crack the Secret of Successful Screenwriting

Jill Chamberlain

Mar 2016 · University of Texas Press

About this ebook

Veteran script consultant Jill Chamberlain discovered in her work that an astounding 99 percent of first-time screenwriters don’t know how to tell a story. These writers may know how to format a script, write snappy dialogue, and set a scene. They may have interesting characters and perhaps some clever plot devices. But, invariably, while they may have the kernel of a good idea for a screenplay, they fail to tell a story. What the 99 percent do instead is present a situation. In order to explain the difference, Chamberlain created the Nutshell Technique, a method whereby writers identify eight dynamic, interconnected elements that are required to successfully tell a story.

Now, for the first time, Chamberlain presents her unique method in book form with The Nutshell Technique: Crack the Secret of Successful Screenwriting. Using easy-to-follow diagrams (“nutshells”), she thoroughly explains how the Nutshell Technique can make or break a film script. Chamberlain takes readers step-by-step through thirty classic and contemporary movies, showing how such dissimilar screenplays as Casablanca, Chinatown, Pulp Fiction, The Usual Suspects, Little Miss Sunshine, Juno, Silver Linings Playbook, and Argo all have the same system working behind the scenes, and she teaches readers exactly how to apply these principles to their own screenwriting. Learn the Nutshell Technique, and you’ll discover how to turn a mere situation into a truly compelling screenplay story.

Ratings and reviews

The Nutshell Technique is the most comprehensive book on screenwriting I have ever come across. It's not convoluted with personal anecdotes, and it's never self-important like many of the other books out there. It's straightforward, easy to comprehend, makes total sense, and the layout is so easy to follow. There are even basic layouts to track movies. It makes something as seemingly impossible as a screenplay seem doable for anyone. Would recommend this book to people just entering, or writing veterans who need a brush up on how to fill in plot holes they may not even know are there!!!

About the author

Jill Chamberlain is a sought-after script doctor, story consultant, and screenwriting coach who founded The Screenplay Workshop (www.thescreenplayworkshop.org). She has taught the Nutshell Technique to more than a thousand screenwriters around the globe, and many of her students have achieved success in Hollywood, having their screenplays optioned, sold, and made into award-winning feature films.