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Kill the Dog

The First Book on Screenwriting to Tell You the Truth

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About this listen

Kill the Dog is the first book on screenwriting written by an actual working professional screenwriter. Award-winning screenwriter Paul Guyot exposes the lies other screenwriting books have told, and presents authentic, essential instruction and motivation for anyone wanting a career as a professional screenwriter. This book provides all the answers, from what producers and studios actually want, to what makes one screenplay better than another, to why so many have been doing it wrong for so long. The author takes us inside the exclusive members-only world of professional screenwriters, from television writers rooms to meetings with producers and studio executives, to facts about formatting, structure, craft, art, and voice.

Every aspect of screenwriting is covered with an authority and credibility never seen in any book to come before. Told with honesty, humor, and vulnerability from the real-world perspective of a working, professional screenwriter, Kill the Dog reveals the secrets of what it takes to have a successful career as a Hollywood screenwriter.

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Especially loved the chapter 'Wound your darlings' and glad he kept it in. I'm a UK screenwriter and I've had a lot of 'tools' drilled into me. I think they're so embedded in my subconscious that it would be hard to ever get them out. I'm not 100% that I would want to or that I agree wholly that none of it matters. But this book is a call to remember that the real power is already in you, draft, redraft, absorb the work you love. There are so many people out there that aren't writers telling writers how to write.

Really enjoyed this, perfect antidote

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Great to hear the perspective of a real screenwriter than a self proclaimed guru. Excellent.

The Truth

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This book is awesome. To every screen writer out there. Don’t let this book pass you by. Read it immediately.

The passion in the author and the truth he tells.

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Truly enjoyable and informative. This has a look behind the curtain in an accessible way. Great!

Brilliant - be ready for the real truth

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The writer has chosen to structure this whole book around, let’s call it a dog and cat fight. I think this was a mistake. There are less polarising premises that make his underlying point faster and clearer like; write from the heart, edit with your head; not the other way round.

I would say, read this book like you would all screenwriting books, as a way of stimulating ideas. Do not take it as writ; the writer seems the sort of personality that thrives on conflict, which is not everyone’s process.

The irony of it is you sort of need to read the cat book first l, which seems counter to his sermon.

He has definitely got things to say but the next edition maybe 1/ Write it on a buddist retreat? 2/ Relinquish final cut to an editor who is not afraid to challenge.

Dog and Cat fight

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