Need your help. I’d like to put together a master list of every screenwriting “guru” that’s out there promoting their books, seminars, workshops, master classes, etc. Here’s a start:
Robert McKee
Syd Field
John Truby
Christopher Vogler
Michael Hauge
David S Freeman
Richard Walter
Paul Gulino
Blake Snyder
David Trottier
Richard Krevolin
Paul Chitlik
Jeffrey Kitchen
Will Akers
Viki King
Christopher Kean
Linda Seeger
Karl Iglesias
Billy Mernit
Lew Hunter
John Bonnet
Anybody else? Please post in comments. Thanks.
Dan Decker, author of Anatomy of a Screenplay.
Also, there's this humble guy named Scott something, Myers I think. No books, yet, but he teaches a number of excellent classes through UCLA Extension and at the University of North Carolina.
You might want to add:
Christopher Riley; author of "The Hollywood Standard: Complete & Authoritative Guide to Scrip Format & Style"
Neil D. Hicks; "Screenwriting 101: the Essentail Craft of Feature Film Writing"
J. Michael Staczynski; author of "The Complete Bood of Scriptwriting."
Minor correction. It's Linda Seger not Linda Seeger, right? Linda Seger is the author of "Making a Good Script Great."
- E.C. Henry from Bonney Lake, WA
Chris Soth, author of the Million Dollar Screenwriting e-book.
Blake Snyder died in the summer. Alex Epstein of Crafty Screenwriting fame is out there.
Uhh, he's goin' to kill me for this — cause he refuses to call himself a 'guru' — I nominate: Unk! The Unknown Screenwriter
Keep Writing!
Dara Marks –> http://www.daramarks.com/index.htm
Stanley D Williams –> Moral Premise
Armando Saldana –> More a Dramatica Guru, but he knows story as it relates to that theory well.
I agree with Tom, that Scott Myers fellow needs to be on this list.
Some that haven't been mentioned yet:
Pilar Alessandra
Bill Martell
Marilyn Horowtiz
Ellen Sandler
Ron Suppa
Denny Martin Flinn
Linda Cowgill
David E. Howard
Thomas Pope
Michael Halperin
Pamela Douglas
Billy Mernit
Victoria Wisdom
Cynthia Whitcomb
Heather Hale
Jennifer Van Sijll
Charles Deemer
Rob Tobin
Tom Lazarus
…many, many more with books and seminars plus others who only teach occasionally.
Expo list:
http://screenwritingexpo.com/program/sessions_by_speaker.php
My Amazon book list (needs updating):
http://www.amazon.com/gp/richpub/syltguides/fullview/R86FJYB8OVH1D/ref=cm_syt_dtpa_f_2_rdssss0?pf_rd_p=253457301&pf_rd_s=sylt-center&pf_rd_t=201&pf_rd_i=1580650155&pf_rd_m=ATVPDKIKX0DER&pf_rd_r=1ZADMCHHPPTKP7CYQ45W
PS: A couple of corrections to the existing list:
Christopher Kean = Keane
John Bonnet = James Bonnet
William Goldman
Amnon Buchbinder's "The Way of the Screenwriter" is both practical and sophisticated. Highly recommend.
I'd have to add Chris Soth of The Mini Movie Method.
From Europe:
Philip Parker (London; seminars and the book "The Art and Science of Screenwriting")
Keith Cunningham (from U.S., but lives in Munich, Germany; Seminars and the book "The Soul of Screenwriting")
Mogens Rukov (Writer of Danish Dogma95 movie "Festen", no book but script consultant, seminars)
http://thedarksalon.blogspot.com/ Blog by A Sokoloff is great.
I will also recommend (note he isn't a screen writer) http://umbertoecoreaders.blogspot.com/
who is amazing.
Thanks for all the additional names (and corrections – I was literally just throwing down names off the top of my head).
I'll prep a complete master list which I'll post in a few days.
Figure it's something worth people have access to.