Includes bibliographical references and index.

Beyond the rules -- Structure -- Critique of restorative three-act form -- Counter-structure -- More thoughts on three acts: fifteen years later -- Narrative and anti-narrative: the case of the two Stevens: the work of Steven Spielberg and Steven Soderbergh -- Working with genre I -- Working with genre II : the meldodrama and the thriller -- Working against genre -- Genres of voice -- The non-linear film -- Reframing the active/passive character distinction -- Stretching the limits of character identification -- Main and secondary characters -- Subtext, action, and character -- The primacy of character over action: the non-American screenplay -- The subtleties and implications of screenplay form -- Agency and the other -- Character, history, and politics -- Tone: The inescapability of irony -- Dramatic voice/narrative voice -- Digital features -- Writing the narrative voice -- Rewriting -- Adaptations from contemporary literature -- Personal scriptwriting: the edge -- Personal scriptwriting: beyond the edge.