Will this final be multiple choice or essay??

Hehe.

Great learning there. I've read/studied half of those screenplays. That's how I function, reading good scripts help me to turn around and bring over what I've learned and liked to my own work.

Great list!

No Hitchcock/Truffaut book?

@mooderino

What are your thoughts on learning from bad movies/screenplays?

@mooderino: The Hitchcock/Truffaut books is on the master list. Swap it out for Wilder/Crowe if you'd like.

@claireduffy: Absolutely you can learn from bad movies and scripts. Given the choice of watching a movie or reading a script, even if it's a bad one, my default mode would be watch and read. Of course, that would figure given my mantra:

Read scripts. Watch movies. Write pages.

Ah, so it is. I think they complement each other really well, with their (intentionally)similar approach.

Antonioni's Architecture of Vision is pretty good.

Not sure where this would fit in, but Frank Oz's director commentary on 'Dirty Rotten Scoundrels' is like a master class in film comedy. Oz holds forth on what makes scenes and dialog funny, as well as some options that would not have worked. It's very enlightening for anyone interested in comedy.

Surprised Shawshank Redemption wasn't on there.

Had (made) time this morning to watch "12 Angry Men". I think this was a watershed moment for me. Reginald Rose (story/screenplay) penned a masterpiece and Sydney Lumet (director) orchestrated a tour de force ensemble of incredible actors, all in one room (!) who rivit your eyes to the screen for 90 minutes. A true classic. Probably like many out there, I've been struggling for years to complete story lines/screenplays I've come up with that I just know (flattering myself) would make for some amazing cinema. And I mean 'complete' to the point that I could post one with confidence... on a place like The Black List to get some much needed constructive feedback. (The incompleteness, a bad habit I acquired before I started reading Scott's bloggings, tweets, The Black List, etc). Consciously now making a great effort to break that cycle. Like so many others I too have priorities in my life that I cannot/would not trade for all the tea in china (do people still use 'that one'?)... A marriage (2nd) and household that is largely sustained by a wife working full time (and the clock is ticking on her patience with my not being the majority bread winner), while I have been piecemealing it in all these years doing minor acting gigs voice over work and the sporadically infused temp work to fill the gaps. Two amazing young kids whose schooling and sports activities are slowly taking over our lives... A Christmas (2013) 'puppy' that I now seem to be the head caretaker of (I knew that was going to happen). I'm purging all these things in an effort to permission myself a re-do... TODAY. I want to, I have to... fully complete one... one screenplay, 'fade in' to 'fade out'... or I'll never get to the place someday where I, and others too, can be called a screenwriter. One screenplay. One. On behalf of others who were also affected by the 'Deep Focus' plan of attack, thank you Scott. Your motivating grasp goes far, far beyond your reach. Luther Floyd