William Missouri Downs

A reasonably good textbook on playwriting, but I would not use it for a textbook, because there are no writing exercises, which I consider a must for teaching a class. Still, it does have some features worth mentioning, such as the guide to marketing, which goes about half way there. It tells you what to do, and shows you how to write a good cover letter and query letter; that makes the book useful to anyone who wants to be produced. It gives some guidance on copyright, but no one is going to go on that limb too far. It's always IANAL, and that makes sense. I even hear lawyers who refuse to ring in on copyright. They did provide good resources, and advised joining the Dramatists Guild, the best advice there can be on the issue of protecting your work. Still there were some...issues. Such as the weird habit of referring to playwrights, directors, producers, etc predominantly as "she" in a politically correct form, but referencing only males when they quote or discuss anyone's work. Oh, yes, they did mention Marsha Norman once, and Eve Ensler once or twice, mostly in passing, but it is jarring to see so many "she" references coupled with nothing but male sources. And one idea they develop for how to make a character interesting is classically sexist. Those things, plus some jarring typos, lost the book a star.… (mehr)