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Pretty basic, written after directing his first movie. ( )

With his lectures on how to direct a scene, Mamet speaks as much to the writers in his audience as he does to his film students.

I'd love to use this in an intro to creative writing workshop the next time I teach.
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Mamet makes full use of Socratic Dialog in this short work. The to-the-point title might scare off those who are not deeply into film, but Mamet's easy to read yet highly interesting style is accessible to all. ( )

Amazon: According to David Mamet, a film director must, above all things, think visually. Most of this instructive and funny book is written in dialogue form and based on film classes Mamet taught at Columbia University. He encourages his students to tell their stories not with words, but through the juxtaposition of uninflected images. The best films, Mamet argues, are composed of simple shots. The great filmmaker understands that the burden of cinematic storytelling lies less in the individual shot than in the collective meaning that shots convey when they are edited together..
This book is really short. Secondly, Mamet says more in these hundred or so pages than most textbooks on the same subject. All that matters is that every scene serves a purpose and drives the story forward. True, there are exceptions to this rule but hearing Mamet tell it like it is with very little fat around his words is a refreshing alternative to long winded suggestions.