Kill the Dog: The First Book on Screenwriting to Tell You the Truth Paperback – 1 Sept. 2023

I was given this book for Christmas 2024, and the title first caught me. Because I have read 'Save the Cat' (like many others), the title was provocative and immediately piqued my interest. I have enjoyed nearly all of the screenwriting books I've read and all the advice I've picked up, but something never felt quite right to me. To date, I have only finished two first-draft screenplays, partly because I think I was trying to plug my writing into a formula that just didn't sit right with me. 'Kill the Dog' arrived in my life at exactly the right time for me, and answered all of my lingering doubts about writing that I didn't even know consciously were lingering! :) As well as giving his honest views of Hollywood and writing, it is an absorbing funny read, and I can thoroughly recommend it to any struggling writers. Best wishes to all writers out there! Paul H

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This is an incredibly monotonous read. Paul Guyot clearly has a huge chip on his shoulder about the success of Blake Snyder's "Save the Cat" and relentlessly underscores why he thinks it's junk. He then spends much of the rest of the book telling you why pretty much everyone who's ever written a screenwriting book is a charlatan, but, of course, he's the real deal. He likes to boast that he's a working screenwriter, whilst bashing the résumés of others. But a quick check of his IMDB page is unlikely to make anyone bow down to his genius. He has ONE produced feature script, that famous classic "Geostorm". For what it's worth, Blake Snyder has two features to his name. But here's the thing: neither of their credit histories really matter. Great advice can come from lower working people - the type Guyot loves to deride - just as much as the top end. I'm sure if I wanted to improve my musical ability I could find great help without having to consult Paul McCartney or Bob Dylan.The problem with the book is that it's so focused on bemoaning the advice of others that Guyot fails to give much of his own. His message basically boils down to: "don't listen to anyone one else, just write a good screenplay". That's genuinely 80% of this book. But let's say you follow Guyot's advice and write a script without any concern for page count, formatting or structure. And then you find yourself with a 162 page script that is getting poor feedback, or worse still, isn't getting reads at all. How do you improve your script? Paul has nothing for you there. He's too busy boasting about being a "working screenwriter" to have the time to actually address ways to improve writing craft.There may be flawed advice in some of the books Paul Guyot has in his crosshairs, but at least they offer tips, techniques and concepts that might spur writers on to better work. This is just one man's lament against a niche part of the industry and it's a repetitive and uninspiring read.