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FilmStorycraft

Fifteen genres · Thirty-one volumes

Learn storytelling from the films that made cinema history.

Manuals by genre: five films analyzed per volume, in PDF and EPUB.

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Instant downloadPDF and EPUB, no DRMIn your library, to download again whenever you want

Now you can: learn storytelling, hands-on, from the films you've watched again and again.

A work that exists nowhere else

No other library teaches the craft of storytelling through the most famous films ever made: 15 genres, 31 volumes, 155 complete analyses.

  • Technique, not theory. Plot, dramatic premise, turning points — seen where they actually work, scene by scene.
  • Characters, X-rayed. Archetypes, transformation arcs, conflicts — every protagonist, and everyone standing in their way.
  • A method you learn to recognize. Every film analyzed on the same grid, so techniques can be compared film to film — and that is how they are learned.

Start here

Eight genres, eight ways in

15Genres

31Volumes

155Films analyzed

22Passes per film

The series

Fifteen genres, thirty-one volumes

Every genre has its own series. Five films per volume, never the same one twice.

See all volumes
Romantic Comedy2 volumes · 10 films

What is the hero's journey in When Harry Met Sally...?

Thriller2 volumes · 10 films

Why does the fear in Psycho still work, sixty years on?

Crime2 volumes · 10 films

How does Pulp Fiction hold three stories out of order without ever losing you?

Crime — Volume 1

Crime — Volume 1

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Crime — Volume 2

Crime — Volume 2

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Drama2 volumes · 10 films

How does The Godfather make you root for a man you shouldn't love?

Drama — Volume 1

Drama — Volume 1

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Drama — Volume 2

Drama — Volume 2

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Horror2 volumes · 10 films

How does Halloween build fear out of what it never shows?

Horror — Volume 1

Horror — Volume 1

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Horror — Volume 2

Horror — Volume 2

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Science Fiction2 volumes · 10 films

Where does the secret heart of The Matrix beat, at the exact middle of the film?

War2 volumes · 10 films

How does the hero's journey turn upside down in the darkness of Apocalypse Now?

War — Volume 1

War — Volume 1

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War — Volume 2

War — Volume 2

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Adventure2 volumes · 10 films

How does the mentor archetype work in The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring?

Animation2 volumes · 10 films

What does Spirited Away teach about building worlds with real rules?

Biopic2 volumes · 10 films

Who really tells the story of Amadeus — and why can't his version be trusted?

Biopic — Volume 1

Biopic — Volume 1

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Biopic — Volume 2

Biopic — Volume 2

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Comedy2 volumes · 10 films

How does Some Like It Hot wring nonstop comedy out of dramatic irony?

Comedy — Volume 1

Comedy — Volume 1

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Comedy — Volume 2

Comedy — Volume 2

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Historical2 volumes · 10 films

What kind of arc lets Scarlett carry nearly four hours of Gone with the Wind on her own?

Western2 volumes · 10 films

How does a clock become the engine of suspense in High Noon?

Musical2 volumes · 10 films

Why is The Wizard of Oz the textbook version of the hero's journey?

Sports3 volumes · 15 films

How do you build a transformation arc like Rocky Balboa's?

Sports — Volume 1

Sports — Volume 1

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Sports — Volume 2

Sports — Volume 2

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Sports — Volume 3

Sports — Volume 3

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The collections

The complete genre, in a single purchase

Three pages from the first volume

Rendered from the PDF you download, at the page shown: what you see is what you buy.

Look inside a volume
Chapter opening — Romantic Comedy — Volume 1, page 13 of 234
Chapter opening
Key-scene analysis — Romantic Comedy — Volume 1, page 42 of 234
Key-scene analysis
Comparative glossary — Romantic Comedy — Volume 1, page 227 of 234
Comparative glossary

The series

One hundred and fifty-five films, one craft

Read one by one for what they teach anyone who writes.

  • Romantic Comedy — Volume 1Romantic Comedy2 volumes · 10 films
  • Science Fiction — Volume 1Science Fiction2 volumes · 10 films
  • Crime — Volume 1Crime2 volumes · 10 films
  • Animation — Volume 1Animation2 volumes · 10 films
  • Western — Volume 1Western2 volumes · 10 films
  • Musical — Volume 1Musical2 volumes · 10 films
All fifteen genres

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