L a u g h i n g
M o u n t a i n
Communications Inc.

"meaningful film and television"

The Tyranny of Story:  Audience Expectations and the Short Screenplay
2nd Edition

First published in 1998, this book went on to achieve a kind of cult hit status, becoming a textbook for screenwriting courses all across North America, including those at UCLA and the American Film Insitute.  The second edition has been released in 2009 and represents an expanded, more authoritative take on the art of storytelling in general, and the craft of short screenplay writing in particular.

“The first edition of this book was certainly well received, but I had deliberately tried to keep it short and simple, easily accessed and soon read by film school students everywhere, and by and large I think I succeeded at that.  With this edition, however, I wanted to leave it behind forever by writing what I hope will be the definitive book on short form screenwriting.”
             from the Introduction by Ric Beairsto

“Because it dares to suggest that the short fiction form is a worthy artistic medium in and of itself, Ric Beairsto’s The Tyranny of Story: Audience Expectations and the Short Screenplay is an invaluable addition to the small library of books on the screenwriter’s craft.  It belongs on every aspiring scenarist’s ‘how to’ shelf.”
                            Mark Harris, PhD
                            Film critic, The Georgia Straight

“… years of teaching experience make this book eminently comprehensible, and intellectually exciting without being academic.  Because the thinking behind the book is so solid, it fires in the reader a desire for the work of creating something excellent, authentic, arresting; it causes one to look forward to each step of that work with confidence and pleasure.”
                             Claudia Casper
                             novelist, book critic,
                             The Vancouver Sun

Copies of The Tyranny of Story:  Audience Expectations and the Short Screenplay are available from Lulu.com at a cost of $24.50 U.S.
Click here to order: