Kill the Dog

The First Book on Screenwriting to Tell You the Truth

De: Paul Guyot

Narrado por: Paul Guyot

Kill the Dog is the first book on screenwriting written by an actual working professional screenwriter. Award-winning screenwriter Paul Guyot exposes the lies other screenwriting books have told, and presents authentic, essential instruction and motivation for anyone wanting a career as a professional screenwriter. This book provides all the answers, from what producers and studios actually want, to what makes one screenplay better than another, to why so many have been doing it wrong for so long. The author takes us inside the exclusive members-only world of professional screenwriters, from television writers rooms to meetings with producers and studio executives, to facts about formatting, structure, craft, art, and voice.

Every aspect of screenwriting is covered with an authority and credibility never seen in any book to come before. Told with honesty, humor, and vulnerability from the real-world perspective of a working, professional screenwriter, Kill the Dog reveals the secrets of what it takes to have a successful career as a Hollywood screenwriter.

©2023 Domestique Inc. (P)2023 Domestique Inc.

Truth shall set you free

Must read for screenwriters especially aspiring ones. Informational, impactful and motivating. Guyot bravely lifts the curtain as a true screenwriting professional

Experienced wisdom full these pages

This book spoke to me in a way that few others have. After consuming numerous books on the subject I found myself feeling a bit overwhelmed. Kill the Dog eliminated the barrier and after reading it I wrote my first scene. My thanks to Paul Guyot!

Absolutely liberating!

I can’t begin to tell you how meaningful and explosively powerful this book is. After trying to write and being restrained by all the “rules” I’m thankful to Paul for telling the truth and just setting the record straight. I can’t wait to read the other books he recommended as well as writing with a New perspective. A must read for anyone who wants to become a screenwriter or any writer for that matter.

Some good advice but sometimes feels like it tries too hard to convince you all other ideas are wrong

I will start by saying there is a lot of good and practical advice here. It is worth a listen. However, it did feel, at times, like the author was trying hard to convince you that all the “other” advice out there is wrong, which I don’t totally agree with. I think the big things to remember here are to take all advice (including this book) with a grain of salt while also being open to what others have to offer on the subject. There is no single person who can tell you how best to approach your stories and writing. There is no single person who can hand you the winning ticket. However, I personally believe there’s a lot of little nuggets of gold you can piece together by being open to ALL “how-to” books like this. So, yeah, I picked out things that made sense to me from this book and let the rest of it go. That being said, I totally agree with the author when he says to write to find your voice. Like I said, there’s some great things here; just don’t buy into everything else being totally wrong.

Even the few things I disagreed with I was still inspired by

This is going to be a classic text for screenwriters. Guiot imparts a lot of solid knowledge about both the art and business of writing screenplay, but best of all is that he manages the amazing trick of giving you a brutal reality check on how much you must work to succeed while simultaneously making you feel you really can get there. This screenwriter is an honest and generous soul.

In my headline I mention disagreement. What I have in mind is that I don’t fully buy his near total dismissal of the study of story structure. There’s no way many of the great screenplays out there weren’t in part constructed with planning and analysis, although I’m sure that often happens during the many rewrites Guiot urges us to prepare for. He repeatedly underlines how it’s not this or that theory but that it’s THE WRITING that matters, and of course that’s true, but THE WRITING surely can include deliberate work on structure and theme. To me, that sounds like a romantic simplification. Would you tell a painter not to bother with composition, color theory, perspective, and anatomy, because what matters is THE PAINTING? Yet, I acknowledge that this excellent man knows much more than I and so I share this doubt in full awareness I may be partly or entirely wrong, and even if I’m right, Guiot’s emphasis on practicing the actual craft of writing and writing and writing is still a beautiful, inspiring, and necessary thing. I’ll be rereading this book soon. My strongest recommendation.

The best advice I've ever heard.

Honestly a genuinely refreshing read. Other screenwriting books are so clinical, methodical, and academic to the point you forget to write. Genuinely bogs you down.

This book is less a "How to" in terms of scenes, circles, and steps and is more like a "How to" in terms of what the process feels like while you write. This book is like having a condensed, competent mentor, not a guru, tell you what's up.

This Book puts Save the Cat in the Pet Sematary

Motivating book and great Narration. I’ve read them all and none of them give the insight Kill the Dog does.

Pivotal

The advice and direction of this book has totally changed my mind on screenwriting - for the better.

I'm growing accustomed to listening to a lot of material, if the author chooses to be the voice of the book, that's another layer to material in my opinion.

I enjoyed listening to the voice of Mr. Guyot, it reminds me of Peter Parker - the original Spider-Man of course.

Like going on a ride along

I really enjoyed listening to this book. It was nice to be able to tag along with his writing process. There was one thing I would have like to see different. The book seemed to be more focused on the people that have read the other screen writing books. For someone that has not read or listened to those other books it would been nice to have a brief chapter on screen writing basics. So when you say certain screen writing phrases I didn’t have to look them up. Otherwise I loved the listen!

Screenwriting without the Spreadsheets!

I loved this book. I've tried many other screenwriting books, including the most popular one related to family pets, and just couldn't get into their approach that starts with spreadsheets and ends with creativity. Here, Guyot peels all of that back and delivers a simple message, but delivers it well; screenwriting is a creative endeavor and YOU ARE CREATIVE ENOUGH to succeed at it! Paul Guyot really removes a lot of the intimidation that exists at the start of a screenwriting journey and relates stories of success that anyone can learn from.

Along the way, Guyot clears a lot of the FUD Fog around gatekeepers, secret formatting rules (which don't actually exist), and other barriers to entry into the world of screenwriting.

If, like me, you struggle to approach a creative endeavor by starting with the emotionless mapping and spreadsheeting exercises the other books teach, and you're really just looking for a screenwriter to lower the fear-factor and tell you that you CAN be successful, read this book. Guyot's narration is also fantastic, making this a super-accessible read for anyone trying to start their screenwriting career.