Books with author Jodi Mercurio

A professional screenwriter’s master class in writing the most critical and challenging script element―the individual scene. No one comes out of a movie talking about structure. What audiences love and remember about a movie are great scenes. Marlon Brando in the back seat in On the Waterfront giving his “I could’a been a contender” speech. Meg Ryan’s fake orgasm in Katz’s Deli in When Harry Met Sally with the climactic punch line: “I’ll have what she’s having.” In Superbad, Jonah Hill professing “I love you” to his friend Michael Cera by touching his nose with a “boop.” Great scenes will elevate your script from ho-hum to extraordinary―and from the slush pile to sellable. In The Craft of Scene Writing, accomplished screenwriter and master writing teacher Jim Mercurio analyzes and systematizes the beats, conflicts, character moments, action, dialogue, and structure that create powerful scenes. Citing examples from scripts old and new, The Craft of Scene Writing breaks down how great scenes reveal character, advance the story, and emotionally connect with audiences, plus demonstrates how to use these techniques in your own scripts. This incredibly detailed exploration of screenwriting technique will help beginning writers to write great scripts and experienced writers to gain a more complete mastery of their craft.

A darkly powerful and blackly funny exposé of the horrors of life as a junior doctor, from the BAFTA award-winning creator of Bodyguard and Line of Duty ‘Funny, readable, galling, painful and terrifying in all the right places’ GuardianInside every hospital exists a world no outsider is allowed to see: a storm of malpractice, corruption, sex, drink and drop-dead exhaustion. But for first day junior doctors, their initiation into this world – the ‘Killing Season’ – is about to begin. A whistle-blowing despatch from the frontlines of hospital life, Jed Mercurio’s Bodies takes us on a nerve-jangling journey through one junior doctor’s loss of innocence, and his desperate, dangerous attempts to right his – and his colleagues’– wrongs.

Life in an Aquarium is aligned to the Common Core State Standards for English/Language Arts, addressing Literacy.RI.2.3 and Literacy.L.2.1e. Readers will follow a student's field trip to an aquarium, gaining an understanding of saltwater habitats and food chains through full-page color photographs along with narrative nonfiction text. This book should be paired with “My Aquarium" (978147772251) from the Rosen Common Core Readers Program to provide the alternative point of view on the same topic.