Mike Trent's holiday starts badly when a corpse interrupts his midnight swim. Sarah Rutherford is investigating the death of her party-loving sister. When they join forces, they find themselves up against the criminal community. Still, you can't make paella without peeling prawns.

Sunstroke

Mystery, Thriller & Suspense

Blake, Marc.

Thrillers & Suspense

Flame

Andy Crowe was dumped this morning, now he's stuck with a sick car and his arch-rival. Meanwhile, three villains are about to pull off a daring robbery. Take a service station on a rain-washed motorway, add a councillor, some feisty pensioners and a road-bound deity, and it's a recipe for disaster.

Big Time

Hodder&Stoughton

The craft of sitcom is possibly the hardest of all screenwriting genres, demanding a complex set of skills. How NOT to Write a Sitcom is a troubleshooting guide aimed at both the novice and the practising sitcom writer. It illustrates and explains the many pitfalls in concept, characterisation, plotting and dramatic/comedic writing,which pepper the hundreds of scripts submitted every year. Each point is illustrated with an example of the error and each section contains practical suggestions and exercises for the writer to apply to their own writing. The book makes no assumption of the reader other than an interest in the form. It contains interviews with current producers as well as interviews with successful practioners of the craft. Marc Blake is a script consultant, writer and teacher of writing for sitcom. In this book he acts as a `script mechanic' for writers - stripping a sitcom down to its component parts, isolating the faults and fixing them. What script editors and producers are looking for are scripts that work. Naturally they want a genius in embryo, but above all they first want to see something that is roadworthy.

How NOT to Write a Sitcom: 100 Mistakes to Avoid If You Ever Want to Get Produced (Writing Handbooks)

Humor & Entertainment

Humor

A&C Black Academic and Professional

Tales of horror have always been with us, from Biblical times to the Gothic novel to successful modern day authors and screenwriters. Though the genre is often maligned, it is huge in popularity and its resilience is undeniable. Marc Blake and Sara Bailey offer a detailed analysis of the horror genre, including its subgenres, tropes and the specific requirements of the horror screenplay.
Tracing the development of the horror film from its beginnings in German Expressionism, the authors engage in a readable style that will appeal to anyone with a genuine interest in the form and the mechanics of the genre. This book examines the success of Universal Studio's franchises of the ‘30s to the Serial Killer, the Slasher film, Asian Horror, the Supernatural, Horror Vérité and current developments in the field, including 3D and remakes. It also includes step-by-step writing exercises, annotated extracts from horror screenplays and interviews with seasoned writers/directors/ producers discussing budget restrictions, screenplay form and formulas and how screenplays work during shooting.

Writing the Horror Movie

Bailey, Sara

Movies

Bloomsbury Academic

It is often suggested that there are 'secrets' to comedy or that it is 'lightning in a bottle', but the craft of comedy writing can be taught. While comedic tastes change, over time and from person to person, the core underpinning still depends on the comedic geniuses that have paved the way. Great comedy is built upon a strong foundation. In Writing the Comedy Movie, Marc Blake lays out – in an entertainingly readable style – the nuts and bolts of comedy screenwriting. His objective is to clarify the 'rules' of comedy: to contextualize comedy staples such as the double act, slapstick, gross-out, rom com, screwball, satire and parody and to introduce new ones such as the bromance or stoner comedy. He explains the underlying principles of comedy and comedy writing for the screen, along with providing analysis of leading examples of each subgenre.

Writing the Comedy Movie

Literature & Fiction

Dramas & Plays

It is often suggested that there are 'secrets' to comedy or that it is 'lightning in a bottle', but the craft of comedy writing can be taught. While comedic tastes change, over time and from person to person, the core underpinning still depends on the comedic geniuses that have paved the way. Great comedy is built upon a strong foundation. 
In Writing the Comedy Movie, Marc Blake lays out – in an entertainingly readable style – the nuts and bolts of comedy screenwriting. His objective is to clarify the 'rules' of comedy: to contextualize comedy staples such as the double act, slapstick, gross-out, rom com, screwball, satire and parody and to introduce new ones such as the bromance or stoner comedy. He explains the underlying principles of comedy and comedy writing for the screen, along with providing analysis of leading examples of each subgenre.

How to Be a Sitcom Writer

Computers & Technology

Programming Languages

AUK Authors

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Books by Blake, Marc.