Editing Syd Field

{{Short description|American author (1933–2013)}}
{{about|the American author of screenwriting books|the American comedy writer and [[Abbott & Costello]] cast member|Sidney Fields|the British comedian|Sid Field}}
{{Infobox person
| name               = Syd Field
| image              = Syd Field.jpg
| caption            = Field at the 2008 Screenwriting Expo
| birth_name         = Sydney Alvin Field
| birth_date         = {{birth date|1935|12|19}}
| birth_place        = [[Hollywood, Los Angeles|Hollywood]], [[California]], [[United States]]
| death_date         = {{death date and age|2013|11|17|1935|12|19}}
| death_place        = [[Beverly Hills, California]], United States
| occupation         = Writing
| years_active       = 1960{{en dash}}2013
| spouse             = Aviva Field (1991{{en dash}}2013; his death)
| website            = {{URL|http://sydfield.com/}}
| other names        = 
}}
'''Sydney Alvin Field''' (December 19, 1935{{spaced en dash}}November 17, 2013) was an American author who wrote several books on [[screenwriting]], the first being ''[[Screenplay (book)|Screenplay: The Foundations of Screenwriting]]'' (Dell Publishing, 1979). He led workshops and seminars about producing salable [[screenplay]]s. [[Cinema of the United States|Hollywood]] [[film producer]]s use Field's ideas on structure to measure the potential of screenplays.<ref name="obit">{{cite news|url=https://www.nytimes.com/2013/11/19/arts/syd-field-author-of-the-definitive-work-on-writing-screenplays-is-dead-at-77.html|title=Syd Field, Who Wrote the Book on Writing Screenplays, Dies at 77|author=William Yardley|author-link=William Yardley (reporter)|date=November 18, 2013|newspaper=[[New York Times]]|access-date=2014-10-27|quote=... This book, published in 1979, was widely regarded over the next three decades as the 'bible' of screenwriting. It happens that 1979 was the year Syd Field published 'Screenplay: The Foundations of Screenwriting,' a book that over the next three decades became widely regarded as the 'bible' of screenwriting, the paperback enabler of Hollywood dreams. ... Sydney Alvin Field was born on Dec. 19, 1035, in Hollywood. His wife, Aviva, said he died at his home in Beverly Hills. The cause was hemolytic anemia. ...}}</ref>

In 2001, he was inducted into [[American Screenwriters Association]]'s Screenwriting Hall of Fame.<ref name=":1">{{Cite web|url=https://www.avclub.com/r-i-p-syd-field-guru-of-all-screenwriters-1798241978|title=R.I.P. Syd Field, "guru of all screenwriters"|website=News|date=18 November 2013 |language=en-us|access-date=2020-01-02}}</ref>

==Early life==
Syd Field was born on December 19, 1935, in [[Hollywood, California]].<ref name=":2">{{Cite web|url=https://www.latimes.com/local/obituaries/la-me-syd-field-20131119-story.html|title=Syd Field dies at 77; wrote bestselling screenwriting bible|date=2013-11-19|website=Los Angeles Times|language=en-US|access-date=2020-01-02}}</ref> His uncle, Sol Halprin, was the head of the camera department at [[20th Century Fox]], and his neighbor was a [[talent agent]] who got him minor screen time in [[Gone with the Wind (film)|''Gone with the Wind'' (1939)]] which was cut from the final film.<ref name=":2" /> He also played the trumpet in [[State of the Union (film)|''State of the Union'' (1948)]].<ref name=":2" />

He attended [[Hollywood High School]] where he met [[Frank Mazzola]], the "gang consultant" on [[Rebel Without a Cause|''Rebel Without a Cause (1955)'']], who encouraged him to pursue acting.<ref name=":2" /> His mother passed away during his senior year, which caused him to drift across the US for two years.<ref name=":2" />

He considered medical school at the behest of his mother to consider a "professional life",<ref name=":3">{{Cite book|url=https://www.kirkusreviews.com/book-reviews/syd-field/going-to-the-movies/|title=GOING TO THE MOVIES by Syd Field {{!}} Kirkus Reviews|language=en}}</ref> but he eventually earned a bachelor's degree in English from [[University of California, Berkeley]], where he studied under [[Jean Renoir]] and was cast in his play, ''Carola''.<ref name=":2" /><ref name=":4">{{Cite web|url=https://news.usc.edu/57506/in-memoriam-syd-field-77/|title=In memoriam: Syd Field, 77|date=2013-11-21|website=USC News|language=en-US|access-date=2020-01-02}}</ref> Renoir recommended that Field attend [[UCLA Film School]] where Field collaborated on a short film with [[Jim Morrison]] and [[Ray Manzarek]] of [[The Doors]].<ref name=":2" /><ref name=":3" />

== Career ==
Field worked as a script reader in the 1970s.<ref name=":2" /> Field got his start in the shipping department of [[David L. Wolper#Productions|David L. Wolper Productions]], where he later worked his way up to writer/researcher for the company's ''Biography'' series, hosted by reporter [[Mike Wallace]], in the early 60's.<ref name=":1" /> By the release of the expanded edition for ''Screenplay'' 1994, he was credited as writer/producer at Wolper Productions.<ref name=":0">{{Cite book|title=Screenplay: The Foundations of Screenwriting Expanded Edition|last=Field|first=Syd|publisher=[[Dell Publishing]]|year=1994|isbn=0-440-57647-4|url-access=registration|url=https://archive.org/details/screenplayfounda00fiel_0}}</ref>

Field was also a freelance screenwriter and script consultant.<ref name=":1" /> He wrote nine screenplays, one of which was produced as the Argentinian film, ''Los Banditos.''<ref name=":4" /> Field wrote and produced the television series ''Men in Crisis'' in 1964 and the Vegas nightlife documentary, ''Spree,'' in 1967; the latter of which he also narrated.<ref name=":1" /><ref name=":5">{{Cite web|url=https://www.lamag.com/culturefiles/screenwriters-mourn-the-death-of-screenplay-guru-syd-field/|title=Screenwriters Mourn the Death of Screenplay Guru Syd Field Los Angeles Magazine|last=Duelund|first=Theis|date=2013-11-18|website=Los Angeles Magazine|language=en-US|access-date=2020-01-02}}</ref>

He wrote ''[[Hollywood and the Stars]]'', ''National Geographic'', and ''Jacques Cousteau Specials'' from 1963 −1965 for David L. Wolper Productions.{{Citation needed|date=January 2020}}

He was the head of story at [[Cinemobile System]] when founder [[Fouad Said]] decided to diversify the location services company into an entertainment studio.<ref name=":0" />

== Teaching ==
Field taught screenwriting for the [[Master of Professional Writing Program]] at [[University of Southern California]] until 2001.<ref name=":5" /><ref name=":4" /> In the mid-1970s, Field began teaching screenwriting at the Sherwood Oaks Experimental College (now [[Sherwood Oaks College]]) in Hollywood.<ref name=":0" /><ref name=":2" /> He also led screenwriting workshops across the world.<ref name=":2" /> Previous students include [[Judd Apatow]], [[John Singleton]], [[Anna Hamilton Phelan]], and [[Alfonso Cuarón]].<ref name=":2" />

===The paradigm===
[[Image:Syd Field2.jpg|thumb|right|Field in an instructional video]]
Field's most notable contribution is his paradigm "[[three-act structure]]". In this structure, a writer sets a film's plot within the first twenty to thirty minutes. Then the [[protagonist]] experiences a '''''plot point''''', providing the protagonist with a goal. About half of a movie's running time focuses on the protagonist's struggle to achieve this goal. The second act is called the '''''confrontation'''''. Field also refers to the '''''midpoint''''', a turning point around the middle of the screenplay (such as on or around page 60 of a 120-page screenplay). This turning point is often a devastating reversal of the protagonist's fortune. The third act depicts the protagonist's struggle to achieve (or not achieve) his or her goal, as well as the aftermath.

== Personal life ==
He met his second wife, Aviva, while leading a workshop in Vienna in the early 1990s.<ref name=":2" /> He had one daughter from a previous marriage.<ref name=":2" /> His brother is a doctor.<ref name=":2" />

Field died on November 17, 2013, aged 77, at his home in [[Beverly Hills, California]].<ref name="obit" /><ref>[http://sydfield.com/ SydField.com]</ref>

== Books ==

*''[[Screenplay (book)|Screenplay: The Foundations of Screenwriting]]'' (1979)
*''The Screenwriter's Workbook'' (1984)
*''Selling a Screenplay: The Screenwriter's Guide to Hollywood'' (1989)
*''Four Screenplays: Studies in the American Screenplay'' (1994)
*''The Screenwriter's Problem Solver: How To Recognize, Identify, and Define Screenwriting Problems'' (1998)
*''Going to the Movies: A Personal Journey Through Four Decades of Modern Film'' (2001)
*''The Definitive Guide to Screenwriting'' (2003)

==References==
{{Reflist}}

==External links==
* {{official website}}
* {{IMDb name|id=0276055|name=Syd Field}}
* [http://thestorydepartment.com/interview-sydney-field-in-sydney/ Interview by Karel Segers]

{{Authority control}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Field, Syd}}
[[Category:1935 births]]
[[Category:2013 deaths]]
[[Category:People from Hollywood, Los Angeles]]
[[Category:Deaths from anemia]]
[[Category:Film theorists]]
[[Category:Screenwriting instructors]]
[[Category:University of Southern California faculty]]
[[Category:Writers of books about writing fiction]]
[[Category:UCLA Film School alumni]]
[[Category:Hollywood High School alumni]]