"For many years, Lajos Egri"s highly opinionated but very enjoyable The Art of Dramatic Writing has been a well-guarded secret of playwrights, scriptwriters, and writers for television. Unlike many other books on playwrighting (several of which Egri criticizes during the course of this one), the author"s systematic breakdown of the essentials for creating successful realistic plays and screenplays effectively demystifies the process of creative writing." --John Longenbaugh