Adventures in the Screen Trade

Rating:
Summary: A Fantastic Read - Unbelievably Enjoyable.
Review: "Adventures in the Screen Trade" is a wonderful book that was a pleasure to read. In order to appropriately recommend it for you, however, I need to break it down into categories... as it has different strengths depending on your needs.

From the standpoint of an enjoyable look into one of the top screenplay writers in Hollywood, I would give it a 5 out of 5. I found myself creating time that I didn't have to keep reading it because I wanted to hear inside stories from the point of view of a professional writer working with stars such as Newman, Redford, etc. It was both funny and charming to hear war stories ranging from catastrophes to simply magical occurrences.

From the point of view of a would be filmmaker using this book as a resource, I can only give it a 3. I would still recommend it to read, but not for pearls of wisdom. There are some helpful insights, but, like many books on the entertainment industry, it is filled with more "war stories" than hard advice.

There is one section that is interesting, though daunting. He breaks down a short story that he wrote into a screenplay, then gets top players in the industry to discuss their relevant roles (production designer, D.P., director, etc). It is very enlightening to hear their responses to the material and what they view the strength of it is.

Finally, there is another pearl to be gleamed from Goldman's book... and that is why movies are getting to be such cookie cutter pictures (and that was written in the 1980's... what would he think today?). He specifically shows that a lot has to do with needing to write parts that will attract stars. This is very helpful, and a true lesson, though I would guess most non professional screenwriters will blow it off.

Overall, a fantastic read but just better than average textbook. Happy reading!

Rating:
Summary: A Fantastic Read - Unbelievably Enjoyable.
Review: "Adventures in the Screen Trade" is a wonderful book that was a pleasure to read. In order to appropriately recommend it for you, however, I need to break it down into categories... as it has different strengths depending on your needs.

From the standpoint of an enjoyable look into one of the top screenplay writers in Hollywood, I would give it a 5 out of 5. I found myself creating time that I didn't have to keep reading it because I wanted to hear inside stories from the point of view of a professional writer working with stars such as Newman, Redford, etc. It was both funny and charming to hear war stories ranging from catastrophes to simply magical occurrences.

From the point of view of a would be filmmaker using this book as a resource, I can only give it a 3. I would still recommend it to read, but not for pearls of wisdom. There are some helpful insights, but, like many books on the entertainment industry, it is filled with more "war stories" than hard advice.

There is one section that is interesting, though daunting. He breaks down a short story that he wrote into a screenplay, then gets top players in the industry to discuss their relevant roles (production designer, D.P., director, etc). It is very enlightening to hear their responses to the material and what they view the strength of it is.

Finally, there is another pearl to be gleamed from Goldman's book... and that is why movies are getting to be such cookie cutter pictures (and that was written in the 1980's... what would he think today?). He specifically shows that a lot has to do with needing to write parts that will attract stars. This is very helpful, and a true lesson, though I would guess most non professional screenwriters will blow it off.

Overall, a fantastic read but just better than average textbook. Happy reading!

Rating:
Summary: Informative and entertaining without being gossippy
Review: "Adventures in the Screen Trade" does not teach you how to write a script, but you'll understand the movie-making business better than ever before. Goldman has spent years dealing with the best and the worst of Hollywood and he's taking a moment to tell us the Good Parts. There is a sense of him biting the hands that feed him, but it's not particularly sensationalistic and it makes an honest and occasionally funny effort to explain Hollywood to everyone who doesn't live there

Rating:
Summary: Excellent book!
Review: Absolutely one of the best books I have ever read. Since reading it, I have read several books along the same lines, but none have been able to top Goldman's classic. A must read for any Hollywood fan!

Rating:
Summary: The best book ever about writing.
Review: All would-be writers should read this book, even if they're not interested specifically in screenwriting, which is of course its primary focus. Battles to get your words through committees exist in all fields of commercial publishing, and the same rules that make a compelling screenplay work are applicable to all stories, be they fiction or non-fiction, print publications, film, or television. Always find your spine and be prepared to throw out anything that doesn't stick to it, Goldman writes; that simple rule is the most useful thing anyone ever told me about writing, ever.

Wendy M. Grossman --freelance journalist and author

Rating:
Summary: A Must Read!
Review: Don't even think of writing a screenplay until you read William Goldman's, Adventures in the Screen Trade. And after you finish Mr. Goldman's book do not even think of writing a screenplay until you read it again! I had/have written stage plays and wanted to try a screenplay but knew nothing of the process. This is the most candid book I have read as to not only the mechanics involved in the trade, but a truthful and at times humorous look at the movie making process. I might even go back and read the book a third time and see what I missed...Best regards...Jack Shea

Rating:
Summary: Only Goldman could write this.
Review: Fascinating, in-depth, irreverent, funny, inspiring...

Although he often bites the hand that feeds him, Goldman gives a stirring account of back-lot Hollywood, and how it views writers. Written in the 80's, much of Goldman's views still ring true. Truly a must read for anyone trying to break into Hollywood (especially screenwriters), or just anyone hungry for fascinating anectdotes.

Rating:
Summary: A gold mine for screenwriters.
Review: Funny, acute observations of Hollywood and The Biz by the Oscar-winning screenwriter of Maverick, Marathon Man and All the President's Men, among many others. It's required reading, if only because it includes the entire script and inside story of Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid

Rating:
Summary: Interesting "Inside" account of Hollywood
Review: Give William Goldman credit for having the nerve to write this expose on screenwriting and moviemaking while still actively working in Hollywood. His unflattering portrait of how movies get made probably angered more than a few of Hollywood's elite. Nevertheless, the book is weakened by his inclusion of THE ENTIRE SCREENPLAY that he wrote for the movie "Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid," all 150 pages of it. He presents a critique of the screenplay as well for the aspiring screenwriter. Nevertheless, as a non-aspiring screenwriter, the screenplay had no value to me. Nevertheless, though a bit dated, Goldman's book is essential for anyone interested in how Hollywood works. It is not, as you might expect, a pretty picture.

Rating:
Summary: A great book by America's best screenwriter
Review: Goldman (whose credits include Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid, Marathon Man, Misery, and the Princess Bride, and who is also a terrific novelist) was the first screenwriter whose name I recognized as having appeared on the credits of several films. He has since become my favorite, so when I found that he had written a book on the workings of the screenwriter in Hollywood--a town for which I have always had great fascination--I knew I had to read it. Unfortunately, it was years before I finally got around to it.

To give you an idea how good I think this book is, I had read Stephen King's Needful Things (app. 800 pages) in five days and that was at that point my quickest pace. Well, I read Adventures in the Screen Trade (including the full script of Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid--a terrific read in itself, and alone worth the price of the book--a total of 600 pages) in two days. I just couldn't put the thing down, and I find that phrase to be a cliche of the most odious order. I was reading it at breakfast, on my commute in, at lunch, the commute out, all evening, and before bed. Goldman writes such a gripping story of his experiences in Tinseltown, that I was drawn in, always wondering what was going to happen next.

Only once did my interest flag, and that was halfway through a screen adaptation of a story presented in the book just beforehand. The story was ten pages, the adaptation forty, so I simply felt at that point that I was reading the story over, it was just longer. However, once I got over that and realized that the point of the exercise was to illustrate the differences in form, I read again with relish.

Goldman writes with a nicely conversational style--but not overtly so--that draws you in to his world. I think that this book would be especially of interest to anyone who wants to write for Hollywood (although you may not wish to continue with that dream after reading this), or any writers in general (as he goes over form and structure that is relevant to all writing), or to a fan of the behind-the-scenes workings of Hollywood.