Hollywood Books For The Holidays

COMMENTS (21)

• Great list though I have to suggest small screen big picture by chad gervich, a thorough introduction and analysis of the television business. It’s the kind of book with which a graduate course could be taught.

  Comment by vu — Sunday December 14, 2008 @ 12:19pm PST  Reply to this post

• Here are two more recommendations, good gifts for students of television or those seeking to enhance their professional skills:

  “The One-Hour Drama Series – Producing Episodic Television” by Robert del Valle

  and

  “Elephant Bucks – An inside guide to writing for TV sitcoms” by Sheldon Bull

  Comment by JimKearney — Sunday December 14, 2008 @ 1:32pm PST  Reply to this post

• “Too Fat To Fish” by Artie Lange

  Lots of insider stuff in this bestseller about the early days of “Mad TV” and how Qunicy Jones operates, plus inside accounts on the making of several movies Lange was involved in, including his deleted work in “Jerry Maguire” opposite Tom Cruise and Kelly Preston, who he labels fearlessly as “huge douchebags” in the book.

  Comment by INterested Observer — Sunday December 14, 2008 @ 2:17pm PST  Reply to this post

• LANA: The Memories, the Myths, the Movies by Cheryl Crane/De La Hoz

  this one is really good.

  Comment by JS — Sunday December 14, 2008 @ 3:06pm PST  Reply to this post

• Call Me Ted by Ted Turner is another title that should probably be on the list.

  Comment by Faulkner — Sunday December 14, 2008 @ 3:12pm PST  Reply to this post

• “From Fourth to Fourth” by Silverman and Graboff
  “Finding Financing in a Curry” by Spielberg and Snyder
  “Of Course We’re Still Proud of Them” by Mira and Max Weinstein

  Comment by You Missed A Few — Sunday December 14, 2008 @ 3:21pm PST  Reply to this post

• I would definitely recommend Marc Eliot’s Reagan: The Hollywood Years…the material on the 1960 SAG strike (i.e. moving motion picture content over to be shown on television, the ‘now media’ of its time and the fight for TV residuals) alone is very pertinent and interesting.

  Comment by WhyWeWatch — Sunday December 14, 2008 @ 4:14pm PST  Reply to this post

• Don’t forget “Ten Bad Dates With Deniro” a fun book with alternative movie lists. Pretty fun read.

  Comment by Brian — Sunday December 14, 2008 @ 6:55pm PST  Reply to this post

• You might mention my book… Your Screenplay Sucks! Those who’ve read it have found it useful, which was my goal. It’s also snarky as all hell.

  Comment by William M. Akers — Sunday December 14, 2008 @ 7:58pm PST  Reply to this post

• So what’s the best one on the list if anyone had to recommend one or two?

  Great idea to post this list.

  Comment by Troy — Sunday December 14, 2008 @ 9:08pm PST  Reply to this post

• A book of photographs:
  “Seen behind the Scene: Forty Years of Photographing on Set” by Mary Ellen Mark

  Comment by Zoe — Sunday December 14, 2008 @ 9:58pm PST  Reply to this post

• Michael Sragow’s “Victor Fleming: American Movie Master”, about the legendary helmer who called the shots on GONE WITH THE WIND, TEST PILOT, THE WIZARD OF OZ, A GUY NAMED JOE, RED DUST, and many more. Since I only bought it yesterday and haven’t cracked the binding on it yet, I can’t vouch for its quality, but good or bad, a bio of this important and now unjustly forgotten fixture of Hollywood’s Golden Age was long overdue.

  Comment by filmklassik — Sunday December 14, 2008 @ 11:23pm PST  Reply to this post

• I Thought We Were Making Movies, Not History by Walter Mirisch.

  Comment by Old School — Monday December 15, 2008 @ 11:50am PST  Reply to this post

• People out here read?

  Comment by Anon — Monday December 15, 2008 @ 11:29pm PST  Reply to this post

• I really enjoyed Homemade Hollywood: Fans Behind the Camera, which just came out a few weeks ago. It’s about the strange relationship between Hollywood productions and amateur works based on them – which has become a pretty big issue since the rise of YouTube, etc.

  Lotta fun facts in it, too – for example the history of “fan films” actually dates back almost as far as the history of film itself. Who knew?

  Comment by Dianoga — Tuesday December 16, 2008 @ 3:10pm PST  Reply to this post

• How to pitch/take meetings:

  “Good in a Room” by Stephanie Palmer

  best book on meetings

  Comment by Joe Z. — Tuesday December 16, 2008 @ 3:36pm PST  Reply to this post

• some more recommendations:
  -A Century of Stop Motion Animation by Ray Harryhausen & Tony Dalton
  -The B List: The National Society of Film Critics on the Low-Budget Beauties, Genre-Bending Mavericks, and Cult Classics We Love (DaCapo Press)
  -Losing It: And Gaining My Life Back One Pound At a Time by Valerie Bertinelli
  -Keep the Faith by Faith Evans
  -Hiding In Plain Sight: The Secret Life of Raymond Burr by Michael Seth Starr
  -The Lost Supreme: The Life of Dreamgirl Florence Ballard by Peter Benjaminson
  -Hiding in Hip-Hop by Terrence Dean
  -Douglas Fairbanks by Jeffrey Vance and Tony Maietta
  -Include Me Out: My Life from Goldwyn to Broadway by Farley Granger
  -Let’s Talk About Pep by Sandy ‘Pepa’ Denton

  Comment by mook — Tuesday December 16, 2008 @ 3:49pm PST  Reply to this post

• Surprised that this book isn’t on the list, “The Story of Hollywood” by Greg Williams. Tons of photographs from the beginning to what some have called, the end.

  Comment by The Ghost of Garry Moore — Tuesday December 16, 2008 @ 6:14pm PST  Reply to this post

• Thanks! Great list! BTW I love your site Nikki; rather come here than to the “news” sites.

  Comment by Marisol — Tuesday December 16, 2008 @ 6:32pm PST  Reply to this post

• Great list!! Now, where am I going to get the time . . . . .

  Comment by JohnZ — Wednesday December 17, 2008 @ 6:03am PST  Reply to this post

• “Hollywood Under Siege” by Thomas R. Lindhof. Documents in unprecedented detail the international controversy of “The Last Temptation of Christ” and the legacy that it’s reception left on all parties concerned up to the present day.

  Comment by anonymous — Thursday December 18, 2008 @ 7:38pm PST  Reply to this post