These look excellent. They're added to my list. Two that I would recommend are, first, "Just Tell Me When to Cry," a memoir by the director Richard Fleischer. Tons of great anecdotes, and Fleischer is interesting because he started in the studio system and worked into the independent era. Second, "Monster: Living Off the Big Screen" by John Gregory Dunne tells the (literally) incredible story of a script that went through dozens of drafts and took years to eventually get made as "Up Close & Personal" with Robert Redford. Sausage factory stuff but with Dunne's impeccable writing flair.
I'd add William Goldman's "Adventures in the Screen Trade", if only for the immortal line "Nobody knows anything." That applies to many, many, many walks of life. Neal Gabler's "An Empire of Their Own" is a great history of early studio business.
PICTURES AT A REVOLUTION by Mark Harris is my contribution. The history of the making of the 5 Best Picture nominees of 1968: The Graduate, Bonnie & Clyde, In the Heat of the Night, Guess Who's Coming to Dinner, & Doctor Doolittle. Yes, it was a watershed year and the history of how all this came to be is inspiring and unbelievable. BUT it is also hilarious - the making of Doolittle is a shit show. So great - it's a collection of prime Hollywood tales that set up so much for the future as the Production Code was being shredded by these films and others that didn't make the list that year.
These look excellent. They're added to my list. Two that I would recommend are, first, "Just Tell Me When to Cry," a memoir by the director Richard Fleischer. Tons of great anecdotes, and Fleischer is interesting because he started in the studio system and worked into the independent era. Second, "Monster: Living Off the Big Screen" by John Gregory Dunne tells the (literally) incredible story of a script that went through dozens of drafts and took years to eventually get made as "Up Close & Personal" with Robert Redford. Sausage factory stuff but with Dunne's impeccable writing flair.
-- Cheers, Mike
I'd add William Goldman's "Adventures in the Screen Trade", if only for the immortal line "Nobody knows anything." That applies to many, many, many walks of life. Neal Gabler's "An Empire of Their Own" is a great history of early studio business.
PICTURES AT A REVOLUTION by Mark Harris is my contribution. The history of the making of the 5 Best Picture nominees of 1968: The Graduate, Bonnie & Clyde, In the Heat of the Night, Guess Who's Coming to Dinner, & Doctor Doolittle. Yes, it was a watershed year and the history of how all this came to be is inspiring and unbelievable. BUT it is also hilarious - the making of Doolittle is a shit show. So great - it's a collection of prime Hollywood tales that set up so much for the future as the Production Code was being shredded by these films and others that didn't make the list that year.
Making Movies - Sidney Lumet
On Direct Film - David Mamet
Film Directing, Shot by Shot: Visualizing from Concept to Screen - Steven D. Katz
Something Like an Autobiography - Akira Kurosawa