We know what actors do. We know what writers do. But what does a movie producer do, other than arrange financing for films and accept Academy Awards? Featuring in-depth interviews with 14 top movie producers, including eight who have won Oscars for Best Picture, this book describes how they nurture a project from concept to casting to screen. They are entrepreneurs, essentially creating a new business every time they start work on a film. They possess an array of skills and talents and the resilience and the fortitude to not take "no" for an answer. The interviewees are Marc Abraham, Tony Bill, Albert Berger, Ron Yerxa, Clint Eastwood, Taylor Hackford, Mark Johnson, Arnold Kopelson, Alan Ladd, Jr., Michael London, Fred Roos, Paula Wagner, Jim Wilson and Janet Yang.
We know what actors do. We know what writers do. But what does a movie producer do, other than arrange financing for films and accept Academy Awards? Featuring in-depth interviews with 14 top movie producers, including eight who have won Oscars for Best Picture, this book describes how they nurture a project from concept to casting to screen. They are entrepreneurs, essentially creating a new business every time they start work on a film. They possess an array of skills and talents and the resilience and the fortitude to not take "no" for an answer. The interviewees are Marc Abraham, Tony Bill, Albert Berger, Ron Yerxa, Clint Eastwood, Taylor Hackford, Mark Johnson, Arnold Kopelson, Alan Ladd, Jr., Michael London, Fred Roos, Paula Wagner, Jim Wilson and Janet Yang.
In the film world today, there is extraordinary attention paid to actors, actresses and directors, yet the producers who gave many of them their first breaks and helped mold their careers have managed to remain outside the limelight. This work covers producers who gave early breaks to actors and actresses like Al Pacino and Demi Moore, directors like Steven Spielberg and Todd Haynes, and writers like Aaron Sorkin. These legends may never have become known if not for their producers' behind-the-scenes insight and ability to recognize talent. Interviewees include David Brown (Jaws, A Few Good Men), Martin Richards (Chicago, The Shining), Barbara Broccoli and Michael G. Wilson (Goldeneye, Die Another Day), Dino DeLaurentiis (La Strada, Hannibal), Michael Phillips (Taxi Driver, The Sting), Martin Bregman (Serpico, Scarface), Lauren Shuler Donner (You've Got Mail, X-Men), Robert Chartoff (Rocky, Raging Bull), Mace Neufeld (The Hunt for Red October, Patriot Games), Paula Wagner (Vanilla Sky, Mission: Impossible), and many, many more!
Budding filmmakers, television producers, directors, writers, and students get a crash course on the independent production scene in this riveting account of the business and its key players. Now revised to reflect the latest production trends in the entertainment industry, this book is packed with never-before-revealed secrets about the challenging and exciting role producers play in bringing a film or television pilot to the screen, told by two veteran, award-winning producers. Readers will learn what skills and traits they need to succeed as the mastermind behind an independent production, including insider tips on how to assemble and manage a talented ensemble of writers, directors, actors, and crew-members. The book also includes up-to-date contact information for film festivals and foreign distributors, as well as sample budgets, film partnership proposals, and other forms. Aspiring film and television artists will find the practical understanding and insight vital to success.
When it comes to Hollywood, Christians too quickly wash their hands of popular culture and leave this immensely influential media to unbelievers. In truth, the industry is listening. There is a church in Hollywood, but too often their work is unrecognized. Behind the Screen offers a glimpse of Hollywood insiders who, through their jobs on movie sets, behind TV shows, and in radio broadcasts, work together to give glory to God. With contributions from the writers and producers of such productions as Joan of Arcadia, Mission Impossible, Batman Forever, That '70s Show, and others, believers everywhere are encouraged to join with the church in Hollywood and do their part in closing the gap between Christianity and culture.
(Limelight). A Killer Life is a book about just that: the killer life of an alternative film producer who's forged her own path of success between the disparate pillars of art and commerce. Strong, steady, creative, loyal, funny, artistic, and doggedly determined to produce films that have meaning and substance and staying power in the pantheon of great cinema, Christine Vachon, a member of the Academy and born and bred on the realistic, unforgiving streets of New York City, is one of the most important people working behind the scenes in the film industry today. How did she get there? Why do directors love her? What does it take to produce great movies? What happened on the set of Kids ? These answers and more are in her book!
This is a moving, star-filled account of one of Hollywood’s true golden ages as told by a man in the middle of it all. Walter Mirisch’s company has produced some of the most entertaining and enduring classics in film history, including West Side Story, Some Like It Hot, In the Heat of the Night, and The Magnificent Seven. His work has led to 87 Academy Award nominations and 28 Oscars. Richly illustrated with rare photographs from his personal collection, I Thought We Were Making Movies, Not History reveals Mirisch’s own experience of Hollywood and tells the stories of the stars—emerging and established—who appeared in his films, including Natalie Wood, John Wayne, Peter Sellers, Sidney Poitier, Steve McQueen, Marilyn Monroe, and many others. With hard-won insight and gentle humor, Mirisch recounts how he witnessed the end of the studio system, the development of independent production, and the rise and fall of some of Hollywood’s most gifted (and notorious) cultural icons. A producer with a passion for creative excellence, he offers insights into his innovative filmmaking process, revealing a rare ingenuity for placating the demands of auteur directors, weak-kneed studio executives, and troubled screen sirens. From his early start as a movie theater usher to the presentation of such masterpieces as The Apartment, Fiddler on the Roof, and The Great Escape, Mirisch tells the inspiring life story of his climb to the highest echelon of the American film industry. This book assures Mirisch’s legacy—as Elmore Leonard puts it—as “one of the good guys.” Best Books for Special Interests, selected by the American Association of School Librarians, and Best Books for General Audiences, selected by the Public Library Association
A shockingly candid, hilarious account of how two young producers broke into the Hollywood studio system--and survived the shark-eat-shark insanity to become Hollywood players. Thousands of people dream about making it big in Hollywood, but almost all of them end up being eaten alive. When aspiring producer Jane Hamsher and her madman partner Don Murphy set up shop in Jane's dining room after graduating from film school, they were too naive to know that people like themselves--far removed from the Porsche-driving studio elite--should never succeed in the movie business. Then Jane and Don stumbled upon a script for a film written by a geeky filmmaker-wannabe named Quentin Tarantino; it was called "Natural Born Killers, and they liked it so much they optioned it for the bargain price of $10,000. But, suddenly, after "Reservoir Dogs turned Tarantino into an overnight sensation, he and every major studio in town decided they wanted control of the script, pitting Jane and Don up against some of the meanest, toughest players in Hollywood. This was only the beginning of their two-year roller-coaster ride through the ruthless world of studio pitbulls, idiotic film crew leeches, and unprecedented butt-kissing and back-stabbing. When Oliver Stone became hot to direct "NBK, Jane and Don could hardly believe their luck --but before they knew it, they found themselves enrolled in the "Oliver Stone School of Filmmaking," a maddening and mind-altering experience, even before the drugs, money, and fame. Throw Robert Downey Jr., Woody Harrelson, Juliette Lewis, and a whole cast of outrageous characters into the picture and you've got not only the makings of a hit movie but a Hollywoodjoyride unlike any other. From the script meetings to the movie set to the marketing and distribution process, "Killer Instinct takes you behind the scenes and provides an insider's look at the "New Hollywood"--told by one who learned how to survive it the hard way. It exposes how deals are really struck and stars are picked, and how the balance of power in Hollywood now favors the Quentin Tarantinos of the world who can add the "indie" cachet to big-budget monsters. Fresh, witty, and irreverent, "Killer Instinct provides an unprecedented look inside this wild and irresistible industry.
Go behind the scenes with the producer of Father of the Bride to learn all the skills necessary to be a top Hollywood producer As former co-president of Dolly Parton's production company, Sandollar, and as a successful independent producer, Carol Baum is an expert in the art of film production. Creative Producing provides a crash course in the frequently misunderstood producer's role and the many skills needed to survive and thrive in Hollywood. Readers receive a master class in production––from pitching, script development, and packaging, to working with stars, directors, and difficult executives. Enhanced with behind-the-scenes stories from Baum's illustrious career, Creative Producing offers an intimate look behind the Hollywood curtain to give film students, cinephiles, aspiring executives, and industry insiders a must-have guide to understanding film development from successful pitch to hit picture.
This is the second volume of the widely acclaimed Art of the Cut book published in 2017. This follow-up text expands on its predecessor with wisdom from more than 360 interviews with the world’s best editors (including nearly every Oscar winner from the last 30 years). Because editing is a highly subjective art form, and one that is critical to the success of motion picture storytelling, it requires side-by-side comparisons of the many techniques and solutions used by a wide range of editors from around the world. That is why this book compares and contrasts methodologies from a wide array of diverse voices and organizes that information so that it is easily digested and understood. There is no one way to approach editorial problems, so this book allows readers to see multiple solutions from multiple editors. The interviews contained within are carefully curated into topics that are most important to film editors and those who aspire to become film editors. The questions asked, and the organization of the book, are not merely an academic or theoretical view of the art of editing but rather the practical advice and methodologies of actual working film and TV editors, bringing benefits to both students and professional readers. The book is supplemented by a collection of downloadable online exclusive chapters, which cover additional topics ranging from Choosing the Project to VFX. In addition to the supplementary chapters, access to the full-color, full-resolution images printed in the book—and other exclusive images—is included.
