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Thursday, June 26, 2014

How to Make it in Hollywood

How to Make It in Hollywood: The Inside StoryHow to Make It in Hollywood: The Inside Story by Rick Friedberg
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

I received a free copy from the author in exchange for this review.

When I read this book, I thought of a commercial from a few years ago. I don't remember the product. It showed a group of studio execs sitting around a conference table talking about a slug movie. They had everything ready to go--the posters, the toys, the kids' meals, the music video--everything. At the end, the studio head says, "What about a script?" One of the other execs says, "We'll have one hammered out by Friday." That's the state of the movie business these days. It's a deal before it's a movie. The author knows this all too well. He's the director of Spy Hard, a spy movie spoof starring Leslie Nielsen of Airplane! fame. (I haven't seen the movie, so I'm not going to comment on it.) He describes the trials and tribulations he went through in getting the movie made, and other movies and TV shows he made. He's an anomaly in Hollywood--same house, same wife, same phone number for over 30 years. The chapter titles are very descriptive. Chapter 2 is If you want a career in show business, be determined to the point of obsession. The whole book reminds me of that song from Richard Marx back in the 1980s. "It don't mean nothin' till you sign it on the dotted line." The corollary to that is read the contract very carefully. Good book for anyone who wants to know about going into the movie business, and then decides to do it anyway.

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