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92 reviews for:
Adventures in the Screen Trade: A Personal View of Hollywood and Screenwriting
William Goldman
4.11 AVERAGE
92 reviews for:
Adventures in the Screen Trade: A Personal View of Hollywood and Screenwriting
William Goldman
4.11 AVERAGE
Will read again at another time, hopefully more consistently. However, I feel this is a must-read for those interested in entering the film scene, writer or no. It's not a how-to book on screenwriting, but rather an experiential account of the film industry from a screenwriter's perspective.
Also, it's William Goldman. C'mon, the dude's a brilliant writer.
Also, it's William Goldman. C'mon, the dude's a brilliant writer.
funny
informative
medium-paced
I did not finish this book. It was interesting but I was too removed from the movies and stars that he was talking about as I rarely watch movies from before the 1980s.
Charming and interesting with the requisite gossip, but man was it deflating to reach the point where he shows off full screenplays (Butch and Da Vinci) only to find them suffocating. The way Goldman writes out the shots is way too prescriptive to make for an pleasant read, and frankly tries to do something more in the domain of the director.
It's an interesting look at Hollywood, but it's really outdated now. Business models in Hollywood and the current list of celebrities are quite different from what's discussed in this book. Some of the information is timeless, sure, but this book isn't as interesting to me because he spends a lot of time talking about older movie stars like Humphrey Bogart and Sam Peckinpah.
I don’t know how practical most of the advice in this book is, as it was published in 1982. Though I’m sure the politics of Hollywood are, in many ways, much the same today as they were in the ‘80s or the ‘40s, for that matter. Which is fine, because Goldman is at his curmudgeonly best when he’s in tea-spilling, tell-all mode. Certainly, he is a great writer - Butch Cassidy, Marathon Man, All the President’s Men, etc. But his insights into craft and process are a hodgepodge that never quite amount to more than the sum of their parts. Still, a fun read that definitely feels like a look behind the curtain into a bygone era.
informative
medium-paced
A charming and educational autobiography that’s a must read for any aspiring screenwriter
From the man who wrote: The Princess Bride, All the President's Men, Butch Cassidy and more, "Adventures in the Screen Trade" is a very funny and engaging guide/memoir about the Hollywood Screenwriting Trade.
This book is an interesting patchwork of chapters, and jumps around a lot. You really feel like you're out to dinner with Goldman and he is just dazzling you with hilarious anecdotes about Robert Redford and keen insights into the mind of movie execs. Goldman possesses a lively, conversational voice, opinionated yet down to earth. You can hear the Brooklyn in his writing (or what I as a Canadian imagine Brooklyn sounds like) and sense his sheer passion for movies.
I love how he constantly vacillates between ridiculing movie stars for their ego, but also lionizing them for their sheer presence and charisma. He is fascinated by movie stars above all else, and obsessively analyzes what gives them their ineffable quality.
This book also contains a very reader friendly version of his Butch Cassidy screenplay.
This book is an interesting patchwork of chapters, and jumps around a lot. You really feel like you're out to dinner with Goldman and he is just dazzling you with hilarious anecdotes about Robert Redford and keen insights into the mind of movie execs. Goldman possesses a lively, conversational voice, opinionated yet down to earth. You can hear the Brooklyn in his writing (or what I as a Canadian imagine Brooklyn sounds like) and sense his sheer passion for movies.
I love how he constantly vacillates between ridiculing movie stars for their ego, but also lionizing them for their sheer presence and charisma. He is fascinated by movie stars above all else, and obsessively analyzes what gives them their ineffable quality.
This book also contains a very reader friendly version of his Butch Cassidy screenplay.
Goldman, William. Adventures in the Screen Trade. Grand Central, 1983.
William Goldman was the screenwriter for many of my favorite movies, from Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid, to All the President’s Men to Princess Bride (which, sadly, had not been made when the book was published). This memoir lets us know how he went about his work. His strength as a writer is an unwavering sense of where the backbone of a story lies, so his movies don’t get off track as frequently as many others. Most surprisingly, we learn how much he hated working on All the President’s Men because there were divas wherever he turned, from Robert Redford to Woodward and Bernstein themselves. Goldman takes us through the elements of a screenplay and provides insight into the important and ambiguous role of the writer in the movie-making process. Highly recommended.
William Goldman was the screenwriter for many of my favorite movies, from Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid, to All the President’s Men to Princess Bride (which, sadly, had not been made when the book was published). This memoir lets us know how he went about his work. His strength as a writer is an unwavering sense of where the backbone of a story lies, so his movies don’t get off track as frequently as many others. Most surprisingly, we learn how much he hated working on All the President’s Men because there were divas wherever he turned, from Robert Redford to Woodward and Bernstein themselves. Goldman takes us through the elements of a screenplay and provides insight into the important and ambiguous role of the writer in the movie-making process. Highly recommended.