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Adventures in the Screen Trade: A Personal View of Hollywood and Screenwriting
No one knows the writer's Hollywood more intimately than William Goldman. Two-time Academy Award-winning screenwriter and the bestselling author of Marathon Man, Tinsel, Boys and Girls Together, and other novels, Goldman now takes you into Hollywood's inner sanctums...on and behind the scenes for Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid, All the President's Men, and other films...into the plush offices of Hollywood producers...into the working lives of acting greats such as Redford, Olivier, Newman, and Hoffman...and into his own professional experiences and creative thought processes in the crafting of screenplays. You get a firsthand look at why and how films get made and what elements make a good screenplay. Says columnist Liz Smith, "You'll be fascinated.
608 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 1983
About the author
William Goldman
79 books2,530 followersGoldman grew up in a Jewish family in Highland Park, Illinois, a Chicago suburb, and obtained a BA degree at Oberlin College in 1952 and an MA degree at Columbia University in 1956.His brother was the late James Goldman, author and playwright.
William Goldman had published five novels and had three plays produced on Broadway before he began to write screenplays. Several of his novels he later used as the foundation for his screenplays.
In the 1980s he wrote a series of memoirs looking at his professional life on Broadway and in Hollywood (in one of these he famously remarked that "Nobody knows anything"). He then returned to writing novels. He then adapted his novel The Princess Bride to the screen, which marked his re-entry into screenwriting.
Goldman won two Academy Awards: an Academy Award for Writing Original Screenplay for Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid, and an Academy Award for Writing Adapted Screenplay for All the President's Men. He also won two Edgar Awards, from the Mystery Writers of America, for Best Motion Picture Screenplay: for Harper in 1967, and for Magic (adapted from his own 1976 novel) in 1979.
Goldman died in New York City on November 16, 2018, due to complications from colon cancer and pneumonia. He was eighty-seven years old.
William Goldman had published five novels and had three plays produced on Broadway before he began to write screenplays. Several of his novels he later used as the foundation for his screenplays.
In the 1980s he wrote a series of memoirs looking at his professional life on Broadway and in Hollywood (in one of these he famously remarked that "Nobody knows anything"). He then returned to writing novels. He then adapted his novel The Princess Bride to the screen, which marked his re-entry into screenwriting.
Goldman won two Academy Awards: an Academy Award for Writing Original Screenplay for Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid, and an Academy Award for Writing Adapted Screenplay for All the President's Men. He also won two Edgar Awards, from the Mystery Writers of America, for Best Motion Picture Screenplay: for Harper in 1967, and for Magic (adapted from his own 1976 novel) in 1979.
Goldman died in New York City on November 16, 2018, due to complications from colon cancer and pneumonia. He was eighty-seven years old.
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June 17, 2020
Adventures in the Screen Trade: A Personal View of Hollywood and Screenwriting, William Goldman
Adventures in the Screen Trade is a book about Hollywood written in 1983 by American novelist and screenwriter William Goldman. The title is a parody of Dylan Thomas's Adventures in the Skin Trade.
Abstracts: No one knows the writer's Hollywood more intimately than William Goldman. Two-time Academy Award-winning screenwriter and the bestselling author of Marathon Man, Tinsel, Boys and Girls Together, and other novels, Goldman now takes you into Hollywood's inner sanctums...on and behind the scenes for Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid, All the President's Men, and other films...into the plush offices of Hollywood producers...into the working lives of acting greats such as Redford, Olivier, Newman, and Hoffman...and into his own professional experiences and creative thought processes in the crafting of screenplays. You get a firsthand look at why and how films get made and what elements make a good screenplay.
تاریخ نخستین خوانش: روز شانزدهم ماه مارس سال 2004 میلادی
عنوان: روند اقتباس از دیدگاه یک فیلمنامه نویس؛ اثر وی‍ل‍ی‍ام گ‍ل‍دم‍ن؛ مت‍رج‍م ع‍ب‍اس اک‍ب‍ری؛ نشر ته‍ران، س‍روش (ان‍ت‍ش‍ارات ص‍دا و س‍ی‍م‍ا)، 1377، در 136ص، شابک 9644351797؛ موضوع فیلمنامه ن‍وی‍س‍ی؛ س‍ی‍ن‍م‍ا - ص‍ن‍ع‍ت - ای‍الات م‍ت‍ح‍ده؛ هالیوود (لوس آنجلس، کالیفرنیا) - سده 20م
کتاب درباره ی روند تبدیل یک «قطعه داستانی»، به یک «فیلمنامه» است؛ متن آغازین کتاب، مربوط به یک قطعه داستانی، درباره ی آرایشگری به نام «داوینچی» است، که با توجه به آن قطعه، نویسنده مباحثی همچون «موضوع داستان»، «نقش زمان و مکان»، «شخصیت‌ها و نقاط اتکا» ـ که فیلمنامه نویس در حین اقتباس با آن مواجه می‌شود ـ را مطرح میکند، وی سپس متن فیلمنامه ای را که از داستان «داوینچی» تهیه شده، عرضه کرده، در پایان دیدگاه‌های برخی از همکاران نویسنده را، اعم از «طراح صحنه»، «فیلم‌بردار»، «تدوین‌گر»، «آهنگ‌ساز» و «کارگردان» را، در خصوص اعمال تغییرات لازم، برای بهبود فیلمنامه گوشزد میکند
تاریخ بهنگام رسانی 27/03/1399هجری خورشیدی؛ ا. شربیانی
Adventures in the Screen Trade is a book about Hollywood written in 1983 by American novelist and screenwriter William Goldman. The title is a parody of Dylan Thomas's Adventures in the Skin Trade.
Abstracts: No one knows the writer's Hollywood more intimately than William Goldman. Two-time Academy Award-winning screenwriter and the bestselling author of Marathon Man, Tinsel, Boys and Girls Together, and other novels, Goldman now takes you into Hollywood's inner sanctums...on and behind the scenes for Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid, All the President's Men, and other films...into the plush offices of Hollywood producers...into the working lives of acting greats such as Redford, Olivier, Newman, and Hoffman...and into his own professional experiences and creative thought processes in the crafting of screenplays. You get a firsthand look at why and how films get made and what elements make a good screenplay.
تاریخ نخستین خوانش: روز شانزدهم ماه مارس سال 2004 میلادی
عنوان: روند اقتباس از دیدگاه یک فیلمنامه نویس؛ اثر وی‍ل‍ی‍ام گ‍ل‍دم‍ن؛ مت‍رج‍م ع‍ب‍اس اک‍ب‍ری؛ نشر ته‍ران، س‍روش (ان‍ت‍ش‍ارات ص‍دا و س‍ی‍م‍ا)، 1377، در 136ص، شابک 9644351797؛ موضوع فیلمنامه ن‍وی‍س‍ی؛ س‍ی‍ن‍م‍ا - ص‍ن‍ع‍ت - ای‍الات م‍ت‍ح‍ده؛ هالیوود (لوس آنجلس، کالیفرنیا) - سده 20م
کتاب درباره ی روند تبدیل یک «قطعه داستانی»، به یک «فیلمنامه» است؛ متن آغازین کتاب، مربوط به یک قطعه داستانی، درباره ی آرایشگری به نام «داوینچی» است، که با توجه به آن قطعه، نویسنده مباحثی همچون «موضوع داستان»، «نقش زمان و مکان»، «شخصیت‌ها و نقاط اتکا» ـ که فیلمنامه نویس در حین اقتباس با آن مواجه می‌شود ـ را مطرح میکند، وی سپس متن فیلمنامه ای را که از داستان «داوینچی» تهیه شده، عرضه کرده، در پایان دیدگاه‌های برخی از همکاران نویسنده را، اعم از «طراح صحنه»، «فیلم‌بردار»، «تدوین‌گر»، «آهنگ‌ساز» و «کارگردان» را، در خصوص اعمال تغییرات لازم، برای بهبود فیلمنامه گوشزد میکند
تاریخ بهنگام رسانی 27/03/1399هجری خورشیدی؛ ا. شربیانی
February 4, 2016
dishy, delicious, and—shockingly—very, very useful.
a couple years back i thought i'd move to hollywood and write movies for a living.
i love movies.
i write good.
what could go wrong?
everything. everything could go wrong.
because being a screenwriter is exactly like john august describes—except with a simply staggering amount of asslicking and a dash of despair he's too genteel to mention.
the stories, people... the stories. actors are appalling people—and so are studio execs.
recommended.
a couple years back i thought i'd move to hollywood and write movies for a living.
i love movies.
i write good.
what could go wrong?
everything. everything could go wrong.
because being a screenwriter is exactly like john august describes—except with a simply staggering amount of asslicking and a dash of despair he's too genteel to mention.
the stories, people... the stories. actors are appalling people—and so are studio execs.
recommended.
July 22, 2008
Nobody Knows Anything.
Goldman could almost have saved us the 400-pages of what is still one of the most insightful books about the movie-industry, and just printed his Law on a single page at the front.
But then we'd have missed a glorious roller-coaster ride through Tinseltown stuffed to the gills with anecdotes of such toe-curling detail that you believe every word.
And even now, 25 years later, it still all rings true. Read it, and you too might understand how lucky we are to get the occasional "great" movie. Because it's quite simple:
Nobody Knows Anything.
Goldman could almost have saved us the 400-pages of what is still one of the most insightful books about the movie-industry, and just printed his Law on a single page at the front.
But then we'd have missed a glorious roller-coaster ride through Tinseltown stuffed to the gills with anecdotes of such toe-curling detail that you believe every word.
And even now, 25 years later, it still all rings true. Read it, and you too might understand how lucky we are to get the occasional "great" movie. Because it's quite simple:
Nobody Knows Anything.
June 1, 2012
Man, William Goldman makes himself out to be a real asshole. He's so irritating, in fact, that after a two-week break away from Adventures in the Screen Trade I cashed in with over 100 pages left, because I couldn't stand the thought of going back to have him bitch at me like my worst film school instructors used to, bitter that a lack of work forced them into talking about their job instead of doing it.
Goldman launches his first fart rocket within the opening 20 pages, tattling four anecdotes to illustrate that movie stars are bad people. He mentions that, out of courtesy, he's only naming two of the actors in question because some of them have recently died. But then he goes on to redact the identities of the deadies, while going right ahead and smearing the two performers who still have careers left to ruin.
That strange blend of bitterness and false modesty permeates the rest of this farrago of a -- what is it, a memoir? A handbook? A two-inch thick advance check? Whatever it is, it's macramed into a few dozen short sections seemingly based on the order of the manuscript pages after a passing bus blew them across Goldman's parquet floor. Each of those section manages to take a swipe at individuals, groups, or imagined coteries of robed gnomes William perceives of having wronged him, the targeted loogies flying from behind a shield forged of "Oh well, what do I know? I'm just a regular guy who fell into a wacky business full of crazy Hollywood types [that also made me rich and famous and got me a book deal to write all about it, but trust me I'm just like you]."
BIll's such a regular guy that, when he came to LA for his first movie biz meeting, he couldn't stand the thought of being picked up at the airport by a chauffeur-driven car and insisted on riding up in front with driver, because that's what regular guys like him and me and you do. I assume that Goldman, so proud of his New York City heritage, had never been in a cab before. Nor realized that lots of regular guys dream of being in a position where rich people send expensive cars to drive them around. But Will shares that story and others like it throughout the book to casually note what a humble, normal person he is, despite the fact that humble, normal people avoid constantly pointing out how humble they are in their books published by Time Warner.
Anyway, Goldman goes on to cheerfully disparage studio execs, actors, directors, actors, audiences, and also actors. He finds page space to belittle the auteur theory and anyone who subscribes to it, insisting that all movies are a team effort, while still blaming his failed movies on everybody else that worked on them. Billy also loves to explain other people's decisions and character traits he dislikes by ascribing thought processes to them, while managing to ignore the fact that he's making shit up out of boogers and ego. Dustin Hoffman refused a scene in Marathon Man that required his character to keep a flashlight in his nightstand, Goldman insists, because Dustin thought it would make him look weak on screen, and every male movie star, deep down, will never allow himself to look weak on screen. I'm curious as to what Goldman thought of Hoffman's Oscar-winning performance six years later as an almost helpless savant in Rain Man.
Between all the self-aggrandizing and payback that Willy skillfully disguises as friendly banter, he throws in some screenwriting advice. As a screenwriter myself, I can say that some of it's quite good, while some is just objectively crappy. He devotes a section to subtext but doesn't seem to have a clear idea of the difference between subtext and basic cinematic storytelling techniques. He writes a lousy four-page movie opening to demonstrate how to write a lousy movie opening and then, of all the scene's lousy features, pinpoints as lousy the only reasonably acceptable one.
Luckily I doubt many writers ever end up taking much advice from Adventures in the Screen Trade, because the book isn't written for them. Actually, I have no idea who it's written for. I can't imagine that the same readers who want mouthfuls of dirt about starlets having affairs with directors or a prison guard's testimony that his wife would crawl on her knees just for a chance to fuck Robert Redford also want to read a glossary of screenplay slug lines or the entire script for Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid. But if you're interested in the movie industry and are willing to weed through 600 pages (and twice as many ellipses), it's sometimes fun to watch the spray of Goldman's vindictive bloodletting. Too bad he leaves you to clean up the mess.
Goldman launches his first fart rocket within the opening 20 pages, tattling four anecdotes to illustrate that movie stars are bad people. He mentions that, out of courtesy, he's only naming two of the actors in question because some of them have recently died. But then he goes on to redact the identities of the deadies, while going right ahead and smearing the two performers who still have careers left to ruin.
That strange blend of bitterness and false modesty permeates the rest of this farrago of a -- what is it, a memoir? A handbook? A two-inch thick advance check? Whatever it is, it's macramed into a few dozen short sections seemingly based on the order of the manuscript pages after a passing bus blew them across Goldman's parquet floor. Each of those section manages to take a swipe at individuals, groups, or imagined coteries of robed gnomes William perceives of having wronged him, the targeted loogies flying from behind a shield forged of "Oh well, what do I know? I'm just a regular guy who fell into a wacky business full of crazy Hollywood types [that also made me rich and famous and got me a book deal to write all about it, but trust me I'm just like you]."
BIll's such a regular guy that, when he came to LA for his first movie biz meeting, he couldn't stand the thought of being picked up at the airport by a chauffeur-driven car and insisted on riding up in front with driver, because that's what regular guys like him and me and you do. I assume that Goldman, so proud of his New York City heritage, had never been in a cab before. Nor realized that lots of regular guys dream of being in a position where rich people send expensive cars to drive them around. But Will shares that story and others like it throughout the book to casually note what a humble, normal person he is, despite the fact that humble, normal people avoid constantly pointing out how humble they are in their books published by Time Warner.
Anyway, Goldman goes on to cheerfully disparage studio execs, actors, directors, actors, audiences, and also actors. He finds page space to belittle the auteur theory and anyone who subscribes to it, insisting that all movies are a team effort, while still blaming his failed movies on everybody else that worked on them. Billy also loves to explain other people's decisions and character traits he dislikes by ascribing thought processes to them, while managing to ignore the fact that he's making shit up out of boogers and ego. Dustin Hoffman refused a scene in Marathon Man that required his character to keep a flashlight in his nightstand, Goldman insists, because Dustin thought it would make him look weak on screen, and every male movie star, deep down, will never allow himself to look weak on screen. I'm curious as to what Goldman thought of Hoffman's Oscar-winning performance six years later as an almost helpless savant in Rain Man.
Between all the self-aggrandizing and payback that Willy skillfully disguises as friendly banter, he throws in some screenwriting advice. As a screenwriter myself, I can say that some of it's quite good, while some is just objectively crappy. He devotes a section to subtext but doesn't seem to have a clear idea of the difference between subtext and basic cinematic storytelling techniques. He writes a lousy four-page movie opening to demonstrate how to write a lousy movie opening and then, of all the scene's lousy features, pinpoints as lousy the only reasonably acceptable one.
Luckily I doubt many writers ever end up taking much advice from Adventures in the Screen Trade, because the book isn't written for them. Actually, I have no idea who it's written for. I can't imagine that the same readers who want mouthfuls of dirt about starlets having affairs with directors or a prison guard's testimony that his wife would crawl on her knees just for a chance to fuck Robert Redford also want to read a glossary of screenplay slug lines or the entire script for Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid. But if you're interested in the movie industry and are willing to weed through 600 pages (and twice as many ellipses), it's sometimes fun to watch the spray of Goldman's vindictive bloodletting. Too bad he leaves you to clean up the mess.
August 18, 2020
Goldman is one of the best storytellers this country has produced, which may seem a bold claim to some, but it happens to be true. His most famous axiom, that “nobody knows anything” is one of those things that grow truer with time and experience. Goldman was referring to success in the movie business, the idea being that when something worked and was a hit, it just kind of worked and nobody really knew why, though everyone with a hand in the production would claim otherwise.
This collection of anecdotes, advice, and essays is one of the most engaging pieces of writing that I’ve read. Just an old pro relating his experiences and humbly passing on what he knows. There is a great deal of wisdom to be found in this book. I suppose some could find his tone curmudgeonly, but I like to think of it as old school and iconoclastic, he’s going to tell you how he sees things and not kiss anyone's ass along the way.
“Over the years I have met and worked with a dozen prize-winning American directors, and there is not one whose “philosophy” or “worldview” remotely interests me. The total amount of what they have to “say” cannot cover the bottom of even a small teacup.” Ha! The book is filled with that kind of thing. It's not mean, just honest.
Adventures is up there with Mamet’s Three Uses of the Knife and King’s On writing as far as useful books to would-be writers and storytellers.
This collection of anecdotes, advice, and essays is one of the most engaging pieces of writing that I’ve read. Just an old pro relating his experiences and humbly passing on what he knows. There is a great deal of wisdom to be found in this book. I suppose some could find his tone curmudgeonly, but I like to think of it as old school and iconoclastic, he’s going to tell you how he sees things and not kiss anyone's ass along the way.
“Over the years I have met and worked with a dozen prize-winning American directors, and there is not one whose “philosophy” or “worldview” remotely interests me. The total amount of what they have to “say” cannot cover the bottom of even a small teacup.” Ha! The book is filled with that kind of thing. It's not mean, just honest.
Adventures is up there with Mamet’s Three Uses of the Knife and King’s On writing as far as useful books to would-be writers and storytellers.
June 12, 2018
We've been listening to As You Wish: Inconceivable Tales from the Making of The Princess Bride and it got me thinking that I hadn't read this book in many years, though I loved it the first time. So I bought a copy and dipped into it over the course of four or five days. Goldman's insider's approach is still compelling, though I wondered how much of what he says about how Hollywood works is still true 36 years later. It's also interesting to note some of what he failed to predict, from his assumption that E.T. The Extraterrestrial would win the Academy Award for Best Picture (at the time, Gandhi wasn't out) to his casual comments about women in action movies (i.e. that they slow a movie down--he had no concept of women someday starring in action films). However, the inclusion of the screenplay for Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid makes the book even more valuable, especially since he also analyzes the screenplay and what works and what doesn't. The only thing that would make this book better, in my opinion, is if he'd written it five years later--so he could discuss The Princess Bride.
December 6, 2008
This is perhaps the best book about screenwriting and the film business ever written.
Oscar winner William Goldman, who wrote such classic films as HARPER, BUTCH CASSIDY AND THE SUNDANCE KID, MARATHON MAN and ALL THE PRESIDENT'S MEN shares his unique, often difficult, experiences working with top directors, producers and stars like Paul Newman, Robert Redford, Dustin Hoffman and Laurence Olivier.
If survival in the Hollywood film industry is possible, then there is no better "survival guide" than this book, because Goldman tells it like it is. He pulls no punches.
According to Goldman, the single most important fact in the movie industry is that "Nobody Knows Anything".
Most of the book's second-half is a primer on how to write a successful screenplay.
What does Goldman feel is the most important lesson to be learned about writing for films?
1. "Screenplays Are Structure"
2. You protect the "spine" of that structure "to the death".
If you want to work (and succeed) in Hollywood, then this is a book that you must carry around with you...like a Bible.
Oscar winner William Goldman, who wrote such classic films as HARPER, BUTCH CASSIDY AND THE SUNDANCE KID, MARATHON MAN and ALL THE PRESIDENT'S MEN shares his unique, often difficult, experiences working with top directors, producers and stars like Paul Newman, Robert Redford, Dustin Hoffman and Laurence Olivier.
If survival in the Hollywood film industry is possible, then there is no better "survival guide" than this book, because Goldman tells it like it is. He pulls no punches.
According to Goldman, the single most important fact in the movie industry is that "Nobody Knows Anything".
Most of the book's second-half is a primer on how to write a successful screenplay.
What does Goldman feel is the most important lesson to be learned about writing for films?
1. "Screenplays Are Structure"
2. You protect the "spine" of that structure "to the death".
If you want to work (and succeed) in Hollywood, then this is a book that you must carry around with you...like a Bible.
December 2, 2018
The recent sad news of the death of William Goldman reminded me of an episode (October 2017) of the wonderful Backlisted Podcast about his book Adventures in the Screen Trade. What better way to honour the great man's memory than by reading this book?
As a successful screenwriter and novelist, William Goldman was perfectly placed to write one of the definitive insider accounts of Hollywood. If you like cinema then this is a fascinating read. Although written in 1983, with many films he cites from this era, I am sure the process is little changed.
Adventures in the Screen Trade is a sparkling memoir and every bit as entertaining as some of the landmark films he helped create (including Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid, All the President's Men, and Marathon Man).
A great mix of gossip, advice, and insight, Adventures in the Screen Trade remains a complete delight for cineastes - and a valuable trove of advice for anyone hoping to make a career as a screenwriter.
4/5
As a successful screenwriter and novelist, William Goldman was perfectly placed to write one of the definitive insider accounts of Hollywood. If you like cinema then this is a fascinating read. Although written in 1983, with many films he cites from this era, I am sure the process is little changed.
Adventures in the Screen Trade is a sparkling memoir and every bit as entertaining as some of the landmark films he helped create (including Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid, All the President's Men, and Marathon Man).
A great mix of gossip, advice, and insight, Adventures in the Screen Trade remains a complete delight for cineastes - and a valuable trove of advice for anyone hoping to make a career as a screenwriter.
4/5
March 18, 2013
This is a true insider's look at the screenwriting business (from the writer of All the President's Men, Marathon Man and – interestingly, the novel of Princess Bride) and interesting for anyone who writes or likes movies because - yes, there are fun gossipy asides about Hollywood (Robert Redford had ego!), but it's focus is on what makes a good story and how to write one that sells as a screenplay. They're not always the same thing.
Two big bonuses of this book: Goldman provides his entire screenplay of Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid and then analyzes what worked and what didn't. He also provides a short story of his that was not optioned by Hollywood. He translates it into a screenplay for this book and explains the choices he has to make along the way: what characters to keep, what scenes to focus on etc…
He then solicits feedback from a suite of movie insiders: a director, editor, cinematographer, etc ... about the resulting work. They give fascinating and practical insights into what they think of this screenplay and what makes a movie work in general, sometimes contradicting one another. Whether you agree with them is another matter.
The only detractor is that the book was written in 1983 and the references to stars include: Robert Redford, Burt Reynolds, etc.. and feel dated, even though the insights into writing are not.
Two big bonuses of this book: Goldman provides his entire screenplay of Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid and then analyzes what worked and what didn't. He also provides a short story of his that was not optioned by Hollywood. He translates it into a screenplay for this book and explains the choices he has to make along the way: what characters to keep, what scenes to focus on etc…
He then solicits feedback from a suite of movie insiders: a director, editor, cinematographer, etc ... about the resulting work. They give fascinating and practical insights into what they think of this screenplay and what makes a movie work in general, sometimes contradicting one another. Whether you agree with them is another matter.
The only detractor is that the book was written in 1983 and the references to stars include: Robert Redford, Burt Reynolds, etc.. and feel dated, even though the insights into writing are not.
September 7, 2009
William Goldman is incredible. Prolifically incredible. In several genres. I read this book on 3-18-97 straight through. I know I did because I wrote this quotation:
"Nobody knows anything.
Again, for emphasis...
Nobody knows anything."
"Nobody knows anything.
Again, for emphasis...
Nobody knows anything."
December 14, 2012
I don't think I have much to say that hasn't been said repeatedly below but yes, this is an excellent behind-the-scenes look at the craft of screenwriting and yes, it's kind of crazy how well it holds up 30 years after it was written. I live in Los Angeles, in the heart of the filmmaking industry, and it seems all I ever hear about is how that industry is going down the toilet. Well, in this book Goldman also laments how the industry is going down the toilet, how they are making fewer and fewer movies, and so on... It would seem that Hollywood can always find something to worry about on the business side, no matter what era it's in. Perhaps any industry can.
This, for me as a struggling screenwriter, was perhaps the best takeaway from Adventures in the Screen Trade - that the biz is always hard, it's always going to be hard to break into it, and at a certain point you just need to shut up and write. Goldman never says that phrase exactly but his famous phrase, "nobody knows anything," says more than enough: all you can rely on is our own work, so try to make some good work and let the stuff you can't control take care of itself.
And there's a bunch of other good stuff and fun anecdotes as you already know, though those parts actually do feel a bit dated. Sure Butch Cassidy is a classic, but a lot of the films Goldman mentions have been long forgotten. Still he's an engaging storyteller no matter what the topic and he's not too precious about the craft, which is also awfully important to keep in mind for aspiring writers. If there's any profession where some perspective is required on your importance to the engine that pays you, it's screenwriting. Goldman has that perspective.
This, for me as a struggling screenwriter, was perhaps the best takeaway from Adventures in the Screen Trade - that the biz is always hard, it's always going to be hard to break into it, and at a certain point you just need to shut up and write. Goldman never says that phrase exactly but his famous phrase, "nobody knows anything," says more than enough: all you can rely on is our own work, so try to make some good work and let the stuff you can't control take care of itself.
And there's a bunch of other good stuff and fun anecdotes as you already know, though those parts actually do feel a bit dated. Sure Butch Cassidy is a classic, but a lot of the films Goldman mentions have been long forgotten. Still he's an engaging storyteller no matter what the topic and he's not too precious about the craft, which is also awfully important to keep in mind for aspiring writers. If there's any profession where some perspective is required on your importance to the engine that pays you, it's screenwriting. Goldman has that perspective.
January 13, 2022
Quiconque est sérieux à l'idée d'être scénariste se doit de lire cette Bible de Bill Goldman, scénariste de Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid, All the President's Men, The Princess Bride, etc.
Parce que c'est (une chance!) foutrement bien écrit, concis et très pratique sans donner de « trucs » enrubannés sensés faire de votre petit scénario de rien du tout un chef-d'œuvre digne de Steinbeck. Juste de la job sale mais passionnée, sans bullshit et plein d'humour.
Parce que c'est (une chance!) foutrement bien écrit, concis et très pratique sans donner de « trucs » enrubannés sensés faire de votre petit scénario de rien du tout un chef-d'œuvre digne de Steinbeck. Juste de la job sale mais passionnée, sans bullshit et plein d'humour.
February 7, 2017
It was an entertaining book, but it didn't know what it wanted to be. A primer on how to hustle as a screenwriter? Amusing anecdotes about the movies he's worked on? A script workshop for tourists and beginners?
Yes all of these. Good, but not great. It could have been split and expanded into two better books, imho.
For fans of Goldman: He's a good writer and an entertaining read.
Yes all of these. Good, but not great. It could have been split and expanded into two better books, imho.
For fans of Goldman: He's a good writer and an entertaining read.
August 13, 2024
4.5! Really great read partially about screenwriting and structure, but largely about the incredible amount of (very collective!) effort that goes into putting a movie together. There's lots that (as I understand) remain true about how "packages" (combos of scripts, actors, etc) form, sell, and break apart, and the general 'relay race' aspects of putting a movie together. I read the first part of this last summer and just recently finished the latter 2/3rds of it and enjoyed immensely. Some of the best insights come from Goldman running through a bunch of his own work (inc'l Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid!) and thew hole sequence at the end where he prints a short story, runs through how he thinks about making a screenplay, the screenplay, and notes from a director, cinematographer, production designer, etc afterwards. Perhaps most interesting to me here is a lens into how a lot of these creative decisions are made: Goldman frames this process as much more objective than I think I'd imagine, re "problems" in the script that can be solved in a variety of ways (which way, of course, determined by taste).
Anyways, lots of insight and really fun read, I broke this apart over awhile but tore through the beginning and tore through it again when I picked it up!
Anyways, lots of insight and really fun read, I broke this apart over awhile but tore through the beginning and tore through it again when I picked it up!
September 24, 2022
this is a nonfiction how-to-adapt-a-novel-to-a-screenplay memoir by a well-known screenwriter. (All the President’s’ Men, etc). I read it because one of my favorite authors read it when he had to do a screenplay of one of his novels. The author wrote the screenplay for Butch Cassidy and the Sundance kid. He talks a lot about Hollywood and there are some darling little stories about particular stars and directors, then he shows you the actual screenplay for the movie with directions to the actors etc., then he breaks down what is weak and strong about the screenplay. Towards the end he has you read a short story he wrote and then the screen play version. This became my bathroom book. A good read if you plan to write a screenplay but if not I would pass.
December 13, 2021
If you're interested in learning how to write screenplays then this is all you need.
May 17, 2018
One thing is clear from the beginning - Bill loves the movies. You would have to, I mean really really really have to, just to put yourself through the torture of writing for them, because that's the message that comes out of this again and again - prepare to be shat on. This is a gentle book; world weary, with a big heart. After detailing the vast amount of work it takes to bring a script all the way to the big screen, it's no wonder Goldman gets so angry at the Auteur theory. My only gripe about an otherwise insightful book is that the author is very hard on schlock horror b movies - a staple of my life for as long as I care to remember.
February 28, 2016
Added 7/22/08.
EDIT 4/7/13: VERY interesting and told in an engaging manner. I enjoyed this book.
William Goldman is the Hollywood screenwriter who wrote "The Princess Bride". Screenwriting is not an easy profession because it's filled with all kinds of frustrations and set-backs.
ADDENDUM - 2/27/16:
PS-The title of this book is a PUN on the title: "Adventures in the Skin Trade, a collection of stories by Dylan Thomas.
PPS-More about William Goldman from WIKI:
====================================
"WILLIAM GOLDMAN (born 1931) is an American novelist, playwright, and screenwriter. He came to prominence in the 1950s as a novelist, before turning to writing for film. He has won two Academy Awards for his screenplays, first for the western _Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid_ (1969) and again for _All the President's Men_ (1976), about journalists who broke the Watergate scandal of President Richard Nixon. Both films starred Robert Redford. His other notable works include his thriller novel Marathon Man (first published 1974) and comedy-fantasy novel, The Princess Bride (first published 1973), both of which Goldman adapted for film."
Goldman also wrote a series of memoirs about his professional life on Broadway and in Hollywood. [The first of these was this book, "ADVENTURES IN THE SCREEN TRADE".]
ABOVE IS FROM WIKI: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/William...
===================================
I also read: Goldman's book: "Which Lie Did I Tell?: More Adventures in the Screen Trade.
PPPS-Don't confuse this author, WILLIAM GOLDMAN, with the other author named WILLIAM GOLDING, who wrote: Lord of the Flies (1954).
EDIT 4/7/13: VERY interesting and told in an engaging manner. I enjoyed this book.
William Goldman is the Hollywood screenwriter who wrote "The Princess Bride". Screenwriting is not an easy profession because it's filled with all kinds of frustrations and set-backs.
ADDENDUM - 2/27/16:
PS-The title of this book is a PUN on the title: "Adventures in the Skin Trade, a collection of stories by Dylan Thomas.
PPS-More about William Goldman from WIKI:
====================================
"WILLIAM GOLDMAN (born 1931) is an American novelist, playwright, and screenwriter. He came to prominence in the 1950s as a novelist, before turning to writing for film. He has won two Academy Awards for his screenplays, first for the western _Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid_ (1969) and again for _All the President's Men_ (1976), about journalists who broke the Watergate scandal of President Richard Nixon. Both films starred Robert Redford. His other notable works include his thriller novel Marathon Man (first published 1974) and comedy-fantasy novel, The Princess Bride (first published 1973), both of which Goldman adapted for film."
Goldman also wrote a series of memoirs about his professional life on Broadway and in Hollywood. [The first of these was this book, "ADVENTURES IN THE SCREEN TRADE".]
ABOVE IS FROM WIKI: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/William...
===================================
I also read: Goldman's book: "Which Lie Did I Tell?: More Adventures in the Screen Trade.
PPPS-Don't confuse this author, WILLIAM GOLDMAN, with the other author named WILLIAM GOLDING, who wrote: Lord of the Flies (1954).
May 7, 2014
A glorious tour of the sausage factory with a guy who breeds champion hogs. That's the image that came to mind as I finished this funny, authentic look at the movie business by a celebrated screenwriter (and novelist). Bill Goldman is painfully frank about his struggles, his weaknesses, and the seamy underbelly of the business that has paid his bills for decades. Writing in the wake of the "Heaven's Gate" disaster which shook the confidence of almost everyone in Hollywood (1982), Goldman still manages to end the book on an upbeat and hopeful note. And it turns out he was mostly right about the future.
The last section of the book is a particularly helpful exercise where he takes one of his short stories, wrestles it into a screenplay, and then interviews a cinematographer, a production designer, an editor, a composer and a director about what they would do with his finished product. (The director's critique is withering, and hilarious.) He admits that those interviews were the first time in his career that he had spent more than five minutes alone speaking with any of those film professionals, with the exception of the director.
Writers tend to be a cloistered lot, and blinkered when it comes to the "business" of the movie business. "Adventures in the Screen Trade" is a non-threatening tonic for this ailment.
The last section of the book is a particularly helpful exercise where he takes one of his short stories, wrestles it into a screenplay, and then interviews a cinematographer, a production designer, an editor, a composer and a director about what they would do with his finished product. (The director's critique is withering, and hilarious.) He admits that those interviews were the first time in his career that he had spent more than five minutes alone speaking with any of those film professionals, with the exception of the director.
Writers tend to be a cloistered lot, and blinkered when it comes to the "business" of the movie business. "Adventures in the Screen Trade" is a non-threatening tonic for this ailment.
November 22, 2020
A delightful hodgepodge of Hollywood miscellany from the famed screenwriter William Goldman, who wrote Harper, Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid, All the President's Men, Marathon Man, A Bridge Too Far, and many other great movies. This book was originally published in 1983.
The book has three parts:
Part One: Hollywood Realities—Goldman's scathing take on the stars, studio executives, directors, agents, and producers of Hollywood.
Part Two: Adventures—Goldman's personal adventures in screenwriting.
Part Three: Da Vinci—A screenwriting workshop that takes one of Goldman's early short stories, adapts it into a screen treatment, and then runs it by colleagues on their thoughts on taking the script to production.
By far my favorite part in the book is Part Two. Nothing is more entertaining than reading about Bill Goldman in the trenches, trying his best to ensure that a movie he's working on will actually get finished. More often than not he succeeds, but sometimes insurmountable obstacles make failure a certainty.
Here’s Goldman’s legendary quote about Hollywood:
Goldman alleges that no one in Hollywood knows for certain what’s going to work with audiences. They don’t know when the movie’s starting to shoot, when it's in preview, or when it's finished. A movie’s success is pure guesswork. Unless you’re Joseph E. Levine, who was already $4 million in the black due to advance bookings for A Bridge Too Far before the movie even opened. Levine knew a few things.
Goldman shares many wonderful inside stories, and he settles some old scores. I came away from the book convinced that no one in Hollywood can be trusted, and everyone acts in their self interest, especially famous stars like Robert Redford and Dustin Hoffman. Sure, Goldman has some nice things to say about Paul Newman, Richard Attenborough, and Joseph E. Levine, but generally Hollywood is a nest of vipers.
Not surprisingly, Goldman is not a fan of the auteur theory, a notion promulgated by young French new wave critics (including Francois Truffaut and Jean-Luc Godard) in the Fifties asserting that the director is the author of the movie. In the U.S., despite the collaborative nature of movie production, the auteur theory continues to have a powerful influence on movie criticism. Sadly, Goldman believes that the auteur theory was responsible for the collapse of the career of Alfred Hitchcock.
The two movies Goldman is most proud of? The first, Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid, isn’t surprising. He worked on that script for eight years, and he won his first Academy Award for best original screenplay in 1970. But the second, A Bridge Too Far, is. Goldman writes that Bridge was probably his best experience making movies. I've got it on DVD, so I need to watch it again. I remember it had an all-star cast, and was one of the last epic World War II movies.
When discussing Butch Cassidy, Goldman humbly suggests that he's not that skilled at comedy. I disagree. In all of Goldman's movies, his humor—and his humanity—shines through, even in deadly serious movies such as All the President's Men. BTW, I was saddened to learn in this book that Goldman regrets his involvement with All the President's Men, for which he won his second Academy Award for adapted screenplay in 1977.
In addition to movies for which Goldman earned screen credit, he includes chapters on two movies that were nightmares. One, The Right Stuff, ended up being taken over by another screenwriter/director, which is not uncommon. I'm really fond of Philip Kaufman's script and direction of The Right Stuff, which is faithful to Tom Wolfe's book, so it's probably fortuitous that Goldman was fired, particularly since he had no interest in Chuck Yeager, the most compelling character from Wolfe's book. The other movie, an improbable musical remake of Grand Hotel shot at the MGM Grand in Las Vegas, never got made.
Some of Goldman's omissions are curious. Why did he write nothing about No Way to Treat a Lady, a serial killer movie adapted from his own novel, or The Hot Rock, the comic heist movie that Goldman adapted from Donald Westlake’s novel? Both are excellent movies with great stars. (George Segal is in both movies. Hmm.) In 1978, Goldman wrote the screenplay for Magic, which was based on his novel, starred the great Anthony Hopkins, and was directed by Richard Attenborough. It's a creepy, well-acted psychological thriller, so I'm curious why Goldman doesn't even mention it.
Perhaps the best Hollywood story in the book concerns the courtroom drama The Verdict, a movie that Goldman didn’t work on but one that perfectly illustrates the perils of working in Hollywood.
Part Three features a screenplay adaptation of a short story Goldman wrote long ago named Da Vinci, followed by comments by various colleagues on how they would approach production of the short film. It's an interesting tutorial on the craft of screenwriting, but I'm not sure it belongs in this book. I'd rather Goldman dished more about the movies he worked on.
Goldman published a follow-up volume called Which Lie Did I Tell in 2000, which covers his work in the 80s and 90s, including The Princess Bride, Misery, Maverick, Absolute Power, and others.
The book has three parts:
Part One: Hollywood Realities—Goldman's scathing take on the stars, studio executives, directors, agents, and producers of Hollywood.
Part Two: Adventures—Goldman's personal adventures in screenwriting.
Part Three: Da Vinci—A screenwriting workshop that takes one of Goldman's early short stories, adapts it into a screen treatment, and then runs it by colleagues on their thoughts on taking the script to production.
By far my favorite part in the book is Part Two. Nothing is more entertaining than reading about Bill Goldman in the trenches, trying his best to ensure that a movie he's working on will actually get finished. More often than not he succeeds, but sometimes insurmountable obstacles make failure a certainty.
Here’s Goldman’s legendary quote about Hollywood:
NOBODY KNOWS ANYTHING.
Goldman alleges that no one in Hollywood knows for certain what’s going to work with audiences. They don’t know when the movie’s starting to shoot, when it's in preview, or when it's finished. A movie’s success is pure guesswork. Unless you’re Joseph E. Levine, who was already $4 million in the black due to advance bookings for A Bridge Too Far before the movie even opened. Levine knew a few things.
Goldman shares many wonderful inside stories, and he settles some old scores. I came away from the book convinced that no one in Hollywood can be trusted, and everyone acts in their self interest, especially famous stars like Robert Redford and Dustin Hoffman. Sure, Goldman has some nice things to say about Paul Newman, Richard Attenborough, and Joseph E. Levine, but generally Hollywood is a nest of vipers.
Not surprisingly, Goldman is not a fan of the auteur theory, a notion promulgated by young French new wave critics (including Francois Truffaut and Jean-Luc Godard) in the Fifties asserting that the director is the author of the movie. In the U.S., despite the collaborative nature of movie production, the auteur theory continues to have a powerful influence on movie criticism. Sadly, Goldman believes that the auteur theory was responsible for the collapse of the career of Alfred Hitchcock.
The two movies Goldman is most proud of? The first, Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid, isn’t surprising. He worked on that script for eight years, and he won his first Academy Award for best original screenplay in 1970. But the second, A Bridge Too Far, is. Goldman writes that Bridge was probably his best experience making movies. I've got it on DVD, so I need to watch it again. I remember it had an all-star cast, and was one of the last epic World War II movies.
When discussing Butch Cassidy, Goldman humbly suggests that he's not that skilled at comedy. I disagree. In all of Goldman's movies, his humor—and his humanity—shines through, even in deadly serious movies such as All the President's Men. BTW, I was saddened to learn in this book that Goldman regrets his involvement with All the President's Men, for which he won his second Academy Award for adapted screenplay in 1977.
In addition to movies for which Goldman earned screen credit, he includes chapters on two movies that were nightmares. One, The Right Stuff, ended up being taken over by another screenwriter/director, which is not uncommon. I'm really fond of Philip Kaufman's script and direction of The Right Stuff, which is faithful to Tom Wolfe's book, so it's probably fortuitous that Goldman was fired, particularly since he had no interest in Chuck Yeager, the most compelling character from Wolfe's book. The other movie, an improbable musical remake of Grand Hotel shot at the MGM Grand in Las Vegas, never got made.
Some of Goldman's omissions are curious. Why did he write nothing about No Way to Treat a Lady, a serial killer movie adapted from his own novel, or The Hot Rock, the comic heist movie that Goldman adapted from Donald Westlake’s novel? Both are excellent movies with great stars. (George Segal is in both movies. Hmm.) In 1978, Goldman wrote the screenplay for Magic, which was based on his novel, starred the great Anthony Hopkins, and was directed by Richard Attenborough. It's a creepy, well-acted psychological thriller, so I'm curious why Goldman doesn't even mention it.
Perhaps the best Hollywood story in the book concerns the courtroom drama The Verdict, a movie that Goldman didn’t work on but one that perfectly illustrates the perils of working in Hollywood.
Part Three features a screenplay adaptation of a short story Goldman wrote long ago named Da Vinci, followed by comments by various colleagues on how they would approach production of the short film. It's an interesting tutorial on the craft of screenwriting, but I'm not sure it belongs in this book. I'd rather Goldman dished more about the movies he worked on.
Goldman published a follow-up volume called Which Lie Did I Tell in 2000, which covers his work in the 80s and 90s, including The Princess Bride, Misery, Maverick, Absolute Power, and others.
August 31, 2021
The last section of this book where he goes from a short story to a screenplay and then tears it to shreds, is brilliant. That should be a textbook for writers of all kinds, but especially for people who want to write for films.
February 2, 2023
An insightful look into the creation of great movies and a perceptive look at how stars and studios don't understand the dynamics of good storytelling.
May 15, 2022
Should we want to know how the sausage is made? We mostly shouldn't, but I nevertheless decided to read William Goldman’s 1983 memoir Adventures in the Screen Trade because it's so often mentioned on the Rewatchables podcast. Thankfully, I came away mostly unscathed because the book is almost as old as I am.
A few notes.
-Goldman does not buy auteur theory and in fact finds it ridiculous to attribute the success of a film to one person when the editor and cinematographer, for example, do so much. It seems to me that auteur theory is more powerful now than in the early 1980s.
-Actors in interviews always present themselves as charming, poised, and self-deprecatingly humorous. It’s an act. They’re actors, acting.
-Stars, as opposed to character actors, almost never want to look bad. They know that their time in the sun is temporary and are therefore insecure. That Al Pacino scene in Once Upon a Time in Hollywood is more or less an echo of what Goldman observes here. Has this somewhat changed? It seems to me that some stars now take on character actor roles purposefully while others pursue indie roles to broaden their reach.
-No one knows how to make a successful film, so the safe bets will always be to attract stars and make sequels. The safest play for an actor is to play the same or similar roles that they played in the past. In such roles, actors find what the audience wants from them and veering from it is a risk. For a long time, Sylvester Stallone could be Rocky or Rambo, but he succeeded in very few other roles.
It's easy to recommend the first hundred pages of Adventures in the Screen Trade because Goldman's commentary on the industry is easy to apply to films today. The more he focuses on films of the 1970s and 1980s, the less closely I read it. I'm not quite enough of a film buff to really care about Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid or Marathon Man. An aspiring screenwriter would get more out of the final 4/ 5s of the book that I did. I borrowed this one from the library but had to get it on inter-library loan.
A few notes.
-Goldman does not buy auteur theory and in fact finds it ridiculous to attribute the success of a film to one person when the editor and cinematographer, for example, do so much. It seems to me that auteur theory is more powerful now than in the early 1980s.
-Actors in interviews always present themselves as charming, poised, and self-deprecatingly humorous. It’s an act. They’re actors, acting.
-Stars, as opposed to character actors, almost never want to look bad. They know that their time in the sun is temporary and are therefore insecure. That Al Pacino scene in Once Upon a Time in Hollywood is more or less an echo of what Goldman observes here. Has this somewhat changed? It seems to me that some stars now take on character actor roles purposefully while others pursue indie roles to broaden their reach.
-No one knows how to make a successful film, so the safe bets will always be to attract stars and make sequels. The safest play for an actor is to play the same or similar roles that they played in the past. In such roles, actors find what the audience wants from them and veering from it is a risk. For a long time, Sylvester Stallone could be Rocky or Rambo, but he succeeded in very few other roles.
It's easy to recommend the first hundred pages of Adventures in the Screen Trade because Goldman's commentary on the industry is easy to apply to films today. The more he focuses on films of the 1970s and 1980s, the less closely I read it. I'm not quite enough of a film buff to really care about Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid or Marathon Man. An aspiring screenwriter would get more out of the final 4/ 5s of the book that I did. I borrowed this one from the library but had to get it on inter-library loan.
October 11, 2018
A wonderfully humorous, oftentimes sad and elegiac account of show business through the eyes of one of its most renowned screenwriters. From "Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid" to "The Princess Bride," Goldman has had a career most writers could only dream of, with the scars to prove it. Anyone who has ambition to pursue a career in the movie industry (especially writers) should do themselves a favor and pick up this book. If your passion and enthusiasm are unfazed after wading through Goldman's horror stories and cautionary tales, it might just be for you. What impressed me most while reading, beyond Goldman's frank and brutally honest discussion of Hollywood, was how relevant so much if it seems to the business today. Written almost forty years ago, so many of the trials and tribulations Goldman describes, as well as his larger concerns about the where the business is heading, feel like they could have been written yesterday. The business is constricting, studios are making fewer movies, and all anyone cares about anymore is IP and blockbusters. It was true 40 years ago. It's true today. And somehow, realizing that gives me a modicum of hope. "Nobody knows anything," Goldman writes. Damn right. I wish I'd read this book sooner. Highly recommend.
April 26, 2018
Adventures in the Screen Trade is a funny and honest look at Hollywood by one of its finest writers. Goldman's credits are legendary, two Oscars, for the screenplays in Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid and All the President's Men, and many many more.
Goldman starts by telling readers that Nobody Knows Anything in Hollywood, by which he means that the movie business is extremely hard to predict, marked by frequent failures and occasional big hits. That combination leads to high turnover in the studios and a high measure of paranoia because every studio executive knows that he/she will eventually be fired.
Goldman has many funny stories to tell about Hollywood insiders and a lot of the silliness that is present in the industry. Although he himself is a bona fide insider, it's clear that he holds Hollywood at arms'-length and doesn't take it or himself too seriously, which allows him to be free and candid with his observations.
But for all the dish in Adventures (and there is plenty), Goldman also has a lot to say about the craft of screenwriting. As a true craftsman, he has obviously given deep thought to what makes scripts work or fail. And he is generous with his advice, born of his years of experience. He illustrates his advice by including the entire screenplay for Butch Cassidy, then analyzing its strengths and faults. He also shows how we might consider adaptation of one of his own short stories.
You can read this book this book as a Hollywood tell-all, although having been written in the early 1980s, it's a bit dated now; but its real value is Goldman's insights about the business of writing for movies, which are like taking a master class.
Goldman starts by telling readers that Nobody Knows Anything in Hollywood, by which he means that the movie business is extremely hard to predict, marked by frequent failures and occasional big hits. That combination leads to high turnover in the studios and a high measure of paranoia because every studio executive knows that he/she will eventually be fired.
Goldman has many funny stories to tell about Hollywood insiders and a lot of the silliness that is present in the industry. Although he himself is a bona fide insider, it's clear that he holds Hollywood at arms'-length and doesn't take it or himself too seriously, which allows him to be free and candid with his observations.
But for all the dish in Adventures (and there is plenty), Goldman also has a lot to say about the craft of screenwriting. As a true craftsman, he has obviously given deep thought to what makes scripts work or fail. And he is generous with his advice, born of his years of experience. He illustrates his advice by including the entire screenplay for Butch Cassidy, then analyzing its strengths and faults. He also shows how we might consider adaptation of one of his own short stories.
You can read this book this book as a Hollywood tell-all, although having been written in the early 1980s, it's a bit dated now; but its real value is Goldman's insights about the business of writing for movies, which are like taking a master class.
February 3, 2019
Goldman takes us to very entertaining book of memories about his experience in the "screen trade" highly recommended.
excerpt:
"Example: Back in the late sixties, Life magazine, then a weekly, had a performer on its cover who they said was the biggest movie star in the world. I was meeting that day with the head of one of the biggest studios. I asked if he’d seen Life. He said he hadn’t. I told him what I’ve just told you. And then I asked if he’d care to guess who the performer was.
“Newman,” he said.
No.
“McQueen?”
Not McQueen.
....
The situation was now getting the least bit uncomfortable. “If it’s a woman it’s either Streisand or Julie Andrews.”
I said it was a man. And then, before things got too sticky, I gave the answer. (It was Eastwood.)
And he replied after some thought, “They claim Eastwood? Eastwood’s the biggest star?” Finally, after another pause, he nodded. “They’re right.”
The point being that if a studio giant couldn’t guess the biggest star in his business, the territory is a bit murkier than most of us would imagine."
Putting it simply: No one knows anything.
excerpt:
"Example: Back in the late sixties, Life magazine, then a weekly, had a performer on its cover who they said was the biggest movie star in the world. I was meeting that day with the head of one of the biggest studios. I asked if he’d seen Life. He said he hadn’t. I told him what I’ve just told you. And then I asked if he’d care to guess who the performer was.
“Newman,” he said.
No.
“McQueen?”
Not McQueen.
....
The situation was now getting the least bit uncomfortable. “If it’s a woman it’s either Streisand or Julie Andrews.”
I said it was a man. And then, before things got too sticky, I gave the answer. (It was Eastwood.)
And he replied after some thought, “They claim Eastwood? Eastwood’s the biggest star?” Finally, after another pause, he nodded. “They’re right.”
The point being that if a studio giant couldn’t guess the biggest star in his business, the territory is a bit murkier than most of us would imagine."
Putting it simply: No one knows anything.
February 23, 2022
A technical masterpiece combined with a nostalgic walk down memory lane.
Goldman ably discusses his own methodology for writing and digs into the nuts and bolts of the movie business - going so far as to include a short story and subsequent adaption - with notes and comments from other's in the industry about how they would handle specific problems or complications presented in the word-to-screen transition.
Goldman also name-drops like a gossip columnist with revealing details and tidbits about familiar names and the then-current (early 1982) Hollywood climate - Stallone, Redford and Newman feature prominently - and many forgotten or never heard of films have been added to my radar.
The only real stinker in the story is that Goldman was convinced (incorrectly) that nothing would be able to beat E.T. for the Best Picture Oscar. (Gandhi - which isn't even mentioned in the book - did).
Goldman ably discusses his own methodology for writing and digs into the nuts and bolts of the movie business - going so far as to include a short story and subsequent adaption - with notes and comments from other's in the industry about how they would handle specific problems or complications presented in the word-to-screen transition.
Goldman also name-drops like a gossip columnist with revealing details and tidbits about familiar names and the then-current (early 1982) Hollywood climate - Stallone, Redford and Newman feature prominently - and many forgotten or never heard of films have been added to my radar.
The only real stinker in the story is that Goldman was convinced (incorrectly) that nothing would be able to beat E.T. for the Best Picture Oscar. (Gandhi - which isn't even mentioned in the book - did).
January 10, 2022
Highly readable memoir dishing on Hollywood types. Strongly imparts the notion that movies are pretty damn hard to make. Paul Newman praised frequently. However, many idiots are involved. Frequent refrain: "no one knows anything." Except of course William Goldman. Yes, his self-regard is on display here. Helpful for aspiring film people. Am I one? Not at all. Did I still enjoy? Yes I did. Written in 1982, but evidently Hollywood anxieties are eternal: sequels, television, IP, fragile egos of specific stars that are still with us. In this regard, not dated. In other regards, dated. Nearly everyone referred to as "he." Nonetheless, recommend. Celebrates Hollywood and takes the piss out in equal measure.
September 16, 2019
One of the best books about filmmaking I've read. The last third in particular wowed me. In it, Goldman presents an old short story of his, writes a screenplay of it, deconstructs the difficulties of writing that screenplay, shares it with some technical masters (including director George Roy Hill and cinematographer Gordon Willis), and gets their thoughts on how they would interpret it. It's an incredible education.
January 25, 2021
After reading this very good look at how movies get made, it is kind of amazing that any truly good movies ever make it to the finish line. The book is written with humour as you would expect from the author of The Princess Bride. It includes the entire screenplay of Butch Cassidy and The Sundance Kid, followed by a section with Goldman's opinion of what worked and what didn't. A fascinating read.
A favorite paragraph:
"Whoever invented the meeting must have had Hollywood in mind. I think they should consider giving Oscars for meetings: Best Meeting of the Year, Best Supporting Meeting, Best Meeting Based on Material from Another Meeting."
Anyone whose job includes attending lots of meetings can certainly relate!
A favorite paragraph:
"Whoever invented the meeting must have had Hollywood in mind. I think they should consider giving Oscars for meetings: Best Meeting of the Year, Best Supporting Meeting, Best Meeting Based on Material from Another Meeting."
Anyone whose job includes attending lots of meetings can certainly relate!
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