Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #41112 in Books
• Published on: 1989-03-10
• Original language: English
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Paperback
• 594 pages

Customer Reviews

A "Must Read" for Every Screenwriter
Shadow Watcher
Nobody Drowns in Mineral Lake

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.


- Michael B. Druxman, author of ONCE UPON A TIME IN HOLLYWOOD (available December 2008)

Removing Some of Hollywood's Glitter
Mr. Goldman has written a classic. A great panacea for anyone that gets too starry-eyed over celebrities and aspires to "make it big" in show business. I have a great deal of respect for Mr. Goldman's no-holds-barred approach to explaining just how Hollywood works. His book is instructive and illuminating. His sarcastic approach is extremely funny and a great stress reliever. His quasi-sequel, Which Lie Did I Tell?, was also very enjoyable. I would highly recommend both books.

Thoroughly Enjoyable
What kind of book can the writer of such great screenplays as Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid, Marathon Man, A Bridge Too Far, Dreamcatcher, and my sentimental favorite, The Princess Bride write? A romping, great ride through the movie making business, complete with behind-the-scenes stories. It opens with an astutely worded history of Hollywood, covers splendid tales about movie stars--both good and very, very bad, and the screenwriting process. `Adventures In The Screen Trade' is a true classic.

Goldman understands movies and more than that, he truly understands how to tell a story and be funny at the same time. In the book, he writes that comedy is not his forte. Nonsense! I was laughing half the time I was reading; I had to put the book down occasionally, I was laughing so hard.

More than simply comedy, the book is filled with insights not only on human nature, but also on writing about human nature. Near the end of the book, after a most enjoyable read about what parts he played in the many good movies he's written or had a part in writing (including only the last line from the Steve McQueen, Dustin Hoffman movie, Papillon), he shows his true genius. He actually demonstrates his thinking process in adapting a short story of his into a screenplay.

After reading that story, but before I read his working plan of adaptation, I decided to experiment and see what angle I could come up with on the story in a rough outline. After doing that, I read his plan of attack in comparison and I was simply blown away. Here is a master storyteller at work--I'm not worthy.

I enjoyed reading this book and if you're a fan of film, you'll like this one too.