Adventures in the Screen Trade

Always heard how this was "the book" to read about screenwriting and the hollywood insider machinations of getting a movie made. Goldman lets loose with anecdotes and gossip secrets and provides funny and indepth analysis of what he thinks makes a good or bad screenplay. Also, describes the real jobs of the director, editor, producer, etc. However, this book is pretty dated now (it was published in 1989) and it makes awkward reading at times. It was pretty weird how he thinks Burt Reynolds is such a big star in the calibre (and supposed longevity!) as Clint Eastwood, Robert Redford and Paul Newman - but I guess at that time he was? I guess I am too young (27) as I don't remember a time where Burt Reynolds wasn't a joke.

Fieldnotes:
Hollywood, 1982

A Memoir in
3 Parts
1 Breakdown of the Process and Players
11 Individual Movie Discussions
1 Short Story Adaptation to Screenplay

The Short Version:
This was just set too early for me, really. Of the movies he discusses in detail, I've only seen Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid (of which Goldman is very proud), and honestly...I didn't like it. So a lot of the specific movie screenwriting stuff he discusses I ended up glazing over.

But a ton of what he says is still very relevant. Stars still have to be protected. Nobody has any idea what the public really wants and how to give it to them. So some of the more general stuff is interesting while a lot of the gossipy stuff was fairly dull.

I also found the final show more section on adapting a short story into a screenplay an interesting exercise - though I admit I mostly agreed with the interviewed director's comments on how these things would actually work (i.e., they wouldn't). To an extent Goldman talking about how he wanted to sit down to talk about what he intended with every scene makes me want to roll my eyes - he repeatedly insists making the movie is a team effort but gets frustrated when he (and his "vision") isn't the most important part of that effort, which seems particularly amusing given his vociferous disdain for the idea that the director is the "auteur". show less

I had wanted to read this book for years, ever since typing innumerable papers for University of Texas Radio-Television-Film students forced to read and report on it for some beginner class. It wasn’t their reports that interested me, but the fact that this text was considered the sine qua non of the university RTF world–the text that you needed to have read, because everyone else had. Goldman’s credentials were substantial, having written some quite substantial films both in critical and box-office terms, like Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid and All the President’s Men. He further endeared himself to me by his wonderful book and film, The Princess Bride. But I never read this book for years because I wanted to own a hardback show more version of it. Browsing this past year in the stacks at the Bellevue Half-Price Books, I chanced upon just that, and finally was able to fill a decade old longing.

Adventures in the Screen Trade is somewhat dated now, even though it is only 13 years old. The movie trade is moving and shifting at an incredible pace (although not as quite as fast as the Internet), and what is golden one year, can be video-fodder the next. Goldman’s expose of the in-and-out of movie-making, from the screenwriter’s perspective, is uncomfortably close to the old adage about sausage and politics–you don’t want to see either being made. Yet, like an automobile wreck on your way home from work, you find that you just can’t help from looking. Goldman does a good job of presenting the business straight-forward, if with a tinge of understandable bias for the writer, that underlines the power of stars and the blockbuster mentality. A sequel, updating this book and adding Goldman’s extra thirteen years of experience, would be welcome, I think. show less

Goldman is unsurprisingly a very good writer, so these are a collection of very good stories. His opinions about 'movies these days' seem similar to critics of today, so I don't hold too much weight in some of his opinions. Including those about auteur theory. He operates primarily as a screenwriter in studio filmmaking, so of course the idea seems insufficient. But the spirit of the idea holds merit in my opinion. Some directors do have a 'fingerprint' on the movies they direct, though of course other collaborators add to the vision.

Funny and insightful - ok, you don´t expect to learn the business of screen writing and meanwhile I guess a lot of things have also in Hollywood but it is still fun to read.
With me being born in 77 I still remember the mentionend people but it could get more and more difficult if you are way younger and not a movie nut interested in older movies. Also it feels a bit unstructured and is getting weaker closer the end but I still enjoyed reading it.

A book in 3 main parts, as said in other reviews. Enjoyable overall, although many of the films I haven't seen or have forgotten seeing. Some gossipy bits, some educational bits. The last part (short story, turn it into a screenplay, then have selected industry pros discuss it) is a fascinating trip into turning a story into a screenplay and into a film. I guess some of those principles still hold up today, although there is a caveat that all of this was written over 40 years ago; almost half a century. A lot changes. And all the talented people mentioned (most of them, at any rate) are all now dead. Talented directors, writers, cinematographers, editors - all gone and many forgotten by most, despite being at the top of their fields.

So show more a sobering book in some ways too. There's enough gossipy stories to keep the attention but the book of course veers into the "this is how stuff is made" area too which may be less interesting to some. Overall I enjoyed it - but remembering this was all a long time ago now and it's a book about how things were then, not now. show less

From my blog, http://minlshawbookshelf.blogspot.com/2009/03/adventures-in-screen-trade-by-will...

William Goldman may not be familiar by name, but you're bound to recognize his work. The subtitle, "A Personal View of Hollywood and Screenwriting," would suggest that this is Goldman's memoirs. In truth, this is really more of an introduction for laymen to how movies are made, told from a screenwriter's perspective. There are three sections, each distinctive in its offerings.

The first section is an introduction of the key roles in films, complete with anecdotes illustrating each's ability to influence the outcome of the project. Studio people with power of approval, directors, writers, actors, stars, agents; Goldman's thesis is that each is show more insecure and paranoid, and that everything one does is strictly to better his own idea of what his own self-interest might be. A star encounters an agent at a gathering, and the latter scoffs at the former having to take a taxi on the way, rather than a limousine being sent for him; the star switched agents not long after. Sound petty? Sure it is; but petty by which party? The agent who poached a client, the star who was talked into being upset about taking a taxi...or the original agent, who saw fit not to pamper his star client? What of Dustin Hoffman deliberately making an aged Lawrence Olivier go through a series of physically demanding takes just to wear out the acting legend? Olivier's graceful compliance--with nary a registered complaint--underscores not only Hoffman's insecurity and pettiness, but exposes the difference between a star and a real actor.

The second portion of Goldman's book is chock full of anecdotes from his film work up to the date of writing, on a film-by-film basis. How's this for a filmography: Charly, Masquerade, Harper, Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid, The Thing of It Is..., The Stepford Wives, The Great Waldo Pepper, All the President's Men, Marathon Man, The Right Stuff, Great Hotel and A Bridge Too Far. Of these, only Butch and Bridge are written glowingly. In point of fact, Goldman spent five years working to make Great Hotel...and ultimately removed himself from the project; the rest, he completed and the results varied.

What makes this volume so fascinating, though, is the third act: "Da Vinci." The title refers to a short story published by Goldman in 1960, which is included in its entirety. Goldman then walks us through how he would approach adapting his short story as a screenplay. Once that's finished, he presents a screenplay (again, in its entirety). These three pieces (story, screenplay and notes about the adaptation process) were then sent to key movie-makers for their thoughts on how each would approach this were it an actual film. Production designer Tony Walton, cinematographer Gordon Willis, editor Dede Allen, composer David Grusin and director George Roy Hill each weigh in about not only how each works in general (expanding the scope of Goldman's book in the process), but questions and remarks concerning this specific screenplay.

Anyone who has seen or heard Goldman speak on a DVD feature will expect the salty language that permeates this work. This is a guy that is entirely in love with movies, and largely frustrated by participating in the making of them. (Small wonder, once you've read these "adventures.") Very few people named in this account come off very well; Olivier and Richard Attenborough are the only two that come to mind as I write this. Even Robert Redford, with whom Goldman collaborated several times, fails to come out of this unscathed.

Be advised that there is a streak of sexism throughout--key personnel, when not named, are called "he;" there are "copy girls" and other such titles. These are not necessarily to be taken as Goldman's sexism, though, but rather a reflection of the industry at the time. Even today, there are few women directors, studio executives or producers. For those who aspire to change that, I would strongly suggest they start by reading this account of the dangers and frustrations that lie ahead.

Note: A subsequent edition includes the complete screenplay for Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid. This is noted on the cover of such printings. show less