
A short, combative transcript of Mamet's directing lectures at Columbia. His central argument — that the director's job is to find the simplest images that carry the story — cuts through most of what film school teaches and is worth disagreeing with as much as agreeing with.
Chosen by shared topics, the entries that hold them, and the people who recommended both.
Goldman wrote Butch Cassidy, All the President's Men, and The Princess Bride, and this book is his frank account of what it is actually like to write for Hollywood. His central claim — that nobody knows anything — is an important corrective to every book on this list that treats filmmaking as a solved problem.
Recommended by: Tim Ferriss
How young directors and drugs remade Hollywood in the 1970s, from Easy Rider on.
How storyboards become shots, and how shots are built into film sequences.
Film editing explained: why cuts work when they follow the rhythm of thought.
How a film comes together, from the first script reading to the final mix.
Oral history of CAA and the agency model.
Recommended by: Joel Connolly
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