Updates

  1. Search groups its results by kind: people, companies, geographies, subjects, topics, books, funds, fund letters and papers.
  2. The Books table lists who recommended each book by name, and the browser tab names the section you are in.
  3. Feedback can take a screenshot of the page, or one you paste or choose, and opens in the corner beside Updates.
  4. Each rail button reopens its section where you left it, and Browse, Table and People show on every book and subject page.
  5. Filters grey out choices that hold nothing instead of hiding them, and Books › People filters by authors or recommenders.
  6. Feedback takes a subject line and up to three screenshots.
  7. Biographies are grouped by the person they are about: 41 new pages, from Abraham Lincoln to Lee Kuan Yew.
  8. Sport splits into 23 sports, and Religion into one topic per faith.
  9. Book lists show as cards: the cover, one recommendation quote and every recommender by name.
  10. Seventeen subjects that had two or three pages under different names now have one page each.
  11. Every page lists its Experts as authors and recommenders, with a link to them on the Experts tab.
  12. Economics, Financial history, Financial panics and Accounting are subjects of their own, with one page per financial crisis.
  13. Book, person and subject pages open inside the app, so the tabs stay in view.
  14. 996 more book covers, and photographs or logos for 227 more people and companies.
  15. Books › Browse shows every subject as cards, and the rail holds Fund letters, Papers, Experts, Books and Funds.
  16. Every topic over 150 books splits into narrower topics, each with a page of its own.

Send feedback

What is it?
Screenshots, up to 3 (optional)
or paste one with Ctrl+V

We use your email only to reply to you.
FT

Film, Television and Comedy

Art and design

Holds books on screenwriting, directing and editing, Hollywood history, and memoirs by actors and comedians.

32 books on Film, Television and Comedy, 1 of them tier 1, recommended by 25 people including Mohnish Pabrai and Marc Andreessen.

32 books · 25 experts

Start here

  1. Easy Riders, Raging BullsPeter Biskind, 1998
  2. Walt Disney: The Triumph of the American ImaginationNeal Gabler, 2006
  3. Adventures in the Screen TradeWilliam Goldman, 1983
  4. Save the CatBlake Snyder, 2005
  5. PowerhouseJames Andrew Miller, 2016

The best books on Film, Television and Comedy 32

Easy Riders, Raging BullsEasy Riders, Raging Bulls
T1 Easy Riders, Raging Bulls
Peter Biskind · 1998
How the 1970s directors' era gave way to the blockbuster system.
Open Library
Walt Disney: The Triumph of the American ImaWalt Disney: The Triumph of the American Imagination
T2 Walt Disney: The Triumph of the American Imagination
Neal Gabler · 2006
Authorized-access biography of the founder and the studio.
Open Library
“the author, Neal Gabler, who has written the best biography on Walt Disney. And it's a phenomenal book.”Marc Andreessen
Recommended byMarc AndreessenBrian Chesky
Adventures in the Screen TradeAdventures in the Screen Trade
T3 Adventures in the Screen Trade
William Goldman · 1983
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.
Open Library
Recommended byTim Ferriss
Save the CatSave the Cat
T3 Save the Cat
Blake Snyder · 2005
The most commercial book on this list, and the most widely used. Snyder's beat sheet is a blunt instrument, but understanding it is necessary — both to apply it and to understand what mainstream studio films are doing structurally, whether you intend to follow the template or subvert it.
Open Library
Recommended byEric Weinstein
PowerhousePowerhouse
T3 Powerhouse
James Andrew Miller · 2016
Oral history of CAA and the agency model.
Open Library
Recommended byJoel Connolly
Film Directing Shot by ShotFilm Directing Shot by Shot
T3 Film Directing Shot by Shot
Steven Katz
The most visual book here: a systematic breakdown of how storyboards translate to coverage, how sequences are built from individual shots, and how the visual grammar of cinema works at the level of the individual setup. Best read with a film you know playing in the background.
unverified
In the Blink of an EyeIn the Blink of an Eye
T3 In the Blink of an Eye
Walter Murch
The best book on editing, and also a philosophy of attention. Murch's theory of the 'blink' — that cuts work because they mimic the rhythm of human thought — reframes editing not as a technical choice but as an act of empathy with the audience.
unverified
Making MoviesMaking Movies
T3 Making Movies
Sidney Lumet
Lumet worked for fifty years across every genre, budget, and format. This is his account of how a film actually comes together — from the first read of a script through the final mix — told with the specificity of someone who had solved each problem many times.
unverified
On Directing FilmOn Directing Film
T3 On Directing Film
David Mamet
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.
unverified
Rebel Without a CrewRebel Without a Crew
T3 Rebel Without a Crew
Robert Rodriguez
The production diary of El Mariachi, made for $7,000. Rodriguez's account of using limitation as a forcing function has become a practical manual for low-budget filmmaking, but the deeper lesson is about the relationship between constraint and creative invention.
unverified
Sculpting in TimeSculpting in Time
T3 Sculpting in Time
Andrei Tarkovsky
Tarkovsky's account of his own filmmaking is genuinely difficult, but it offers a theory of the image — as a vessel of time rather than a carrier of information — that no other book on this list attempts. Reading it alongside Murch shows how differently two master editors can conceive of what a film is.
unverified
StoryStory
T3 Story
Robert McKee
The canonical architecture course for screen narrative. Dense and demanding, but the chapters on scene construction and subtext are the most practically useful pages written about how drama actually generates meaning from moment to moment.
unverified
The Five C's of Cinematography
T3 The Five C's of Cinematography
Joseph Mascelli
Camera angles, continuity, cutting, close-ups, composition — the five fundamentals that Mascelli lays out with methodical clarity. Technical rather than artistic, but these are the rules that underlie every visual choice; understanding them makes the more theoretical books legible.
unverified
ImproImpro
T4 Impro
Keith Johnstone · 1979
Open Library
Recommended byPatrick CollisonPatrick O'Shaughnessy
Two Weeks in the Midday SunTwo Weeks in the Midday Sun
T4 Two Weeks in the Midday Sun
Roger Ebert · 1987
Open Library
Recommended byMohnish Pabrai
The Kid Stays in the PictureThe Kid Stays in the Picture
T4 The Kid Stays in the Picture
Robert Evans · 1995
Open Library
“Robert Evans went from 50's movie star to running Paramount Pictures during its Godfather heyday, only to fall flat on his face and go broke in the eighties. Pure Hollywood popcorn and full of fun (probably half-true) anecdotes about seemingly every…”Andrew Wilkinson
Recommended byAndrew WilkinsonDavid Cancel
The 100 Best Films to Rent You'Ve Never HearThe 100 Best Films to Rent You'Ve Never Heard of: Hidden Treasures, Neglected Classics, Hits from By-Gone Eras
T4 The 100 Best Films to Rent You'Ve Never Heard of: Hidden Treasures, Neglected Classics, Hits from By-Gone Eras
David N. Meyer · 1996
Open Library
Recommended byMohnish Pabrai
The New York Times Guide to the Best 1000 MoThe New York Times Guide to the Best 1000 Movies Ever Made
T4 The New York Times Guide to the Best 1000 Movies Ever Made
Vincent Canby · 1999
Open Library
Recommended byMohnish Pabrai
Catching the Big FishCatching the Big Fish
T4 Catching the Big Fish
David Lynch · 2006
Open Library
Recommended byArianna Huffington
Born Standing UpBorn Standing Up
T4 Born Standing Up
Steve Martin · 2007
Open Library
“He called it a "must read" that "had a profound effect on me.”Bill Gurley
Recommended byBill GurleyJames AltucherJason CalacanisMarc AndreessenSahil Lavingia
The Fry ChroniclesThe Fry Chronicles
T4 The Fry Chronicles
Stephen Fry · 2010
Open Library
Recommended byPaul Graham
BossypantsBossypants
T4 Bossypants
Tina Fey · 2011
Open Library
Recommended bySheryl SandbergAileen LeeAndrew Wilkinson
Not That Kind of GirlNot That Kind of Girl
T4 Not That Kind of Girl
Lena Dunham · 2014
Open Library
Recommended byAudrey Gelman
Believe MeBelieve Me
T4 Believe Me
Eddie Izzard · 2017
Open Library
Recommended byBill Gates
All the Pieces MatterAll the Pieces Matter
T4 All the Pieces Matter
Jonathan Abrams · 2018
Open Library
Recommended byNick Crocker
Just the Funny PartsJust the Funny Parts
T4 Just the Funny Parts
Nell Scovell · 2018
Open Library
Recommended bySheryl Sandberg
Inside OutInside Out
T4 Inside Out
Demi Moore · 2019
Open Library
Recommended byArianna Huffington
GreenlightsGreenlights
T4 Greenlights
Matthew McConaughey · 2020
Open Library
Recommended byKeith WassermanRyan Holiday
WillWill
T4 Will
Will Smith, Mark Manson · 2020
Open Library
Recommended byAlex LiebermanDustin Moskovitz
A Paper Life
T4 A Paper Life
Tatum O'Neal
unverified
Recommended byMohnish Pabrai
Humorists: From Hogarth to Noel CowardHumorists: From Hogarth to Noel Coward
T4 Humorists: From Hogarth to Noel Coward
Paul Johnson
unverified
Recommended byMohnish Pabrai
Werner Herzog - A Guide for the Perplexed: C
T4 Werner Herzog - A Guide for the Perplexed: Conversations with Paul Cronin
Paul Cronin
unverified
Recommended byPatrick O'Shaughnessy

Experts 25

The people who wrote this page's books, and the people who recommend them.

Recommenders 25

MP
Mohnish Pabrairecommends 5 books hereMarc Andreessenrecommends 2 books here
AW
Andrew Wilkinsonrecommends 2 books hereArianna Huffingtonrecommends 2 books here
PO
Patrick O'Shaughnessyrecommends 2 books hereSheryl Sandbergrecommends 2 books herePaul Grahamrecommends 1 book hereRyan Holidayrecommends 1 book hereAileen Leerecommends 1 book here
AL
Alex Liebermanrecommends 1 book hereAudrey Gelmanrecommends 1 book hereBill Gatesrecommends 1 book here
Show all 25
Bill Gurleyrecommends 1 book hereBrian Cheskyrecommends 1 book here
DC
David Cancelrecommends 1 book hereDustin Moskovitzrecommends 1 book hereEric Weinsteinrecommends 1 book hereJames Altucherrecommends 1 book hereJason Calacanisrecommends 1 book here
JC
Joel Connollyrecommends 1 book here
KW
Keith Wassermanrecommends 1 book here
NC
Nick Crockerrecommends 1 book herePatrick Collisonrecommends 1 book here
SL
Sahil Lavingiarecommends 1 book hereTim Ferrissrecommends 1 book here
See all 25 in the Experts tab →

More art and design: ← Data Visualisation and Information Design · Fine Art and Photography → · All art and design