Hollywood Rat Race

In a previously unpublished memoir/manual, the king of B horror movies exposes the ruthless realm of moviemaking and introduces the magic and mayhem of Hollywood

This guide to La-La Land, written by the man who brought audiences Plan 9 From Outer Space, offers advice on surviving in Hollywood, drawn from Ed Wood's two decades in filmdom. Anecdotes from Wood's career abound, including stories about Bela Lugosi and Tor Johnson. Photos.

Filled with dozens of personal anecdotes, musings, and warnings from writers, producers, actors, and directors who have been there, Surviving Hollywood: Your Ticket to Success provides all the real-life tools you need for protecting your personal well-being in an unstable and sometimes unscrupulous industry. Readers will discover sage advice for keeping their spirits up despite constant rejection, weathering long periods of unemployment, maintaining a stable marriage and family life in an unstable business, keeping the faith in the midst of lies and deceit, and much more. Special sections address such topics as the dangers child actors face and how to deal with egomaniacs without becoming one.

Filmmaker Ed Wood was controversial and critically maligned, even labeled "the worst director of all time," yet he achieved cult status and remains of great interest today. This book frames Wood's work, such as the cross-dressing themed Glen or Glenda? and the haphazard Bride of the Monster, as reflections of the culture of their era. Wood invariably worked with infinitesimal budgets, shooting at breakneck speed, incorporating plot twists that defied all logic. Yet there was a tangible if unfocused thematic thrust to Wood's films, which meditate fitfully on gender, religion and society, revealing a "holy trinity" of fixations--sex, death and resurrection. Wood's infamous Plan 9 From Outer Space encapsulates the fixations and flaws that were his hallmarks, and with 22 other films, is explored here. A filmography and 47 photographs are included.

Arguably the greatest science fiction writer who ever lived, Isaac Asimov also possessed one of the most brilliant and original minds of our time. His accessible style and far-reaching interests in subjects ranging from science to humor to history earned him the nickname “the Great Explainer.” I. Asimov is his personal story—vivid, open, and honest—as only Asimov himself could tell it. Here is the story of the paradoxical genius who wrote of travel to the stars yet refused to fly in airplanes; who imagined alien universes and vast galactic civilizations while staying home to write; who compulsively authored more than 470 books yet still found the time to share his ideas with some of the great minds of our century. Here are his wide-ranging thoughts and sharp-eyed observations on everything from religion to politics, love and divorce, friendship and Hollywood, fame and mortality. Here, too, is a riveting behind-the-scenes look at the varied personalities—Campbell, Ellison, Heinlein, Clarke, del Rey, Silverberg, and others—who along with Asimov helped shape science fiction. As unique and irrepressible as the man himself, I. Asimov is the candid memoir of an incomparable talent who entertained readers for nearly half a century and whose work will surely endure into the future he so vividly envisioned.

The Life and Art of Edward D Wood This is an updated edition of the biography of cult American film maker Ed Wood which formed the basis of the film Ed Wood' starring Johnny Depp, Bill Murray and Patricia Arquette. It examines one of Hollywood's most iconoclastic, tragic figures: director, screenwriter, pornographer and hellraiser as well as master of outrageous kitsch, absurd supernatural horror and campy suspense. A hilarious and heart-breaking portrayal of a brave eccentric and sometimes insane film maker.'

For decades, the Western film has been considered a dying breed of cinema, yet filmmakers from Quentin Tarantino to Ethan and Joel Coen find new ways to reinvigorate the genre. As Westerns continue to be produced for contemporary audiences, scholars have taken a renewed interest in the relevance of this enduring genre. In Critical Perspectives on the Western: From A Fistful of Dollars to Django Unchained, Lee Broughton has compiled a wide-ranging collection of essays that look at various forms of the genre, on both the large and small screen. Contributors to this volume consider themes and subgenres, celebrities and authors, recent idiosyncratic engagements with the genre, and the international Western. These essays also explore issues of race and gender in the various films discussed as well as within the film genre as a whole. Among the films and television programs discussed in this volume are The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward, Robert Ford; Django Kill; Justified; Meek’s Cutoff; Tears of the Black Tiger; Appaloosa; The Frozen Limits; and Red Harvest.Featuring a diverse selection of chapters that represent current thinking on the Western. Critical Perspectives on the Western will appeal to fans of the genre, film students, and scholars alike.