- Hardcover: 195 pages
- Publisher: Grove Pr (October 1993)
- Language: English
- ISBN-10: 0802115438
- ISBN-13: 978-0802115430
- Product Dimensions: 21.1 x 14.7 x 2.5 cm
- Shipping Weight: 386 g
- Average Customer Review: 4.0 out of 5 stars See all reviews (6 customer reviews)
- Amazon Bestsellers Rank: #829,725 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
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Product Details |
Product Description
From Amazon
Art Linson, producer of such Hollywood films as Car Wash, The Untouchables, Melvin & Howard, and This Boy's Life, among others, has written a chummy and chatty how-to "for that small and perhaps unfortunate group"--aspiring movie producers. Seduced by the glitz, glamour, and cutthroat glee that clung (and clings) to Hollywood producers, young Linson never really "got" what it was they did. In 1961, when he was getting started, a producer's role was as ill-defined as it was just this side of unseemly. Producers, begins Linson in the highly amusing, anecdotal A Pound of Flesh, were "compared to Willy Loman, not Arthur Miller."
Make no mistake: Linson is lecturing to the Hollywood aspirant--not to aspiring auteurs or scrappy independent filmmakers. As such, A Pound of Flesh is a strange breed--more travelogue through Tinseltown than down-to-earth how-to. It's ripe with gossip and "aren't we wonderful?" scenes--the morphing of Hunter S. Thompson's Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas into an updated, drug-drenched version of Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid. Walking into Thompson's hotel room for the initial meeting, Linson was confronted with a smoking gun and a four-inch hole in the wall. And that's just the beginning of their "negotiations." (The film actually became Where the Buffalo Roam, starring Bill Murray.)
Where the chatty, chummy Linson primer becomes useful is with behind-the-scenes examples of such "lessons" as pitching the idea; working with writers, directors, and cast members; and understanding budgets and the studio system. Where it goes soft is with such vague and hip promptings as "if you have a head filled with good ideas, an extended list of Hollywood hangouts is more beneficial than a list of agencies and production companies." So introverts beware! To succeed in Hollywood, you still need the chutzpah, the connections, and the dough.
Wild exploits, turns of fate, and serendipities characterize the brazen and breezy teachings of A Pound of Flesh. What is fabulous is Linson's unbridled enthusiasm. Aspirants and movie fans alike will find this highly entertaining book a quick read, hard to put down, and irresistible. But rely on Linson as your sole Virgil through Tinseltown and your dreams of artistic success will surely falter. --This text refers to the Paperback edition.
From Publishers Weekly
One of Hollywood's more idiosyncratic producers discusses the ins and outs of the movie business in this entertaining primer. While first-time author Linson ostensibly aims to instruct would-be industry players, announcing at the outset that "this is a how-to book" and organizing his text into sections dealing with preproduction, production and release, a profusion of delightful anecdotes soon overwhelms his scheme. Linson counts hits from Car Wash to The Untouchables among his credits, and spins tales of these productions as well as of disastrous ventures. Sections on dealing with writers and with studio executives are enlivened by accounts of working with David Mamet and Jeffrey Katzenberg; Linson also offers behind-the-scenes looks at performers, including Sean Penn, Robert De Niro and an uncooperative killer whale. Movie fans will find much of interest here.
Copyright 1993 Reed Business Information, Inc.
Copyright 1993 Reed Business Information, Inc.
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First Sentence
"Ivan the Terrible with a car phone!" Read the first page
Front Cover | Copyright | Table of Contents | Excerpt | Back Cover
"Ivan the Terrible with a car phone!" Read the first page
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Front Cover | Copyright | Table of Contents | Excerpt | Back Cover
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Most helpful customer reviews
5.0 out of 5 stars
Much Better than Lydia Obst book,
By Mike Finn (New York) - See all my reviews
This review is from: A Pound Of Flesh: Perilous Tales Of How to Produce Movies in Hollywood (Paperback)
I have read this book and one by Lydia Obst ("Hello, He Lied"). I preferred the Linson by a mile - Obst is too full of herself (she even disses Linson!). Linson discusses the role of producer and his contribution to films such as "Car Wash" and "The Untouchables". There's a revelatory look at a film he worked on the DIDN'T get made, called "Arrive Alive". Highly recommended for anyone with an interest in the process of motion picture production.
3.0 out of 5 stars
Fun read, but not necessary....,
By
This review is from: A Pound Of Flesh: Perilous Tales Of How to Produce Movies in Hollywood (Paperback)
I saw bits and pieces of an interview with Linson on the new FAST TIMES AT RIDGEMONT HIGH DVD and when I found out he had a book out I decided to check it out. He's been involved as a producer with some of my favorite movies (HEAT, THE UNTOUCHABLES, FIGHT CLUB). This was a quick and enjoyable read. You'll learn a little about what a producer does. What I gleaned from the book was that a producer:A) Brings the elements (writer, director, cast) together Can you learn these things any other way? Sure, talk to a real Hollywood producer. But if you don't have access to one, pick up Linson's book. There are some really fun anecdotes in here, like dinner with Hunter S. Thompson, talking wardrobe with DeNiro, and wrangling re-writes out of David Mamet. "A Pound of Flesh" will be of interest to aspiring producers and those who enjoy finding out what happnens before and while the cameras roll. Not a necessary read for all, but for those into the film world. Linson's writing style is highly conversational and pleasurable to read.
5.0 out of 5 stars
The Producer's Primer,
By David Wolf (Beijing) - See all my reviews
This review is from: A Pound Of Flesh: Perilous Tales Of How to Produce Movies in Hollywood (Paperback)
In an honest, engaging, and pithy memoir, Art Linson manages to convey not only what a producer is and does in modern Hollywood, but also why that individual is so important both in the creation and final success of the product. If American film stands at the nexus of creativity and enterprise, the producer is the individual who must mediate the inevitable clash between these immutable forces, and Linson openly recalls his successes as well as his failures. It's not always pretty, but it's always good.In fact,the book's great strength is Linson's success in divorcing himself - or his ego - from his topic, allowing the reader to learn with the author, rather than from him. The entire process of the creation of a film, from pitch to production to premiere, including unpleasant diversions like Turnaround Hell and rites like Test Screenings, is laid before us through Linson's formative years as a producer. What the reader ends with is an understanding of the filmmaking process that no textbook could convey, and that few insiders would be willing to impart to a tyro. This is truly a primer on movie production that belongs on the shelf of everyone from development executive to film student to movie-lover.
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