Adventures In The Screen Trade: A Personal View of Hollywood

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Goldman won two Academy Awards: an Academy Award for Writing Original Screenplay for Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid, and an Academy Award for Writing Adapted Screenplay for All the President's Men. He also won two Edgar Awards, from the Mystery Writers of America, for Best Motion Picture Screenplay: for Harper in 1967, and for Magic (adapted from his own 1976 novel) in 1979. Goldman is one of the best storytellers this country has produced, which may seem a bold claim to some, but it happens to be true. His most famous axiom, that “nobody knows anything” is one of those things that grow truer with time and experience. Goldman was referring to success in the movie business, the idea being that when something worked and was a hit, it just kind of worked and nobody really knew why, though everyone with a hand in the production would claim otherwise. For reasons beyond me, Goldman brings up the tragic 1999 Columbine murders (which he annoyingly refers to as "Littleton"...the less-common reference to the town where the tragedy took place).

Adventures in the screen trade by William Goldman - Open Library Adventures in the screen trade by William Goldman - Open Library

The situation was now getting the least bit uncomfortable. “If it’s a woman it’s either Streisand or Julie Andrews.” I don’t know if the script will be done by the end of the book — and I seriously doubt it — that’s kind of the point!

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There is also an expanded edition of the book, which includes the full screenplay of Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid, plus Goldman's analysis of the screenplay's strengths and weaknesses, as "Part Three", and moves the "Da Vinci" section to "Part Four". In "Part Three: Da Vinci", Goldman shows the reader how he would go about adapting his own short story "Da Vinci" into a screenplay. The full text of "Da Vinci" and the subsequent screenplay that he wrote are included, followed by interviews with key movie industry figures, including director George Roy Hill, cinematographer Gordon Willis, and composer Dave Grusin. This is a true insider's look at the screenwriting business (from the writer of All the President's Men, Marathon Man and – interestingly, the novel of Princess Bride) and interesting for anyone who writes or likes movies because - yes, there are fun gossipy asides about Hollywood (Robert Redford had ego!), but it's focus is on what makes a good story and how to write one that sells as a screenplay. They're not always the same thing. This book ends with an interesting device - Goldman includes half an unproduced screenplay of his for us to critique - it is a flawed screenplay, and its problems are the same as the problems with this book overall: it is muddled, and doesn't know what it is for sure. But then we'd have missed a glorious roller-coaster ride through Tinseltown stuffed to the gills with anecdotes of such toe-curling detail that you believe every word.

Adventures In The Screen Trade by William Goldman - Waterstones Adventures In The Screen Trade by William Goldman - Waterstones

PS-The title of this book is a PUN on the title: " Adventures in the Skin Trade, a collection of stories by Dylan Thomas. Addendum: Since this original post has been published, the great William Goldman has passed away. O n Thursday, November 15th, 2018 Mr. Goldman said his final goodbyes at 87 years old. Our friends at The Script Lab compiled some of the most profound social posts from Hollywood screenwriters to honor his life. Read: Hollywood Screenwriters Remember William Goldman But I do love his style. His self deprecation and brutal honesty are what make him so endearing. You feel like you're sitting in a class and learning everything the master has to teach. I was inspired and learned a lot. This was my final read of 2021, and it made for a satisfying conclusion to the year. I think I like it better than Goldman's first memoir/tell-all/screenwriting manual Adventures in the Screen Trade; the nearly twenty years elapsed between the two books means Goldman is more mature here, with more experience (naturally) and a better understanding of himself and his craft. I would have liked a LOT more about The Princess Bride, though what's here is excellent, and I really appreciated his ability to size up his failures as well as his successes with honesty and clarity. Goldman also name-drops like a gossip columnist with revealing details and tidbits about familiar names and the then-current (early 1982) Hollywood climate - Stallone, Redford and Newman feature prominently - and many forgotten or never heard of films have been added to my radar.Adventures in the Screen Trade is a sparkling memoir and every bit as entertaining as some of the landmark films he helped create (including Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid, All the President's Men, and Marathon Man). If you're considering a screenwriting career, I'd imagine this would be extremely useful. For a passing interest and mostly because I wanted to read more William Goldman, it's just good. It did confirm many of the suspicions I had about the industry and how films get made. Over the years I have met and worked with a dozen prize-winning American directors, and there is not one whose “philosophy” or “worldview” remotely interests me. The total amount of what they have to “say” cannot cover the bottom of even a small teacup.” Ha! The book is filled with that kind of thing. It's not mean, just honest. Abstracts: No one knows the writer's Hollywood more intimately than William Goldman. Two-time Academy Award-winning screenwriter and the bestselling author of Marathon Man, Tinsel, Boys and Girls Together, and other novels, Goldman now takes you into Hollywood's inner sanctums...on and behind the scenes for Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid, All the President's Men, and other films...into the plush offices of Hollywood producers...into the working lives of acting greats such as Redford, Olivier, Newman, and Hoffman...and into his own professional experiences and creative thought processes in the crafting of screenplays. You get a firsthand look at why and how films get made and what elements make a good screenplay.

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It’s amazingly raw but also helpful because you’re reading him go through the pain as ‘practice’ for you going through the same pain! The two movies Goldman is most proud of? The first, Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid, isn’t surprising. He worked on that script for eight years, and he won his first Academy Award for best original screenplay in 1970. But the second, A Bridge Too Far, is. Goldman writes that Bridge was probably his best experience making movies. I've got it on DVD, so I need to watch it again. I remember it had an all-star cast, and was one of the last epic World War II movies.

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In two books now, Goldman has claimed that GUNGA DIN is the greatest movie ever made and "only an idiot (or critic) would argue that point." Yet he never explains what's so great about it, nor does he ever discuss the screenplay for GUNGA DIN. I recently watched GUNGA DIN, and hated it...leaving me completely baffled by Goldman's remarks. Goldman does not buy auteur theory and in fact finds it ridiculous to attribute the success of a film to one person when the editor and cinematographer, for example, do so much. It seems to me that auteur theory is more powerful now than in the early 1980s. Oscar winner William Goldman, who wrote such classic films as HARPER, BUTCH CASSIDY AND THE SUNDANCE KID, MARATHON MAN and ALL THE PRESIDENT'S MEN shares his unique, often difficult, experiences working with top directors, producers and stars like Paul Newman, Robert Redford, Dustin Hoffman and Laurence Olivier.