Adventures in the Screen Trade: A Personal View of Hollywood and Screenwriting

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The Dolphin," inspired by a New York Times article about an autistic 10-year-old boy surviving four days lost in an alligator- and snake-infested Florida swamp. [2] Part Three features a screenplay adaptation of a short story Goldman wrote long ago named Da Vinci, followed by comments by various colleagues on how they would approach production of the short film. It's an interesting tutorial on the craft of screenwriting, but I'm not sure it belongs in this book. I'd rather Goldman dished more about the movies he worked on. In the middle section, Goldman gets a little personal, sharing stories about his life in the biz, working with larger-than-life names like Laurence Olivia, Robert Redford, and Dustin Hoffman. He also digs into why he believes some of his films failed. Two big bonuses of this book: Goldman provides his entire screenplay of Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid and then analyzes what worked and what didn't. He also provides a short story of his that was not optioned by Hollywood. He translates it into a screenplay for this book and explains the choices he has to make along the way: what characters to keep, what scenes to focus on etc… When discussing Butch Cassidy, Goldman humbly suggests that he's not that skilled at comedy. I disagree. In all of Goldman's movies, his humor—and his humanity—shines through, even in deadly serious movies such as All the President's Men. BTW, I was saddened to learn in this book that Goldman regrets his involvement with All the President's Men, for which he won his second Academy Award for adapted screenplay in 1977.

I’ve gotten at least 3 movies that I have to see now that I never would have if I hadn’t read this book! What’s fascinating about the criticisms of the script - which I saw no problem with on first reading - is not just how correct they are about the holes in the script, but about the details that they red flag are minute (my-noot?). The little details are what completely blows the whole premise out of the water!And the critiques from the Farrelly Brothers, Callie Khouri, and other fellow screenwriters felt very flat and redundant. And oddly truncated. Whoever invented the meeting must have had Hollywood in mind. I think they should consider giving Oscars for meetings: Best Meeting of the Year, Best Supporting Meeting, Best Meeting Based on Material from Another Meeting.” I’ve written this before and please tattoo it behind your eyeballs: we are all at one another’s mercy…” 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. This is really the most badass thing I’ve ever read in a script writing book (and I’ve read a few).

Goldman has a gift for writing amiable anecdotes about Hollywood. They read very conversational and fun to read, and are aided by Goldman's insight into historically significant figures from film and stuff. It's so interesting to see insights into Michael Douglas' skills as a producer, or Clint Eastwood's stiff cool as a director, and numerous other examples. He’s written a script and he’s not just telling you to finish it, he’s showing you the thought process and the ideas about how the scenes should work. And none of it is set in stone, in the sense that he’s not saying “this works” and “that doesn’t” but a much more nuanced idea of what might work and what might not.Wow! This book is amazing. It tells the kind of wisdom that can only be gained from being in the trenches. The very words and ideas and id’s that can show why it’s almost impossible to get ANYTHING good made in Hollywood. A master class. This collection of anecdotes, advice, and essays is one of the most engaging pieces of writing that I’ve read. Just an old pro relating his experiences and humbly passing on what he knows. There is a great deal of wisdom to be found in this book. I suppose some could find his tone curmudgeonly, but I like to think of it as old school and iconoclastic, he’s going to tell you how he sees things and not kiss anyone's ass along the way. Bottom line: Goldman knows his way around a screenplay, and this book is his behind-the-scenes look at his experience of the movie-making process.

If you haven't, I highly recommend "Adventures In The Screen Trade" as a book with very similar structure that was honestly better than this one. The breakdown in "Butch Cassidy and Sundance" from that book alone... In the 1980s he wrote a series of memoirs looking at his professional life on Broadway and in Hollywood (in one of these he famously remarked that "Nobody knows anything"). He then returned to writing novels. He then adapted his novel The Princess Bride to the screen, which marked his re-entry into screenwriting. 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). The second part is an analysis of six scenes (well, seven, but six movies). This part is all about the writing of these scenes, why they work and - sometimes - why they were written. This section spoke to the (aspiring? dying?) writer in me; craft discussed all over the place, what does it mean to write, how is structure affected by the scenes we write (or don't write) ... a writer's dream.Apart from recounting his own experiences in Hollywood (or "Out There" as Goldman calls it) from 1985 until just prior to the book's publication in 2000, Goldman also analyzes key scenes from films like "Fargo" and "When Harry Met Sally," explaining what makes these scenes work from a filmmaker's point of view. He also introduces several story ideas, presents a potential synopsis that could lead to a "selling script" (the script that gets the studio to buy your work and make the movie), and then explains why or why not he personally would be interested in that script. Finally, he presents parts of an original screenplay ("The Big A") and gives the reader the responses of several fellow writers who looked it over to give often harsh but potentially helpful pieces of advice.

WOW! Bill’s friends dump all over him - and they are absolutely right! I wish I had friends that honest! PS-The title of this book is a PUN on the title: " Adventures in the Skin Trade, a collection of stories by Dylan Thomas. Studio executives are intelligent, brutally overworked men and women who share one thing in common with baseball managers: they wake up every morning of the world with the knowledge that sooner or later they're going to get fired.” Goldman shares many wonderful inside stories, and he settles some old scores. I came away from the book convinced that no one in Hollywood can be trusted, and everyone acts in their self interest, especially famous stars like Robert Redford and Dustin Hoffman. Sure, Goldman has some nice things to say about Paul Newman, Richard Attenborough, and Joseph E. Levine, but generally Hollywood is a nest of vipers. 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

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Part Three: Da Vinci—A screenwriting workshop that takes one of Goldman's early short stories, adapts it into a screen treatment, and then runs it by colleagues on their thoughts on taking the script to production. The situation was now getting the least bit uncomfortable. “If it’s a woman it’s either Streisand or Julie Andrews.” Part three isn't a good introduction to either writing screenplays or writing, but I sure did find it useful. Goldman hammers home many of the oft-repeated (but for a reason) messages of screenwriting, particularly his emphasis on structure. He's a wonderful storyteller and his adaption example is so ridiculous, that it's impressive to watch how he makes such a trite concept almost work.