Working in Hollywood

This in-depth, behind-the-scenes look at the making of movies introduces readers to make-up crews, gaffers, editors, writers, sound persons, projectionists, and others

Watching TV or films, have you sometimes wondered about the meaning of such end-credit terms as gaffer, wrangler, key grip, timers and matte painter? Who these people are and what tasks they perform are explained here by a Paramount production person and her screenwriter husband in 60 interviews with 13 categories of deal makers, laborers, craftspeople, technicians, artists, executives and other "unsung workers behind the camera," with over a dozen Academy Award winners and nominees among them. Each interviewee answers two fundamental questions: What does your job entail? What is the best way to get started in your particular line of work? For anyone who wants to know how movies are made or is curious about behind-the-scenes Hollywood, this is the book to consult.
Copyright 1990 Reed Business Information, Inc.

This is an interesting concept: taking the average movies' credit roll, the authors examine 65 different "jobs"--before, during, and after production--mainly via interviews with notable practitioners. Interviewees from wranglers to matte artists, grips to unit publicists, casting directors to sound editors (alas, no foley walkers), explain what, how, and sometimes why (other than the very good money) they do what they do to get what we see and hear up on the screen. This guide to the "factory" is informative but not overly technical, telling precisely how movies are made. It offers some far-from-bleak tips on how to break into the relevant, still Catch-22ish, Hollywood unions.
- David Bartholomew, NYPL
Copyright 1990 Reed Business Information, Inc.