Film & TV

From the Academy Award-winning actor, an unconventional memoir filled with raucous stories, outlaw wisdom and lessons learned the hard way about living with greater satisfaction....

At the age of 9, Romesh Ranganathan delivered his first ever stand-up set at a Pontin's Holiday Camp talent competition, smashing the only other competitor, a young girl playing the kazoo.... 

Bryan Cranston landed his first role at seven, when his father, a struggling actor and director, cast him in a commercial....

At 95, the legendary Mel Brooks continues to set the standard for comedy across television, film, and the stage. Now, for the first time, this EGOT (Emmy, Grammy, Oscar, Tony) winner shares his story in his own words....

The woman behind the icon known as Elvira, Mistress of the Dark, the undisputed Queen of Halloween, reveals her full story, filled with intimate bombshells - and told by the bombshell herself....

A sharp eye for detail and a wicked ear for the absurdities of life, Dawn French shows just how an RAF girl from the West Country dreaming of becoming a ballerina/bridesmaid/thief rose to become one of the best-loved comedy actresses of our time.

In the olden days, people used to learn about things from encyclopedias. And that was really good, because you could read it, and learn it, then you could stop worrying about thinking....  

Peopled with a wonderful collection of warm, wicked, and weird characters, Vic Reeves' memoir is an enchanting, surreal, and utterly hilarious comic gem....

For 10 years, Louis Theroux has been making programmes about off-beat characters on the fringes of US society....

Zombies in North London, death cults in the West Country, the engineering deck of the Enterprise....

With over 100 movies to his credit over five decades, Hollywood legend and British national treasure Michael Caine shares the wisdom, stories, insight and skills for success in life that acting has taught him in his remarkable career....

Here's what started the phenomenon: This book has been a best seller for over 15 years and has been used by screenwriters around the world! Blake Snyder tells all in this fast, funny, and candid look inside the movie business....

It won six Oscars and has been hailed as the greatest action film ever, but it is a miracle Mad Max: Fury Road ever made it to the screen…or that anybody survived the production. The story of this modern classic spanned nearly two decades of wild obstacles....

This next book, an “Act II” if you will, could be considered my “maturing years” in show business, when I began to say “no” more often and gravitated toward self-generated material....

Three series of the radio show blending comedy, science and stupid questions - plus Edinburgh Special....

In this powerful and evocative memoir, Oscar-winning Director and Screenwriter Oliver Stone, takes us right to the heart of what it's like to make movies on the edge....

Read by Academy Award Winner David Niven.
Rich in hilarious anecdote, Niven tells the story of his school and Sandhurst days...

Simon Amstell did his first stand-up gig at the age of 13. His parents had just divorced, and puberty was confusing. Trying to be funny solved everything....

From his early days videotaping skateboard stunts to starring in the blockbuster Jackass franchise, there was little that Stephen “Steve-O” Glover wouldn’t do for attention....

As an apple-cheeked bubbly child, Julianna was bestowed with the family nickname “Sunshine Girl”. Shuttled back and forth between her divorced parents, often on different continents, she quickly learned how to be of value to her eccentric mother....

For 13 years, 22 series and 175 shows, Richard Porter was script editor of Top Gear, from the first faltering pilot episode in 2002 until the very last show presented by Jeremy Clarkson.....

All 18 episodes of Radio 4's word-obsessed comedy panel game hosted by Gyles Brandreth, where stars from across the world of wordplay come together to guess the meanings of now-obsolete words....

Micky has become one of the hottest new comics....

Explore the history and cultural impact of a groundbreaking television show adored by old and new fans alike: Buffy the Vampire Slayer....

Are men supposed to be fighters? Lovers? Hunter-gatherers? Fashionistas? Business gurus? Culinary experts? You’re wrong if you think one man can’t be a jack and a master of all trades....

Becoming a director is not just about making a film, webseries, commercial, or music video. The opportunity to direct for television is not a given because you’ve successfully completed a project in another medium. Turning your passion into your profession requires the ability to make transitions at the exact moment a pivot is needed, with creativity and confidence. This book helps directors across all mediums shape their career with targeted anecdotes, worksheets, and other resources, all of which fall into three designated categories: how-to, self-help, and inspiration.

Harry Cohn was the cofounder and president of Columbia Pictures, which he ran from the 1930s through the 1950s. Cohn—who abhorred personal publicity—left no writings, made no speeches, and rarely submitted to interviews. Despite this, acclaimed biographer Bob Thomas brilliantly illuminates the life of the powerful but elusive studio head in King Cohn: The Life and Times of Hollywood Mogul Harry Cohn. Thomas details the studio head's rise from a New York City song-plugger to a Poverty Row impresario, highlighting his reign as one of the most powerful men in Hollywood.

Whether it is a director insisting on a final cut, a star demanding a bigger motor home, a producer holding the line on a budget, or a grip with a gripe, it seems that the world of moviemaking is nothing but Sturm und Drang. Shoot Out presents a raucous look at how movies get made and the players involved, from writers, producers, directors, and stars to agents and marketers. For film buffs, aspiring filmmakers, students, and anyone else intrigued by the inner workings of Hollywood, this is the quintessential take on the how, who, what, and why of the film business.

From one of the most successful and influential producers in the entertainment industry—responsible for such classics as Roots, The Thorn Birds, and L.A. Confidential—comes a fascinating memoir of life at the very hub of Hollywood. Wolper enjoyed staggering success yet remained down-to-earth. By combining flexibility, resourcefulness, and determination, Wolper produced landmark documentaries, films, miniseries, and other cultural touchstones of the twentieth century. Producer is the engaging and inspiring memoir of a true entertainment pioneer.

In Pure Evil, Balaji Vittal examines, in delicious detail, the misdeeds of the gangster, the sly relative, the corrupt policeman, the psychopathic killer.... A roller-coaster ride looking at the changing face of the Hindi film villain. 

Is any superhero cooler than Batman? He’s a crime-fighting vigilante with a tragic past, a lawless attitude, and a seemingly endless supply of high-tech gadgetry. In this memoir, author Michael E. Uslan recalls his journey from early childhood fandom through to the decades he spent on a caped crusade of his own: to bring Batman to the silver screen as the dark, serious character he was at heart.

The work of Stanley Kubrick amounts to a sustained reflection on the male condition: past, present, and future. The persistent theme of his filmmaking is less violence or sex than it is the pressurized exertion of masculinity in unusual or extreme circumstances, where it may be taxed or exaggerated to various effects, tragic and comic—or metamorphosed, distorted, and even undone.

Honest, raw and very funny, Selin Sevinç's musings on the art of screenwriting shine light on the illusive craft which plays such a pivotal role in the movie making process. In-between recollecting on her efforts to make unique stories in a industry seemingly interested only in identikit movies, Sevinç blends in darkly amusing tales of homelife and motherhood in Oregon, US, and reminisces on her own childhood growing up in Turkey. In the latter sections, Sevinç shares guidance with the listener on how to make thought-provoking and meaningful screenplays.

In Buddha and the Dancing Girl, Catherine Ann Jones generously shares experiences most of us will never have: acting on the stage and screen, living for years in a South Indian hut, writing award-winning plays and screenplays, and lecturing internationally. Yet her memoir offers a deeper gift: spiritual and psychological wisdom distilled from a lifetime of reflection 

Academy Award-winning director Michael Curtiz—whose best-known films include Casablanca, Yankee Doodle Dandy, Mildred Pierce, and White Christmas—was in many ways the anti-auteur. During his 27-year tenure at Warner Bros., he directed swashbuckling adventures, Westerns, musicals, war epics, romances, historical dramas, horror films, tearjerkers, melodramas, comedies, and film noir masterpieces. In the first biography of this colorful, instinctual artist, Alan K. Rode illuminates the life and work of one of the film industry's most complex figures.

One of the most challenging aspects of screenwriting is character development. The reason for this is because it is so easy to create characters that are simply carbon-copies of one another. This sounds harmless in theory, but your screenplay, novel, or book suffers in the long run because the characters lack substance, depth, and relatability. With this audiobook, I take away all the guesswork by honing in on the top 12 elements that are needed to create characters that are beautifully human, authentic, compelling, and three-dimensional. Step into my office and let's get started!

Emmy-winning editor Jordan Goldman, ACE, takes you inside the cutting room and pulls back the curtain on how and why directors, showrunners, and editors decide whether your performance makes it to the screen. He explains the key things actors should do—and shouldn't do—to avoid getting cut out. Topics include what an editor does, how editors evaluate your work, why actors get cut, what you can control, and what you can't control.

This laugh-out-loud memoir takes listeners backstage and inside the writers’ room of one of America’s best-loved shows. With more than 17 million viewers and more than 70 Emmy nominations—including two wins for best comedy—Everybody Loves Raymond reigned supreme in television comedy for almost a decade. 

More than 85 years after his untimely death at just age 37, Irving Thalberg remains a legendary Hollywood figure. Called the “Boy Wonder of Hollywood,” Thalberg quickly climbed the ranks at MGM studios to become one of the most powerful and high-profile producers of the time, elevating filmmaking to an art form. In this definitive biography, Bob Thomas brings Thalberg's legend to life, recounting how the producer's remarkable talent for developing stars and scripts led to the creation of beloved movies such as Ben-Hur, Romeo and Juliet, and Camille.

This is a collection of twenty-three original interviews with stars of the silent screen, with biographical information and a filmography included for each. Interviewed are Lew Ayres, William Bakewell, Lina Basquette, Madge Bellamy, Eleanor Boardman, Ethlyne Clair, Junior Coghlan, Joyce Compton, Douglas Fairbanks Jr., Dorothy Gulliver, Maxine Elliott Hicks, Dorothy Janis, George Lewis, Marion Mack, Patsy Ruth Miller, Lois Moran, Baby Marie Osborne, Muriel Ostriche, Eddie Quillan, Esther Ralston, Dorothy Revier, David Rollins, and Gladys Walton.