Listen free for 30 days
-
Hollywood vs. The Author
- Narrated by: P. J. Ochlan, Simon Mattacks, Stephen Jay Schwartz, Alan Jacobson, Tess Gerritsen, Lee Goldberg, Naomi Hirahara, Joshua Corin, Andrew Kaplan, Lawrence Block, Diana Gould, Rob Roberge, Alexandra Sokoloff, James Brown
- Length: 7 hrs and 9 mins
- Unabridged Audiobook
- Categories: Literature & Fiction, Essays
Add to basket failed.
Add to wishlist failed.
Remove from wishlist failed.
Follow podcast failed
Unfollow podcast failed
Listen with a free trial
Buy Now for £27.49
No valid payment method on file.
We are sorry. We are not allowed to sell this product with the selected payment method
Listeners also enjoyed...
-
Immune
- By: Philipp Dettmer
- Narrated by: Steve Taylor
- Length: 10 hrs and 28 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Challenging what you know and think about your own body and how it defends you against all sorts of maladies and how it might also eventually be your own downfall, Immune is a vital and remarkably fun crash course in what is arguably, and increasingly, the most important system in the body.
-
-
a must read for everyone
- By Arun Mohan on 23-11-21
-
7 Figure Fiction: How to Use Universal Fantasy to Sell Your Books to Anyone
- By: T Taylor
- Narrated by: T. Taylor
- Length: 3 hrs and 28 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
There are only, in my humble opinion, two kinds of readers: readers who love your books and readers who don’t know they love your books yet. But how do you reach those readers in the second category, no matter what kind of writer you are? The answer to that question is...universal fantasy. Universal fantasy is why my sales tripled when I “accidentally” wrote three books that landed in the Amazon Top 100. Universal fantasy is why some authors get gobs of gushing reviews and some authors who write “way better” get crickets.
-
-
Loved this book - enlightening and read in funny, energetic style
- By jiayi on 27-01-22
-
Roger Corman
- Blood-Sucking Vampires, Flesh-Eating Cockroaches, and Driller Killers 3rd edition
- By: Beverly Gray
- Narrated by: Collene Curran
- Length: 10 hrs and 46 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Roger Corman reigns supreme as the godfather of independent filmmaking. Since 1954, he has produced 400-plus movies on shoestring budgets, blending action, sex, humor, and social message into hip (and profitable) entertainments. He has also demonstrated an uncanny eye for talent, launching the Hollywood careers of Jack Nicholson, Peter Fonda, Martin Scorsese, Jonathan Demme, and James Cameron, to name just a few.
-
-
great book horrible narration
- By Anonymous User on 28-06-22
-
Final Cuts
- The Last Films of 50 Great Directors
- By: Nat Segaloff
- Narrated by: Nat Segaloff
- Length: 10 hrs and 23 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Critic-producer Nat Segaloff was granted access to private papers, production records, never-before-published interviews, and specialized archives in reconstructing the colorful, touching, and sometimes scandalous stories behind the making of the last films of some of Hollywood's top directors.
-
On Writing
- By: Stephen King
- Narrated by: Stephen King
- Length: 7 hrs and 59 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
In June of 1999, Stephen King was hit by a van while walking along the shoulder of a country road in Maine. Six operations were required to save his life and mend his broken body. When he was finally able to sit up, he immediately started writing. This book - part biography, part a collection of tips for the aspiring writer - is the extraordinary result.
-
-
Great personal insight
- By Blinkinmarvellous on 13-04-13
-
These Are the Voyages, TOS, Season One, Volume 1
- By: Marc Cushman, Susan Osborn
- Narrated by: Vic Mignogna
- Length: 27 hrs and 55 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
These Are the Voyages - The Original Series, Season One , at 28 hours, is perhaps the most ambitious audiobook undertaken. Narrated by Vic Mignogna (Executive Producer and Captain Kirk in the web-series Star Trek Continues), this "audio play" documents the creation of the Star Trek TV series and production of its two pilot films and the 28 episodes from its formative first season (1966-67). This unparalleled production boasts a cast of nearly 100, including the voices of many of those who helped make the first Star Trek series.
-
Immune
- By: Philipp Dettmer
- Narrated by: Steve Taylor
- Length: 10 hrs and 28 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Challenging what you know and think about your own body and how it defends you against all sorts of maladies and how it might also eventually be your own downfall, Immune is a vital and remarkably fun crash course in what is arguably, and increasingly, the most important system in the body.
-
-
a must read for everyone
- By Arun Mohan on 23-11-21
-
7 Figure Fiction: How to Use Universal Fantasy to Sell Your Books to Anyone
- By: T Taylor
- Narrated by: T. Taylor
- Length: 3 hrs and 28 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
There are only, in my humble opinion, two kinds of readers: readers who love your books and readers who don’t know they love your books yet. But how do you reach those readers in the second category, no matter what kind of writer you are? The answer to that question is...universal fantasy. Universal fantasy is why my sales tripled when I “accidentally” wrote three books that landed in the Amazon Top 100. Universal fantasy is why some authors get gobs of gushing reviews and some authors who write “way better” get crickets.
-
-
Loved this book - enlightening and read in funny, energetic style
- By jiayi on 27-01-22
-
Roger Corman
- Blood-Sucking Vampires, Flesh-Eating Cockroaches, and Driller Killers 3rd edition
- By: Beverly Gray
- Narrated by: Collene Curran
- Length: 10 hrs and 46 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Roger Corman reigns supreme as the godfather of independent filmmaking. Since 1954, he has produced 400-plus movies on shoestring budgets, blending action, sex, humor, and social message into hip (and profitable) entertainments. He has also demonstrated an uncanny eye for talent, launching the Hollywood careers of Jack Nicholson, Peter Fonda, Martin Scorsese, Jonathan Demme, and James Cameron, to name just a few.
-
-
great book horrible narration
- By Anonymous User on 28-06-22
-
Final Cuts
- The Last Films of 50 Great Directors
- By: Nat Segaloff
- Narrated by: Nat Segaloff
- Length: 10 hrs and 23 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Critic-producer Nat Segaloff was granted access to private papers, production records, never-before-published interviews, and specialized archives in reconstructing the colorful, touching, and sometimes scandalous stories behind the making of the last films of some of Hollywood's top directors.
-
On Writing
- By: Stephen King
- Narrated by: Stephen King
- Length: 7 hrs and 59 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
In June of 1999, Stephen King was hit by a van while walking along the shoulder of a country road in Maine. Six operations were required to save his life and mend his broken body. When he was finally able to sit up, he immediately started writing. This book - part biography, part a collection of tips for the aspiring writer - is the extraordinary result.
-
-
Great personal insight
- By Blinkinmarvellous on 13-04-13
-
These Are the Voyages, TOS, Season One, Volume 1
- By: Marc Cushman, Susan Osborn
- Narrated by: Vic Mignogna
- Length: 27 hrs and 55 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
These Are the Voyages - The Original Series, Season One , at 28 hours, is perhaps the most ambitious audiobook undertaken. Narrated by Vic Mignogna (Executive Producer and Captain Kirk in the web-series Star Trek Continues), this "audio play" documents the creation of the Star Trek TV series and production of its two pilot films and the 28 episodes from its formative first season (1966-67). This unparalleled production boasts a cast of nearly 100, including the voices of many of those who helped make the first Star Trek series.
-
Trumbo
- A Biography of the Oscar-Winning Screenwriter Who Broke the Hollywood Blacklist
- By: Bruce Cook
- Narrated by: Luke Daniels
- Length: 14 hrs and 18 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
A central figure in the Hollywood Ten and one of the most successful screenwriters in Hollywood history, Trumbo epitomized the spirit of American capitalism, yet he went to jail refusing to talk about his membership in the Communist party.
-
-
Disappointing
- By Amazon Customer on 05-03-16
-
Where Did I Go Right?
- You're No One in Hollywood Unless Someone Wants You Dead
- By: Bernie Brillstein, David Rensin
- Narrated by: Bernie Brillstein
- Length: 6 hrs and 30 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Where Did I Go Right? is Bernie Brillstein's street-smart, funny, and thoroughly human account of his life in show business. With a trademark wit and candor, Bernie speaks out about a number of celebrities and agents. Among his accounts are those of his feud with Mike Ovitz, his feelings to no longer be the king after passing on the leadership of his company to his partner, Brad Grey, his close relationship with Jim Belushi and Jim Henson, and stories of Gilda Radner and Lorne Michaels.
-
Writing the TV Drama Series
- How to Succeed as a Professional Writer in TV
- By: Pamela Douglas
- Narrated by: Charon Normand-Widmer
- Length: 13 hrs and 17 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
This revised and updated edition is a complete resource for anyone who wants to write and produce a television drama series or create an original series, as well as for teachers in screenwriting classes and workshops. It leads listeners step-by-step through each stage of the development and writing process, offering practical industry information and artistic inspiration. This edition also takes listeners into the future, engaging provocative issues about the interface between traditional TV and emerging technologies.
-
Why Does the Screenwriter Cross the Road?
- And Other Screenwriting Secrets
- By: Joe Gilford
- Narrated by: Joe Gilford
- Length: 7 hrs and 10 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Writers will understand why they're stuck and how to get unstuck through proven methods of breaking the logjam of self-judging and second-guessing that keeps good screenplays from being finished. Attain confidence by knowing your story is clear and solid. Seal out negative influences such as industry experts and fleeting trends. This is a way to write a script with integrity that makes a screenplay story-worthy. This is how to write a screenplay that works.
-
Leading Lady
- Sherry Lansing and the Making of a Hollywood Groundbreaker
- By: Stephen Galloway
- Narrated by: Kirsten Potter
- Length: 14 hrs
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
The definitive biography of movie executive and philanthropist Sherry Lansing traces her groundbreaking journey to become the first female head of a major motion picture studio, shares behind-the-scenes tales from movie sets and Hollywood boardrooms, and explains what inspired her to walk away from it all to start the Sherry Lansing Foundation.
-
The Fifty-Year Mission: The Complete, Uncensored, Unauthorized Oral History of Star Trek: The First 25 Years
- By: Edward Gross, Mark A. Altman, Seth MacFarlane - foreword
- Narrated by: Helen Litchfield, Alex Hyde-White, Jason Olazabal, and others
- Length: 23 hrs and 16 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
The original Star Trek series debuted in 1966 and has spawned five TV series spin-offs and a dozen feature films, with an upcoming one from Paramount arriving in 2016. The Fifty-Year Mission is a no-holds-barred oral history of five decades of Star Trek, told by the people who were there. Hear from the hundreds of television and film executives, programmers, writers, creators, and cast as they unveil the oftentimes shocking story of Star Trek's ongoing 50-year mission.
-
-
Style takes getting used to
- By Etienne-Paul on 31-07-18
-
Fiction Attack!
- Insider Secrets for Writing and Selling Your Novels & Stories For Self-Published and Traditional Authors
- By: James Scott Bell
- Narrated by: Basil Sands
- Length: 6 hrs and 55 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Learn the inner secrets of selling fiction to an ever-increasing audience of readers! Bestselling author and writing coach James Scott Bell brings you powerhouse techniques and strategies in this collection, much of which is from his popular posts at The Kill Zone blog. If you're serious about selling your fiction, Fiction Attack! is your battle plan for breakthrough.
-
-
Loads of content
- By rob y on 20-01-18
-
The Successful Novelist
- By: David Morrell
- Narrated by: Patrick Lawlor
- Length: 8 hrs and 45 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
David Morrell, best-selling author of First Blood, The Brotherhood of the Rose and The Fifth Profession, distills four decades of writing and publishing experience into this single masterwork of advice and instruction for fiction writers looking to make it big in the publishing world. With advice proven to create successful novels,
-
How to Write a Screenplay That Doesn't Suck and Will Actually Sell
- ScriptBully Book Series
- By: Michael Rogan
- Narrated by: Greg Zarcone
- Length: 1 hr and 14 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
There are nearly 50,000 screenplays registered with the Writer’s Guild every year. And 99 percent of them suck. But they don’t have to. That’s why I decided to write this book. So before you head out to another hundred-dollar screenwriting conference to learn how to write a screenplay or buy another paint-by-the-numbers 3-act script formula give my book a try. I can’t guarantee you’ll sell your script.
-
-
very solid advice.
- By ITellThee on 11-05-16
-
Make Art Make Money
- Lessons from Jim Henson on Fueling Your Creative Career
- By: Elizabeth Hyde Stevens
- Narrated by: Mary Robinette Kowal
- Length: 12 hrs and 27 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
In our culture, artistic genius and poverty seem inevitably linked, but does it have to be that way? Jim Henson didn’t think so. An iconic creator and savvy businessman, Henson is a model for artists everywhere: Without sacrificing his creative vision, Henson built an empire of lovable Muppets that continues to educate and inspire - and a business that was worth $150 million at the time of his death. How did he ever pull it off? And how can other creators follow in his path?
-
You're Only as Good as Your Next One
- 100 Great Films, 100 Good Films, and 100 for which I Should Be Shot
- By: Mike Medavoy, Josh Young
- Narrated by: Robertson Dean
- Length: 13 hrs and 18 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Mike Medavoy is a Hollywood rarity: a studio executive who, though never far from controversy, remained loved and respected through four decades of moviemaking. He helped bring to the screen some of the most acclaimed Oscar-winning films of our time, including Apocalypse Now, One Flew over the Cuckoo's Nest, Amadeus, The Silence of the Lambs, Philadelphia, and Sleepless in Seattle.
-
-
Interesting
- By Trebor on 19-09-15
-
True Indie
- Life and Death in Filmmaking
- By: Don Coscarelli
- Narrated by: Don Coscarelli
- Length: 11 hrs and 51 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Best known for his horror/sci-fi/fantasy films including Phantasm, The Beastmaster, Bubba Ho-tep, and John Dies at the End, now Don Coscarelli’s taking you on a white-knuckle ride through the rough and tumble world of indie film. This memoir fits an entire film school education into a single audiobook. It’s loaded with behind-the-scenes stories and will prove indispensable for fans of Coscarelli’s movies, aspiring filmmakers, and anyone who loves a story of an underdog who prevails while not betraying what he believes.
-
-
It's not always about the movie.
- By fraser on 16-07-19
Summary
It’s no secret that authors have a love-hate relationship with Hollywood. The oft-repeated cliché that “the book was better than the movie” holds true for more reasons than the average reader will ever know. When asked about selling their book rights to Hollywood authors like to joke that they drive their manuscripts to the border of Arizona and California and toss them over the fence, driving back the way they came at breakneck speed. This is probably because Hollywood just doesn’t “get it.” Its vision for the film or TV series rarely seems to match the vision of the author. And for those rare individuals who’ve had the fortune of sitting across the desk from one of the myriad, interchangeable development execs praising the brilliance of their work while ticking off a never-ending list of notes for the rewrite, the pros of pitching their work to Hollywood rarely outweigh the cons.
Stephen Jay Schwartz has sat on both sides of that desk - first as the Director of Development for film director Wolfgang Petersen, then as a screenwriter and author pitching his work to the film and television industry. He’s seen all sides of what is known in this small community as “Development Hell.” The process is both amusing and heartbreaking. Most authors whose work contains a modicum of commercial potential eventually find themselves in “the room” taking a shot at seeing their creations re-visualized by agents, producers or development executives. What they often discover is that their audience is younger and less worldly as themselves. What passes for “story notes” is often a mishmash of vaguely connected ideas intended to put the producer’s personal stamp on the project.
Hollywood vs. The Author is a collection of non-fiction anecdotes by authors who’ve had the pleasure of experiencing the development room firsthand - some who have successfully managed to straddle the two worlds, seeing their works morph into the kinds of feature films and TV shows that make them proud, and others who stepped blindsided into that room after selling their first or second novels. All the stories in this collection illustrate the great divide between the world of literature and the big or small screen. They underscore the insanity of every crazy thing you’ve ever heard about Hollywood. For insiders and outsiders alike, Hollywood vs. The Author delivers the goods.
More from the same
Narrator
What listeners say about Hollywood vs. The Author
Average customer ratingsReviews - Please select the tabs below to change the source of reviews.
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story

- David E. Allen
- 30-07-19
Very helpful!
Loved hearing the writers speak for themselves. The ones who didn’t, it was still great! The historical part was also interesting.
Congrats to Mr. Schwartz for doing a great job of helping us understand more of the inner workings. As a film producer of 8 features, I get so frustrated at execs putting their own spin on authors’ stories. If they wish to do that, then WHY did they purchase the story in the first place? I really feel for those writers who lose control of their work to studios who then just sit on it (usually to make sure no other studio can make it) without making it.
The writer is on a huge pedestal with me, and I try so hard to keep everything as I read it in the original story that hooked me.
Thank you Stephen for working so hard on this project!
2 people found this helpful
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story

- Kevin Potter
- 06-06-19
Enlightening and a little... Disturbing
I cannot overstate this. Any author or screenwriter with any aspirations of working in Hollywood needs to read this book.
It's not all horror stories of being mistreated or having work stolen, some writers have great experiences. But there is most definitely a dark side to Hollywood and anyone with plans to work in the industry should absolutely go into it with an understanding of the very real risks.
2 people found this helpful
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story

- Jerri Williams - Author and Podcaster
- 21-11-21
Thanks for the Warning
As an author in the process of pitching her work to studios, this book is invaluable. It doesn’t discourage me from hoping to pursue a development deal, but does prepare me for all the possible outcomes, good and bad.
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story

- Larry
- 12-04-19
Good for Wannabe Screenwriters
Interesting to read how the movie industry works and how writers are frequently treated in the process. However, unless you are in that industry the book is probably going to be boring after one or two short essays.