Reel Power: The Struggle for Influence and Success in the New Hollywood

by Mark Litwak

Book Overview

A comprehensive look at how today's Hollywood works -- who has the power and how deals are made. Drawing on interviews with more than 200 Hollywood insiders -- writers, directors, performers, agents,... This description may be from another edition of this product.

• Format: Hardcover
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0688048897
• ISBN13: 9780688048891
• Release Date: January 1986
• Publisher: William Morrow & Company
• Length: 336 Pages
• Weight: 1.50 lbs.

Customer Reviews

And leave a good-looking corpse

This book may be a little outdated--but sadly, probably not that much. What it's done for me is reinforce my belief that there is little point in trying to work in today's Hollywood. Not if you aspire to make films with any insight at all into what used to be called The Human Condition. It's a factory town, and films get made not because of original characters or stories but because the system has to be kept moving. And I don't think I'm feeling particuarly cynical about this tonight just because I saw George Lucas' latest disagreeable contribution to a town and system he claims to despise today. It's just that it's been years since I saw a studio picture that seemed alive.

Informative

I bought this book mainly due to the fact that i have cleaned out the world of Hollywood Biogs and this was one of the few that i dont own. But i have to say that out of all the ones ive read, this has to be one of the most informative that ive EVER read. Ive been writing screenplays for a number of years and within three chapters of this book, it has caused me to realise that the direction ive been going in, is the wrong one. This book has put me on the correct path. It gives the best insight to the studios, the agents, and the politics of the movie capital of the world ( Hollywood, not Bollywood) Anyone wanting to learn how things work in the film world, should buy this book. Im glad i did, and i cant recomend it high enough. Mark Litwak knows what hes writing and talking about. And to Mark, thanks for showing me the way.Stuart Bannerman Bannerman12@btinternet.com

Extremely helpful, cynical overview of New Hollywood

George Lucas said, "From my point of view, the film industry died in 1965." After reading Mark Litwak's comprehensive overview of the New Hollywood system, I have to agree. Litwak painstakingly outlines the changes that have occurred following the break up of the studio system, both in terms of the rise of agents and agencies as power brokers and in terms of the emphasis placed on star packaging. REEL POWER gets much of its power from extensive interviews with those on the front lines of filmmaking as well as the powerful elite. Litwak does an excellent job of weaving quotes and anecdotes throughout his explanation of the system, a system which seems to run on fear and ego. One of the strongest elements of this text is its clear and savvy organization. Litwak breaks down his analysis by the trends that characterize New Hollywood -- the rise of CAA, the role of deal-making and the new power brokers -- and the major roles in the business -- writers, directors, actors, producers. He spends some time discussing other, less well-known aspects of the business, including independent filmmaking, marketing, distriubtion and exhibition. One of the purposes of REEL POWER is to debunk some of the lingering myths about Hollywood, particularly the notion of overnight success and the casting couch. Overall, this is a comprehensive, thoroughly-researched, well-written cautionary tale about the excesses of an industry that churns out flops as regularly as it dismisses substantive talent in favor of the flavor of the moment.