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

Book Overview

"An under-read and engaging show-biz memoir." -The New Yorker

"If I had a talent for anything, it was a talent for knowing who was talented."
Mike Medavoy is a Hollywood rarity: a studio executive who, though never far from controversy, has remained well loved and respected through four decades of moviemaking. What further sets him apart is his role in bringing to the screen some of the most acclaimed Oscar-winning...

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0743400550
• ISBN13: 9780743400558
• Release Date: January 2003
• Publisher: Atria Books
• Length: 416 Pages
• Weight: 0.90 lbs.
• Dimensions: 1.0" x 6.0" x 8.5"

Customer Reviews

You're Only as Good as Your Next One by Mike Medavoy

Mike Medavoy's Bio is a very good educational book Dear Sirs: (...) I spend all my days after school and during the week-ends watching movies at home with my friends and our parents. We like, especially, all the Mike Medavoy's movies: Holes, Apocalypse Now, Rocky, Basic, Robocop, Cliffhanger, The 6th Day, Apt Pupil, The Thin Red Line, Terminator, Hook, Platoon... We like his movies because he is a producer with conscience. For these reasons I think that the Mike Medavoy's Bio is a very good educational book. This book really deserves to be distributed in all the Schools, Colleges and Universities of Cinema of the Country (Hey, teacher, thank you!). Plus I really think that Mr. Medavoy is a Good Man, a Good Son, a Good Father and a Good Friend. He never judge the other People (he just writes the history) and he is always helping a lot of great talents. He is an unique human being in Hollywood. Mike Medavoy knows how to do movies with an extraordinary talent and with great love. (...)

Great Insider Hollywood Memoir

I would normally run from a Hollywood memoir as they are usually self-serving and boring. Medavoy's is the exception. He candidly describes his adventures in movie making over a 30 year span and admits his mistakes as well as his triumphs. Surprisingly, the book is very interesting from cover to cover. Few people have had such a long and diverse career in entertainment as Medavoy. If you are interested in the real Hollywood, I heartily recommend this book.

AN INSIDE LOOK AT HOLLYWOOD'S BUSINESS AS USUAL

There is nothing simple about being a success in making movies. It is a time consuming endeavor and one that requires truckloads of money at (great) risk. Mike Medavoy & Josh Young make their story interesting from beginning to end and talk more of the business end of films as that is Mike's expertise. There are a few stories about stars, but primarily it is the problems encountered in making and financing a movie. I learned a lot about the film industry which is now approaching an entirely new way of doing things as regards the technical composition (digital and computer enhanced)as touched on at the end of this book. This is an intelligent and interesting book about filmmaking.

Fascinating Take on the Film Industry - 1970's and Beyond

A fascinating take on the film industry from both an agent's/producer's point of view. A number of the films he's had a direct handle in are amongst my all time favorite list and it's interesting to read backstage stories about the process, how these films came to be and how sometimes it's merely the luck of the draw. Kudos to Mr. Michael Medavoy for an extremely well written book as well as a long and distinguished career. His book is enjoyable from start to finish.

the insider

My friend gave me a copy of this and I couldn't put it down. Medavoy gives a killer insider's view of what it is really like to run a film studio. If you want to know what really went on behind great films like Silence of the Lambs and Rocky, Medavoy tells you. There are great stories about Robert Redford and Kevin Costner, but the funniest is about Madonna trying to get her first movie. Recommended for people who want to know more about the behind the scenes of movies in the 70's, 80's and 90's.