Books about films...

OK, so Chip memed me ages ago but I'm such a schmuck I'm only now getting around to responding. Yeah, I know; Lame as.

To keep it simple I've only picked three. A lot of good books have already been picked by other, less useless, bloggers. This is what I've come up with...

Film Book Recommendations

An Autobiography by Peter Cushing

Just a very special human being really. I think reading the first chapter of this made me realise that actors were just people like me who liked to play games and make stuff up. A lovely memoir by a remarkable man.



Halliwell's Film Guide by Leslie Halliwell

No, I'm not being facetious (for once). As a wee kid I used to literally read through film guides in general and this one in particular. I'm a little out of touch now as the multiplex pleasers of the last ten years or so have largely turned me off current cinema, there was a time though when if I'd never heard of a film - it probably didn't exist. Thanks Les. One thing though, how does he still churn a new one out every year when he's been dead since 1989?


How to Write a Movie in 21 Days by Viki King

Well it's the classic isn't it. This woman wrote for Hart to Hart for God's sake. And Tim Robbins character in The Player has a copy in his desk drawer. And it was in The Sopranos. This was the first book on writing I ever bought. I know a lot of writers can't stand 'How to' books but I've always found them interesting. There's usually something useful you can take away with you.

Viki managed to get my first screenplay out of me. It was called 'Just Love' and was a gritty action drama about a guy who joined the police after his Dad's murderer was brought to justice but then found it wasn't always that simple and became a vigilante. Actually that sounds pretty good now I write it out. Shame as the script is bollocks but thanks anyway Ms King. Incidentally, she has a website here that also has some useful info.

Thanks for letting me play, Chip. From a quick but exhaustive search of the entire inertweb I have identified the following blogs which have not so far been memed with this one... until now. The Jobbing Scriptwriter, Bloggery Pokery and Jet Packs and Such - you're all it.