These are books I like. They are not necessarilly "how to write movies"
books. There is more to writing movies than books that yell about three
act structure will ever say. There is the world you are entering, this
strange odd world of filmmaking. And special books that take you there.
And show you what is wonderful in it. And what is not. Or just take you
somewhere else for a while. And sometimes make you smile. These are those
books for me. I unpack them first.
:::see at amazon:::
"Conversations with My Agent" by Rob Long is hillarious
and so accurate it maybe should not be funny.
"Love is a Dog from Hell" by Charles Bukowski. When
my head and chest feel empty like there is no more writing in me, I read
"Love is a Dog from Hell" and when I stop, I am not empty any
more.
"A Supposedly Fun Thing I'll Never Do Again" by David
Foster Wallace -- Wallace is brilliant and you have not read real art
until you have read his description of a shipboard cruise.
"40 Stories" by Donald Barthelme is special. My favorite
story is "The Baby." I fall hard for his fairy tale stories
too.
"Captain Underpants and the Invasion of the Incredibly Naughty
Cafeteria Ladies from Outer Space" by Dav Pilkey is funny as
hell and for me a break when nothing is funny anymore.
"Writers Houses" by Marguerite Duras, Francesca Premoli-Droulers,
and Erica Lennard is the coolest book. There are houses in here like William
Faulkner's Mississippi mansion and Ernest Hemingway's Key West house.
"Directing: Film Techniques and Aesthetics" by Michael
Rabiger was required reading in my film classes. As far as I am concerned
it is still required reading.
"The Technique of the Love Affair" by Doris Langley
Moore edited with notes by Norrie Epstein is the book every guy writer
who complains he doesn't understand women should read.
"The Art of War" by Sun Tzu edited and translated
by James Clavell (what, you thought you were going to a picnic in Hollywood?).
Read it till you understand it.
"The Art of Strategy" by R.L. Wing (I repeat, did
you think you were going to a picnic?). This is another translation of
Sun Tzu's work. Read several.
"The Intimacy Struggle" by Janet Woititz is a real
interesting look at relationships, how they work, and how they do not.
"When Your Phone Doesn't Ring It'll Be Me" by Cynthia
Heimel -- Cynthia Heimel is who I want to be when I grow up.
"Breaking the Rules: Last-Ditch Tactics for Landing the Man of
Your Dreams" by Laura Banks and Janette Barber is the book I
quote most in life.
"Francis Ford Coppola's Zoetrope: All Story" by Francis
Ford Coppola (introduction), Adrienne Broeur (editor) and Samantha Schnee
is a collection of amazingly wonderful short stories.
"Ellen Foster" by Kaye Gibbons. Many of Gibbons'
books for me are just okay books, not great, not terrible. Decent fiction.
But not this one. This one is special to me.
"The Art of Makeup" by Kevin Aucoin -- I just wish
I was as good at creating beautiful faces as Kevin Aucoin and whenever
I get tired of my eyebrows I whip open one of his books and play with
white pencils till I am a new woman.
"Making Faces" by Kevin Aucoin -- did I mention I
am a huge Kevin Aucoin fan