Customer Reviews

The Devil's Guide to Hollywood: The Screenwriter as God!

5 star:		(15)
4 star:		(6)
3 star:		(3)
2 star:		(3)
1 star:		(3)

 

 

Who is Joe Eszterhas? His most famous films are Basic Instinct, Sliver, Showgirls, and Jade. His first screenplay was made into a film which I've always considered one of the most underappreciated movies of all time, F.I.S.T. He has written lots of others.

About the book, I'll be honest, I loved it.

After the New York Times Book Review came out I ordered it immediately. The following Saturday, when I first had the time to devote to it, I spent the entire day reading it from cover to cover (like many of the studio executives who Eszterhas lampooms, my lips must move as a read because I'm a slow reader). Here is my take on it:

First, I think that the chapters are taken from Eszterhas' writing notebooks. That is a good thing. This is the raw data of years of reading, listening, and contemplating Hollywood and the screenwriters craft. It is filled with seemingly good advice, but advice you'd never get from, say, Richard Walter, head of the Screenwriting Department at UCLA. This is less genteel advice. This is straightalking from a veteran who has been in the trenches, survived the battles, and is here is help teach other screenwriters how to make it in the business.

Don't expect a smooth flowing narrative, except for the last chapter about his unproduced screenplay---"SACRED COW"---about and American President caught on film having sex with a cow, and owning up to it when he is caught. That Chapter, unlike the others, was written as a single essay. The remainder of the book is a collection of thoughts about writers, agents, directors, producers, actors, and Hollywood from someone who knows.

P.S. Why did I give it only 4 stars instead of 5? Amazon suffers from grade inflation. To Kill a Mockingbird gets 5 stars from me. 4 stars is still pretty darn good.

First of all, I am one of many hundred of thousands who are wannabe screenwriters/writers. I do not live in L.A. and have no intention to. That being said, I am still learning the "industry".

Joe Esterhas, a highly successful screenwriter best known for writing the films, Basic Instinct, Flashdance and Showgirls has written a funny but bitter book. This is not an autobiography but more of a personal journal type, using quotes to express his highly charged emotions and opinions in an easy to read style that gives plenty of advice to writers pursuing the Hollywood dream.

By the end of the book, after the laughing and wondering if what you read is true, or a collection of rumors and whispers by a man who is tired of the Hollywood bashing of screenwriters, seeeking revenge.

But make no mistake, you will learn:
- He hates Robert McKee and his seminars
- He hates agents
- He hates producers
- He hates directors
- He hates studio execs
- Loves and his very proud of his Hungarian heritage
- Admits openly of his own personal demons and sexual conquests

Simply put, he hates anyone in Hollywood who screws the writer over and in his eyes, it happens way too often.

Also be forwarned of foul language and lots of sex. The book is still very good with short quips to hold one's attention and there is some great advice to be taken. But as a newcomer, I am taking most of it with a grain of salt.

For those of you who don't know (I didn't), Joe Eszterhas is the screenwriter who wrote the motion picture Basic Instinct, among many others. Eszterhas also set the Hollywood record for what he got paid writing a screenplay, which was in the millions, and once got paid a few milllion dollars for a four page outline (literally). This is not your typical bland screenwriting how-to book. In fact, the title of this book is appropriate, as Joe Eszterhas is a berserker out-of-control renegade in every sense of the word.

As opposed to other screenwriting books that spend chapter after chapter talking about character development, Eszterhas starts out by telling you this book is about making money (period). Then he dives into such "interesting" topics as sleeping with Sharon Stone, the day he smashed a table in a film studio's office, his rampant alcoholism, and how much he hates most of Hollywood. Eszterhas compares screenwriting to going to war, and takes aim at the most prolific screenwriting "teacher", Robert McKee on numerous occasions throughout the book. I could go on and on, but this book is definitely off-the-meter in terms of Chaos Factor. In fact, I am sure that he gave his legal counsel a heart attack ... or seven.

If you want an interesting book that breaks all the rules, check out The Devil's Guide to Hollywood, by Joe Eszterhas. I finished it last night, and I am still laughing.


Lee Rudnicki
[...]

Having already published one salacious account of his life as a Hollywood screenwriter (Hollywood Animal), Joe Eszterhas has decided to repackage the story as an ostensible guide for screenwriters. The title is revealing: if the writer can't decide if he is god or devil, we should be suspicious of his stated objective, if not his grandiosity. I enjoyed his irreverent tirade about the film industry from a writer's perspective. But despite being organized into chapters that address the steps in film production from screenplay to theatrical release, this is not a "how- to" guide. It is actually a collection of quotations and anecdotes only loosely related to the author's undeniable experience with producing commercially (if not critically) successful screenplays. These are presented in sound bite-sized entries stretched out with generous spacing. Each comes with a cheesy heading - such as "Reelspeak": definitions of supposedly insider vocabulary. All the empty space makes this a much quicker read than the 360-ish pages would lead you to expect. Another caveat is that many of the tasteless but amusing anecdotes he claims to have "captured" are never sourced. Some of the accounts attributed to Marilyn Monroe and others are so unflattering that I wonder if these are less gossip than examples of screenwriting craft.
I give it three stars for being a light, fun read for anyone interested in filmmaking from the screenwriter's point of view.

"The Devil's Guide to Hollywood: The Screenwriter as God!" by Joe Eszterhas is an entertaining collection of quotes, tidbits, random thoughts and self-praise. Eszterhas has come up with a brilliant way to write a big book without actually doing any of the typing. Here is what I imagine he did: Paid a group of college students to go through thousands of magazines and newspapers and collect everything any movie star, agent, producer or screenwriter ever said about Hollywood. Then, a graduate student pulled them together under topics. Then some kids typed them all into a computer. Only after all this did Mr. Eszterhas add his own brief comments. There it is! A book you do not have to actually write yourself!

I've read far more damning things insider's have said about Hollywood. Joe left the cruel stuff out.

I'm not saying that Joe's complication is not interesting, or his comments are not insightful, but I would have loved it if he just published his Hollywood contracts and had all his audio-taped meetings transcribed. Maybe that is the next book.

Part writing guide, part memoir and part Hollywood trivia book, "The Devil's Guide to Hollywood" is one of the funniest and most enjoyable books that I've read in a long time. Whether you are a fan of Joe Eszterhas's work or not (Eszterhas is the writer who gave the world such movies as "Jagged Edge", "Basic Instinct" and "Showgirls"), it is still fascinating to learn the behind the scenes details of these films and just what Eszterhas thinks of all of the people involved in these movies and in the Hollywood scene in general (after reading this book, you will lose any respect you might have ever had for Robert McKee, Michael Douglas and William Goldman). This is the sort of book that you will find yourself reading aloud to anyone who happens to be within hearing range.

Eszterhas is an even bigger character than any that he has ever created. He has an incredible ego and doesn't seem to care about the consequences of what he has to say. At the start of this book he announces that "this book is about making money" and then goes on to explain the rather unorthodox methods he employed in order to become one of Hollywood's most successful screenwriters. Some of these methods are probably best not repeated (for example, taking a hunting knife to a meeting and stabbing it into the boardroom table-top), but his central message of not letting people walk all over you is sound and this book does contain good advice for anyone looking for a career in Hollywood or in any other industry, for that matter.

This is a very cynical but easy to read and relate to book. In a round about way it explains why most movies aren't very good and why the great ones are so exceptional. Sometimes, it's a little hard to bear the writers whining about how hard it is for him to write a few pages (especially considering some of his movies), but all it in all it's a great book for anyone who's not only interested in screenwriting but also movies in general.

Esty is both funny, truthful and straightforward and sometimes insane in his assessment of the Hollywood movie-making machine. This book is a book for everyone, but especially for aspiring screenwriters and screenwriter wannabees. Joe Eszterhas is real "no BS Eszterhas"; perhaps he wants to set a standard for screenwirters, based on what he quotes Ron Shelton (Bull Durham) as saying, "writers aren't tough enough". But this book should be an eye-opener for those interested in a career in screenwriting. The book is full of antidotes, written recommendations from BIG brother Joe. On top of (pardon the pun) the S-E-X, the Hollywood dealings, the facades, the double-talk, the fights, the phoniness, the "who was who" and "who is who", now, in Hollywood, the premise is clearly expressed in his rants, and more often than not, his coolness. It's no wander why many producers and directors feared Esty, or were intimidated by him. The point is, it doesn't matter how much special effects there is, how much violence, how much sex, how much action, in a movie, it all begins with the writer. The screenwriter sees the movie first. Imagine getting paid to daydream a story and put it on paper. Without the writer, there is no story; there is no movie. One can eliminate actors and a whole film crew, use computer generated images, but one still has to have STORY. What I sometimes ponder is why didn't anyone make any famours paitners change their paintings? Why didn't anyone make a famous scientist, or inventor, or musician change their theories, or music? Why didn't anyone make a famous novelist change chapters in his, or her novel? If not, then why would anyone want to make a screenwriter change his, or her screenplay? Yes, filmmaking is collaboration, but it isn't a collaborations of the writing process. The writer does that on his/her own. It's not until the writer is finished that others want to throw in their two-cents worth and chop up the writer's story. The writer owns that part, and it shoould be up to the writer, if the change(s) will make his/her story better. It's a good read...SACRED COWS is too. Thank you!

This book is a collection of fascinating Hollywood facts and small anecdotes. There is no plot, structure or narrative, and each fact is merely organised into a chapter depending on its category. However, I was very entertained and laughed out loud on numerous occasions.

Years ago when my wife and I suddenly moved our kids out of Beverly Hills because we didnt feel it was a healthy environment for them to grow up in, my daughter was devastated. Like most adolescent girls she harbored secret hopes of becoming the next Grace Kelly. We tried to explain how warped the Hollywood world was, but it wasn't until years later when she actually did some professonal acting, that the truth of our words became understandable to her and her two younger brothers. Joe Eszterhaus's latest book documents what we'd already discovered first hand.
As one of the most successful and the highest paid screen writers of all time, even his bad films have developed a huge cult following. Joe uses the quotes of many film industry people to document his points about the demented world of Hollywood. In addition to reporting the halerious observations of others, he adds many of his own personal experiences. As an ex-writer and former senior editor of "Rolling Stone" he learned early about celebrities. Who else can brag about making Sharon Stone a movie Goddess? Who else would go into an important film conference where he expected to be asked to make changes in his script carrying a Bowie Knife in his belt and as the meeting was about to begin, he took the knife out and stuck it deep into the top of the conference room table. If he'd left home without his Bowie knife, the middle of the William Morris Agency conference table still has a gigantic dent in it Joe made by smashing it with his African Dogon walking stick. Joe knows it first hand and gives his readers the real dirt on Hollywood. As in his two previous best sellers, "American Rapsody" and "Hollywood Animal" Joe's writing skill is amazing and while it's hard to believe it could all be true, none of the people portrayed in the books have won a lawsuit against him for his scandalous books. Where else can a person learn that one of America's greatest novels "The Sound and the Fury" was written in only six weeks? Joe's tips on writing instead of talking about writing and his belief that a good writer can succeed if keeps writing, are truly encouraging and uplifting.
Joe and his wife Naomi also moved their family away from the shores of Malibu to a woodie hamlet in Ohio for the same reasons we left the area. Growing kids need fresh air and good baseball. Joe knows what's best for kids and Hollywood is a bottomless and irresistible cesspool. The book is written in such little bites and pithy quotes that it makes wonderful bathroom reading. That way the toilet is nice and handy. Be ready to laugh and cry at the same time. Money, sex and power is the name of the game. Nothing else matters! The man whose movies have already grossed over a billion dollars can definitely write, even if he still does it on an ancient Royal Typewriter using only two fingers. At least it never crashes, although when one was used as a prop in one of his films, it was stolen. Joe buys all the old Royals he can find along with any and all existing typewriter ribbons for them.