Customer Reviews

Shot On This Site: A Traveler's Guide to the Places and Locations Used to FilmFamous Movies and TV Shows

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Let me explain to Mediamam ("TV viewer") how professionals review books.

First, professionals do not trash virtually every book they come across. Mediaman has done that with 9 of his last 10 reviews on Amazon.

Second, reviewers select books that were recently published--and available in bookstores--so that potential readers can find out about them and help them decide whether or not to invest a few hours reading the book. Unlike Mediaman, a professional reviewer would never go out of his way to review a reference book that was published 16 years earlier. And a competent reviewer certainly would not go on to complain that the 16-year-old book is out of date.

Frankly, I do not even know how he could have found the book to review. "Shot on This Site" has been out of print for at least a decade and has not been available in bookstores for years. Today, only a handful of used-book dealers still carry it. By not disclosing the book's publication date (1995) Mediaman misled readers into thinking this was a new book with outdated information. Of course, a book helping people locate film sites would be outdated 16 years later. The book certainly was not outdated when it was published.

Third, Mediaman failed to tell readers how extensive my research was, and misled them by suggesting that anyone could find the approximately 1,000 film and TV sites by doing their own research. Sure, if someone had the time and inclination to review almost 1,000 press kits, identify and interview dozens of location managers, and the heads of approximately 100 film commissions, he could replicate my results. But let us get real here. How many do you know that would have the time and the werewithal to do this? It took me a year and a half to compile the information, even though I already had quite a few industry sources.

Fourth, most of Mediaman's criticisms were incredibly nitpicking, like his pointless mention of the park across the street from the Victorians in San Francisco's Alamo Square. He also misread what I wrote. I did not claim the houses were "the most photographed houses in America." I only said they may be. If he had read to the end of the entry he would have discovered that the reasons why filmmakers love Alamo Square is because of its backdrop of downtown skyscrapers (the old Victorians versus a modern downtown).

Fifth, while he felt that I could have had more meat and bones with my descriptions of the sites, I felt I had enough. So did my editor. None of the professionals who reviewed the book for the Los Angeles Times, Chicago Tribune, or other publications felt this was a flaw in my book.

Sixth, his criticism that I did not have a photograph accompanying every entry reveals more about his naievity about how books are published than it does about my book. Sure, it would have been nice to have 1,000 photographs, but who is going to pay for it? Apparently it never occurred to him that when the book was published, studios charged $250 for each photograph. No author or publisher could afford to do what he wants.

As for his suggestion that I divide my book into two parts--one with the addresses, the other with descriptions -- that is frankly absurd. The book was a tour guide that I arranged geographically. I tried to make the book as user-friendly as possible. Mediaman's idea would have forced the reader to unnecessarily flip back and forth between the two sections. Sorry, but that was not a smart idea.

Eighth, Mediaman may have thought this travel reference book was dull, but he seems to be the only critic who felt that way. The Chicago Tribune, for example, found that "there's enough material here to keep even the most jaded movie and trivia buffs occupied for hours."

Finally, Mediaman was unwilling to give me even the teeniest, tiniest bit of credit. But in the end his trashing of my book and all the other books on Amazon really does not amount to very much. As Theodore Roosevelt once wrote (in a speech at the University of Paris): "It is not the critic who counts, nor the man who points out how the strong man stumbles, or where the doer of deeds could have done better. The credit belongs to the man who is actually in the area."

William A. Gordon
Author, "Shot on This Site"
[...]

What should have been a trip down memory lane turns into a dull meandering drive with little to look at in this book that is a guide to about 1000 locations used for movies and TV shows. The locations are grouped into areas from southern Cal to the Mid-Atlantic States. Then the author gives you the address and a paragraph or two that describes what was shot there.

The problem is that there is almost no detail to the descriptions and the author often misses significant information regarding the shows shot at the location. Instead he just lists four or five shows that shot there with no specifics about scenes, locations on the property, etc. Namely, there isn't enough detail to make it worth buying this book--it's only if you need to know the specific address but most of that is now easily available online. Plus this book is so old that many more popular recent movies or TV shows are not included.

For example, he claims Alamo Square in San Francisco has "the most photographed houses in America," but doesn't explain why. He claims these houses are just like hundreds around the city--but he misses the fact that there is a park-like open green space across the street from the houses that allow TV shows like Full House to easily use the houses to show typical San Francisco homes. And now the houses have turned iconic.

The book should have had two parts--the listings by addresses and then more complete descriptions listed by the name of the movie or TV show. Often a movie pops up at three or four addresses, but instead of the reader being able to just browse through the book looking for a favorite movie they have to go through different sections of addresses.

The addresses may be worth it for a few readers, but most will be frustrated by the lack of detail beyond the address and the failure to have the locations listed by show titles. And there should have been a picture for each location listed but probably 2/3's don't have accompanying photos.