Writing Movies for Fun and Profit: How We Made a Billion Dollars at the Box Office and You Can, Too! [Kindle Edition]

Thomas Lennon (Author), Robert B Garant (Author)

Book Description

Finally, a guide to screenwriting by two guys who have actually done it (instead of some schmuck who just gives lectures about screenwriting at the airport Marriott).

Robert Ben Garant and Thomas Lennon’s movies have made over a billion dollars at the box office—and now they show you how to do it yourself! This book is full of secret insider information about how to conquer the Hollywood studio system: how to write, pitch, structure, and get drunk with the best of them. Well . . . maybe not the best of them, but certainly the most successful of them. (If you’re aiming to win an Oscar, this is not the book for you!) But if you can type a little, and can read and speak English—then you too can start turning your words into $TACK$ OF MONEY!

This is the only screenwriting book you will ever need because all the other ones pretty much suck. In these pages, Garant and Lennon provide the kind of priceless tips you won’t find anywhere else, including:

• THE ART OF PITCHING

• GETTING YOUR FOOT IN THE DOOR

• TAKING NOTES FROM MOVIE STARS

• HOW TO GET FIRED AND REHIRED

• HOW TO GET CREDIT AND ROYALTIES!

AND MOST IMPORTANT:

• WHAT TO BUY WITH THE HUGE PILES OF MONEY YOU’RE GOING TO MAKE!

Writing Movies for Fun and Profit will take you through the highs and lows of life as a professional screenwriter. From the highs of hugging Gisele Bündchen, and getting kung fu punched by Jackie Chan, to the soul-crushing lows of Herbie: Fully Loaded. READ THIS BOOK—and you’ll have everything you need to make your first billion the old-fashioned way—by “selling out” in show business!

A portion of the authors’ proceeds from this book are being contributed to the USO of Metropolitan Washington, a private, nonprofit organization dedicated to serving active duty military members and their families in greater Washington, D.C., region.

Editorial Reviews

Review

"These two guys are the reason Night at the Museum won so many Oscars"

—Ben Stiller

"These guys are proof that with no training and little education, ANYONE can make it as a screenwriter."

—Paul Rudd

“These guys probably ripped off everything in this book just like they do in all their screenplays. That would explain why it’s actually kind of good.”

—Ed Helms

“Tom and Ben are two of the writers currently working in Hollywood. I can add they make a ‘profit’ on each of their writing jobs, as I believe they have very little overhead. Therefore, they are clearly qualified to write this book. Having not read it, I can tell you that it is uproariously funny, perhaps the best book on writing ever."

—Zak Penn, Film Screenwriter & Director

"Tom and Ben's valuable insight into writing for a Volkswagen bug and creating the ‘Lawrence of Arabia of Ping Pong films’ make this book far more informative to the young dramatist than the vastly over-rated ‘Aristotle's Poetics.’"

—Jonathan Glickman, Film Producer, President of MGM, Motion Picture Group

“Ben and Tom are a great fit for me. I love working with talented writers and then telling people everything was my idea. This is a great book, that I pitched to them a while back... I'm thrilled that they finally got around to writing it.”

—Danny DeVito

“Some screenwriters have a knack for capturing the heart and soul of characters, the nuance of themes, the richness of the human experience. And some are like Tom and Ben.”

—Shawn Levy, Film Director & Producer

About the Author

Thomas Lennon attended the Tisch School of the Arts at New York University, where he co-founded the influential sketch comedy group The State. He and Ben Garant have written nine feature films together, including: Night at the Museum, Taxi, Reno 911!: Miami, Balls of Fury, and The Pacifier. Tom has also appeared as an actor in numerous films. He lives in Los Angeles with his wife, the actress Jenny Robertson and his son, Oliver.

Robert Ben Garant spent the early nineties in New York, with the comedy group The State on MTV. He and Tom Lennon then created two more hit shows on Comedy Central: Viva Variety and Reno 911! Since relocating to Los Angeles, he’s written films for Disney, Spyglass, Imagine, Warner Brothers, Columbia, Paramount, New Line, Dimension, and Universal Pictures. Please visit WritingMoviesForFunandProfit.com.

Product Details

• File Size: 1200 KB
• Print Length: 338 pages
• Page Numbers Source ISBN: 1439186766
• Publisher: Touchstone (July 5, 2011)
• Sold by: Simon and Schuster Digital Sales Inc
• Language: English
• ASIN: B004G8QTWA
• Text-to-Speech: Not enabled
• X-Ray: Not Enabled
• Lending: Not Enabled
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #89,522 Paid in Kindle Store (See Top 100 Paid in Kindle Store)
  • #30 in Kindle Store > Kindle eBooks > Humor & Entertainment > Movies & Video > Screenwriting
  • #84 in Books > Humor & Entertainment > Humor > Business & Professional

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

41 of 41 people found the following review helpful

4.0 out of 5 stars MUST-READ for would-be Hollywood Screenwriters July 1, 2011

By D. Lincoln

Format:Hardcover

This book is full of practical, professional advice on how to swim with the sharks in the very weird world of Hollywood screenwriting. In many ways it's more about the business of writing and selling movies, than it is about how to write. But I've got lots of books on writing; this is the first one that's quite like this.

Not surprisingly, since Lennon and Garant are comedy guys, it's a very funny book. It's easy to read, in a self-mocking conversational tone, and it seems like they're telling real, often embarrassing stories that actually happened to them. There are details that I've never seen in other screenwriting books, like how to tell if you've "made it," based on your studio parking spot; how to take notes from executives and movie stars; what script arbitration is, and how to win at it; and how to get fired with a gracious smile, and then get hired again.

They're also obsessed with In n Out Burger, and dedicate many pages to printing its secret menu and all the locations in Los Angeles. At first I didn't get what that had to do with movies. But whatever. It's part of their guide to living in Los Angeles, so I guess it makes sense?

"Writing Movies..." is unapologetically NOT about "art" or anything at all high-minded, so if that's what you're looking for, the writers are happy to send you elsewhere. I believe they suggest "gazing longingly out the window at the moor." They also say that if you follow their system, you'll soon think of "Oscar Season" as "Ski Season," because the kind of movies they're talking about will never win any Academy Awards anyway. Probably not a book for Documentarians, or Art House types. But if you like your popcorn movies, and if you're looking for tons of practical advice for going into the business of making them, it seems like a genuinely great book.

Also, I can't wait to try to sell some the "free movie ideas" in the back of the book. Somebody's got to do it...

17 of 17 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars Funny and Informational! July 5, 2011

By Lisa

Format:Hardcover

I should start by mentioning that I have no interest in writing a screenplay. I do however love The State, Viva Variety, and Reno 911!, so I was very familiar with the authors of this book. Naturally I was dying to read it. It was everything I expected and more. There was tons of humor mixed with some really useful information. My favorite section was probably the chapter on determining if you had made it in Hollywood by where the different studios sent you to park.

Through all the humor, you get a real sense of passion for writing. They don't just do this for money; they write because they feel compelled to. They go through their process of writing an outline, pitching to studios, and then writing the screenplay. There is also a lot of useful information about how the studio system works and what to expect from the entire movie making process. I also learned a lot about all the different writing and production credits and the arbitration system with the writing guild. It's all very complex and fascinating.

Clearly if you are interested in writing screenplays, there is a lot of useful information here. Even for us non-writers though, there is so much stuff to learn from this book. Naturally, it's all relayed with tons of humor. I thoroughly enjoyed this book, and I would recommend it to anyone with even a passing interest in movies. It is sure to entertain!

Galley provided by publisher for review.

21 of 22 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars Not QUITE 5 star, but... July 6, 2011

By M. Yanovich

Format:Hardcover|Amazon Verified Purchase

Really deserves 4.5 stars, but it's a fantastic book on real-world Hollywood screenwriting.

What's in this book:

* a few completely useless sections, like "Living in Los Angeles." Pure filler.

* a few very entertaining but not really useful sections, like having lunch with Jackie Chan. Fun to read, glad they're included, don't do much heavy lifting but that's ok.

* all the rest. That is, comically written advice, tips, and tricks that will not only make you smile, but will actually give you GREAT inside information. You think the section on "where you part at a studio tells you how important you are" is a joke? It's NOT. It's how the industry actually works. Their advice on how to write, when to write, where to write: gold. How studios give notes... and how YOU as a WRITER need to RESPOND to those notes: platinum. How to work the studio system, how to deal with changing execs, how to handle arbitration for credits, how much you will really get paid, how to get from spec script to produced writer.... there is really great information all over this book.

Seriously, not for indie films, not for art house films. This is for commercial, formulaic studio films that are proud to be just that. A must-read for those who want to learn that system.

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