Hollywood’s Most Mysterious Deaths: The Deaths That Continue to Haunt Tinseltown takes you on a trip through some of the dream capital’s most sordid and mysterious scandals and murders dating back to its earliest days. The cases reviewed in the book include: Thelma Todd. The “Ice Cream Blonde” was one of the brightest comedy stars of the early talkies until death cut her career short. Was her seemingly-accidental death a murder? Was she the victim of a mob hit or a ca...

THE RUNAWAY GLOBAL BESTSELLER'Gripping, enthralling - a top-notch thriller and a compulsive read.' SJ Watson, bestselling author of BEFORE I GO TO SLEEPRachel catches the same commuter train every morning. She knows it will wait at the same signal each time, overlooking a row of back gardens. She's even started to feel like she knows the people who live in one of the houses. 'Jess and Jason', she calls them. Their life - as...

Playing Shakespeareis the premier guide to understanding and appreciating the mastery of the world’s greatest playwright.Together with Royal Shakespeare Company actors–among them Patrick Stewart, Judi Dench, Ian McKellen, Ben Kingsley, and David Suchet–John Barton demonstrates how to adapt Elizabethan theater for the modern stage. The director begins by explicating Shakespeare’s verse and prose, speeches and soliloquies, and naturalistic and heightened language to ...

For years, award-winning independent filmmaker Rick Schmidt has been teaching aspiring directors how to make “no-budget” films, both in workshops and in his classic guide Feature Filmmaking at Used-Car Prices. Now Schmidt shows them how it is easier—and cheaper—than ever to make an innovative, high quality work, thanks to digital video. Filled with the latest information on equipment and software, ideas for experimenting with new moviemaking techniques, and advice based on Schmidt’s own ex...

Be they period films, cult classics or elaborate directorial love letters, New York City has played – and continues to play – a central role in the imaginations of filmmakers and moviegoers worldwide. The stomping grounds of King Kong, it is also the place where young Jakie Rabinowitz of The Jazz Singer realizes his Broadway dream. Later, it is the backdrop against which taxi driver Travis Bickle exacts a grisly revenge.The inaugural volume in an exciting new series from I...

Since Japanese horror sensations The Ring and Audition first terrified Western audiences at the turn of the millennium, there's been a growing appreciation of Asia as the hotbed of the world's best horror movies.Over the last decade Japan, South Korea, Thailand and Hong Kong have all produced a steady stream of stylish supernatural thrillers and psychological chillers that have set new benchmarks for cinematic scares. Hollywood soon followed suit, producing high-p...

Two screenwriters once walked into a Hollywood producer's office and said three words 'Jaws in space.' Those three words won them the contract for the blockbuster movie Alien.The ability to pitch well is essential for all writers, directors and producers in cinema and TV. Strong pitching skills will accelerate your career - not only helping you sell your projects, but also developing them in the first place, focusing on what makes a story work, clarifying character and plo...

Whether chronicling an athlete's rise, fall, and redemption or following a team's improbable triumph on the field, sports have been a favorite theme of filmmakers almost since movies were first produced. And whether focusing on soccer (Bend It Like Beckham), boxing (Rocky and its sequels), hockey (Slap Shot), baseball (Bull Durham), football (The Longest Yard), basketball (Hoosiers), cycling (Breaking Away), or tennis (Wimbledon), such films capture the competition and thrill of sport. All...

There are plenty of books about the craft of screenwriting, and a handful about pitching your screenplay. However, little can be found on how to go from writing to pitching in the professional space. There is no formula, no three-step plan. Getting It Write: An Insider’s Guide to a Screenwriting Career unlocks pragmatic guidance for constructing a screenwriting career, delivered by a sought-after industry authority who works with writers both novice and professional.

An effective filmmaker needs to have a good understanding of how film language works, and more importantly, how to actively influence an audience's thoughts and feelings and guide their gaze around the screen.Packed with examples from classic and contemporary cinema, The Language of Film reveals the essential building blocks of film and explains how the screen communicates meaning to its audience. You will learn about fundamental theories and concepts, including film semio...

In this book the author takes a fresh look at horror film series as series and presents an understanding of how the genre thrived in this format for a large portion of its history. It sheds light on older films such as the Universal and the Hammer series films on Dracula, Frankenstein and the Mummy as well as putting more recent series into perspective, such as The Nightmare on Elm Street films. A well rounded review of these films and investigation into their success as a format, this use...