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The Big Picture: Money and Power in Hollywood
In this unprecedented, all-encompassing, and thoroughly entertaining account of the movie business, acclaimed writer Edward Jay Epstein reveals the real magic behind moviemaking: how the studios make their money.
Epstein shows that in Hollywood, the only art that matters is the art of the deal: Major films turn huge profits not from the movies themselves but through myriad ...more
Epstein shows that in Hollywood, the only art that matters is the art of the deal: Major films turn huge profits not from the movies themselves but through myriad ...more
Paperback, 416 pages
Published
January 10th 2006
by Random House Trade Paperbacks
(first published 2005)
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The second of two books that are about the history of the business of film in Hollywood. The first ia An Empire of their Own: How the Jews invented Hollywood, which is a good, detailed look at the early history. This book is a good detailed history of the current era. It explains the changes in the last several decades and the way in which Hollywood markets and makes money. It can be very enlightening for folks who are starry eyed idealists about the film industry, which after all is about maki...more
Really valuable as an overview of the economic, social, and political conditions of what the set of industries we call 'Hollywood'. Starts to break down sometimes when you get into the details -- he oversimplifies certain terms or events, and his chapters on how Hollywood influences culture is made useless by his refusal to discuss how much Hollywood's view of businessmen, or law enforcement for example, is related to actual events versus driven by stereotypes inherited from earlier films. Stil...more
Read excepts only: 131-235
Complete with tons and tons of excellent examples from the real world, this book gives one an idea of how interesting (and sometimes absurdly ridiculous) the film business can be.
Complete with tons and tons of excellent examples from the real world, this book gives one an idea of how interesting (and sometimes absurdly ridiculous) the film business can be.
Two star rating is based on the fact that I was looking for a more entertaining read. Yes, it was informative, but it just wasn't that engaging. Trust me, I have no idea how I managed to actually finish this rather dry look into the economic/corporate workings of Hollywood. Oh wait, yes I do, I stopped halfway through and read a good book.
Actually, the chapter on the "clearinghouse" function of studios was interesting enough to keep me going. I was intrigued by the concept ...more
Actually, the chapter on the "clearinghouse" function of studios was interesting enough to keep me going. I was intrigued by the concept ...more
Great "big picture" view of how Hollywood money and power flows in tinsel town. While you won't have enough of the gritty detailed knowledge to run a major studio after this primer, it covers all the major areas creates a great starting point to dive into more reading on such detailed topics elsewhere. Epstein keeps the interest strong, even through financial spreadsheets of costs and percentages, by integrating fascinating Hollywood tales of excess, woe and even just weirdness - mos...more
Exceptionally deep, current, systematic, and well-organized explanation of how modern media businesses extract value from intellectual property.
Jon
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This book shows how Hollywood really works and goes a long way toward answering the time-honored question, "Why are most movies so bad?" It's also a fun read.
Though it's probably a little outdated already, this did contain some interesting tidbits on where Hollywood came from and where the big money is taking it. I had no idea that Akio Morita, one of the guys who founded Sony, had total Judeaphilea. Or that one exec in the movie theater biz considers the cup holder to be the greatest film innovation since the introduction of sound. Ever wanted to know a lot of financial figures about Gone in 60 Seconds? Then this is the book for you.
I loved this book. I felt like I learned something new on almost every page. Epstein peels back each layer of the movie business to help you understand it from all angles. I was even impressed by the parts with information I already knew, a true testament to how crisp and engaging the writing is. If you're curious about how movies do or don't get made, read this.
Required reading for a required class. Confusing to keep track of mergers, alliances (informal, legal, etc) but mostly because I just stopped caring. Still, new information that investigative journalists have been trying to get for years is revealed.
His slate column was better.
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