Book Review - Hollywood vs. The Author edited by Stephen Jay Schwartz

I really enjoy hearing people's stories and behind-the-scenes stories of books, movies, and other entertainment. While I hadn't heard of most of these authors, and those I have heard and read their works I didn't like, I still thought this could be an enjoyable read.

Hollywood vs. The Author edited by Stephen Jay Schwartz is a collection of essays by authors and screenwriters about working with Hollywood. It is available as an eBook, Audiobook, and those paper things your grandparents used to read.

The Good

Variety of Experiences.While everyone who contributes and essay is a writer, some are writers of novels, some writers of comics, some writers of short stories, some writers of screenplays, and some have written a combination of the above. Some have had good experiences, and some have had bad experiences. While there are similarities in the stories, no one's story is the same as another. Each gives you new information.

Scope. Some of the stories are about a short period of time involving one project, and some take place over a lot of time and cover several projects. Yet almost each author does a good job of including only the parts of their experience that are important to the story with only a few exceptions.

Information. This book presents a lot of good information and helps explain so much of why we see what we see on the screen and why we don't see other things on the screen.

The Bad

Wining. Most authors have accepted their experiences and moved on. There are a few that use their essay as a "Oh Woe Is Me" moment. Those are obnoxious, but are fortunately few and mostly towards the end.

Author Selection. Most of the contributors to this collection I've never heard of. The few authors that are familiar to me are authors I do not like and I don't think are good writers. Fortunately their essay work is better than their fiction.

What I Would Like to Have Seen

I would have enjoyed hearing from a few good writers and known writers, not just lesser knowns and lesser talents.

Overall

Hollywood vs. The Author edited by Stephen Jay Schwartz is a collection of essays by authors and screenwriters about working with Hollywood. While everyone who contributes and essay is a writer, some are writers of novels, some writers of comics, some writers of short stories, some writers of screenplays, and some have written a combination of the above. Some have had good experiences, and some have had bad experiences. While there are similarities in the stories, no one's story is the same as another and most are very interesting. A few writers unfortunately chose to use their essay as a "Oh Woe Is Me" moment trying to elicit sympathy and justify their failure. Most of the contributors to this collection I've never heard of. The few authors that are familiar to me are authors I do not like and I don't think are good writers. Fortunately their essay work is better than their fiction. I highly recommend this book and give it 4.5 out of 5 eReaders.