Book picks similar to
The Collected Works: The Screenplays, Vol. 2: The Hospital / Network / Altered States by Paddy Chayefsky
film
screenplays
science-fiction
fiction
One to Count Cadence
James Crumley - 1969
Crumley's disturbing Vietnam novel. In '62, Sergeant Krummel assumes command of a crew of rebellious, drunken enlistees. Surviving military absurdities only to be shipped to Vietnam, Krummel's band confront their worst fears while losing faith in Americ
The Last Brother
Joe McGinniss - 1993
Kennedy's dark ambitions for his children--even the last & least of them. His book focuses in particular on the extraordinary 60s, a decade that began in glory for the family with Jack's ascension to the presidency, & ended--after the murders of Jack & Bobby, the tragedy at Chappaquidick & their father's death--with Teddy, the last brother, standing alone in the rubble of Camelot. While The Last Brother is both shocking & newsworthy, Teddy Kennedy emerges as a curiously tragic figure, the victim of his own family, forever "the fat, awkward little boy" who was ignored by his siblings, his father & his mother, then propelled, unwilling & unprepared, into the public limelight. Searing, yet strangely moving & even sympathetic, The Last Brother presents a detailed, tragic portrait of a man at war with himself, doomed to live in the giant shadow of his brothers, trapped in the glorious but hollow Kennedy myth, longing--but unable--to escape.
The Waltz Invention
Vladimir Nabokov - 1966
Nabokov tells us in "The Waltz Invention" that our salvation today rests on a perfect understanding of the human heart. "The Waltz Invention," written when only a handful of scientists were concerned with atomic possibilities, could have been read as a puzzling, incredible fantasy in those days, but of course today a man like Waltz is at the center of our nightmares. We had better have a realistic understanding especially of a tyrant's heart in our fissionable age, MR. Nabokov says. Salvator Waltz is in possession of an infernal machine. He can operate it at will; and the machine is hidden away from all eye in the symbolical country of which Waltz is a citizen. With the same intricate levels of brilliancy as Vladimir Nabokov's other world acclaimed tales, "The Waltz Invention" write in a play form in 1938, is a classic tragedy and a comedy.
Sorry To Bother You
Boots Riley - 2014
A magical realism story inspired by Riley's time spent working as a telemarketer.
Zero Dark Thirty: The Shooting Script
Mark Boal - 2013
But in the end, it took a small, dedicated team of CIA operatives to track him down. Every aspect of their mission was shrouded in secrecy. Though some of the details have since been made public, many of the most significant parts of the intelligence operation—including the central role played by that team—are brought to the screen for the first time in a nuanced and gripping new film by the Oscar®-winning creative duo of Kathryn Bigelow and Mark Boal, starring Jessica Chastain, Jason Clarke, Joel Edgerton, Jennifer Ehle, Mark Strong, Kyle Chandler, and Edgar Ramirez.The Newmarket Shooting Script Book includes: Introduction by Kathryn Bigelow Complete shooting script Q&A with Mark Boal by Rob Feld Production notes Storyboards Complete cast and crew credits
The Secret Diary of Laura Palmer
Jennifer Lynch - 1990
Now available in print for the first time in many years (and in e-book for the very first time!), THE SECRET DIARY OF LAURA PALMER chronicles Laura's life from age 12 to her death at 17, and is filled with secrets, character references, and even clues to the identity of her eventual killer. Fans of the show will love seeing their favorite characters again, and Laura's diary makes compelling reading as she turns from a naive freshman having her first kiss to a "bad girl" experimenting with drugs, sex and the occult."As seen by" Jennifer Lynch, creator David Lynch's daughter, THE SECRET DIARY OF LAURA PALMER is authentic, creepy, and a perfect book for anyone who loves supernatural suspense.
The Best of Joe R. Lansdale
Joe R. Lansdale - 2010
A soul-sucking Mummy stalks Elvis and John F. Kennedy. Joe Bob Briggs has a moral dilemma: If your girlfriend turns zombie on you, what do you do?And that’s the tame stuff.In this red-hot collection from world-champion Mojo storyteller Joe R. Lansdale, you’ll find his best, most outrageous stories. The high priest of Texan weirdness does it all: horror, mystery, satire, suspense, and even Westerns. Prepare to be offended, shocked, and cackling like a crazed redneck.Featuring five Bram Stoker Award–winning stories, this career retrospective contains some of Lansdale’s rarer work, his nonfiction forays into drive-in theaters and B-movies, and the novella Bubba Ho-Tep, later made into a cult-classic major motion picture.Come on in—the weirdness is fine.
To Purge This Land with Blood: A Biography of John Brown
Stephen B. Oates - 1970
In 1970, Stephen B. Oates wrote what has come to be recognized as the definitive biography of Brown, a balanced assessment that captures the man in all his complexity. The book is now back in print in an updated edition with a new prologue by the author.
Difficult Men: Behind the Scenes of a Creative Revolution: From The Sopranos and The Wire to Mad Men and Breaking Bad
Brett Martin - 2013
In the late 1990s and early 2000s, the landscape of television began an unprecedented transformation. While the networks continued to chase the lowest common denominator, a wave of new shows, first on premium cable channels like HBO and then basic cable networks like FX and AMC, dramatically stretched television’s narrative inventiveness, emotional resonance, and artistic ambition. No longer necessarily concerned with creating always-likable characters, plots that wrapped up neatly every episode, or subjects that were deemed safe and appropriate, shows such as The Wire, The Sopranos, Mad Men, Deadwood, The Shield, and more tackled issues of life and death, love and sexuality, addiction, race, violence, and existential boredom. Just as the Big Novel had in the 1960s and the subversive films of New Hollywood had in 1970s, television shows became the place to go to see stories of the triumph and betrayals of the American Dream at the beginning of the twenty-first century. This revolution happened at the hands of a new breed of auteur: the all-powerful writer-show runner. These were men nearly as complicated, idiosyncratic, and “difficult” as the conflicted protagonists that defined the genre. Given the chance to make art in a maligned medium, they fell upon the opportunity with unchecked ambition. Combining deep reportage with cultural analysis and historical context, Brett Martin recounts the rise and inner workings of a genre that represents not only a new golden age for TV but also a cultural watershed. Difficult Men features extensive interviews with all the major players, including David Chase (The Sopranos), David Simon and Ed Burns (The Wire), Matthew Weiner and Jon Hamm (Mad Men), David Milch (NYPD Blue, Deadwood), and Alan Ball (Six Feet Under), in addition to dozens of other writers, directors, studio executives, actors, production assistants, makeup artists, script supervisors, and so on. Martin takes us behind the scenes of our favorite shows, delivering never-before-heard story after story and revealing how cable TV has distinguished itself dramatically from the networks, emerging from the shadow of film to become a truly significant and influential part of our culture.
The Seventh Heaven: Supernatural Tales
Naguib Mahfouz - 2005
As ingenious at capturing the surreal as he is at documenting the very real social landscape of modern Cairo, Mahfouz guides these restless spirits as they migrate from the shadowy realms of other worlds to the haunted precincts of our own.
Star Wars: A New Hope - Screenplay
George Lucas - 1994
. ."It is a period of civil war. Rebel spaceships, striking from a hidden base, have won their first victory against the evil Galactic Empire."INTERIOR: REBEL BLOCKADE RUNNER--MAIN HALLWAYThe awesome seven-foot-tall Dark Lord of The Sith makes his way into the blinding light of the main passageway. This is Darth Vader, right hand of the Emperor.VADER: Commander, tear this ship apart until you've found those plans and bring me the Ambassador. I want her alive! *****Even the best actors, the most talented director, and the most amazing special effects can't make a great movie without a superb story to build on. Now here is the complete screenplay of the cornerstone film that launched a science fiction phenomenon. Experience the capture of Princess Leia by Lord Darth Vader and the evil minions of the Empire . . . Farmboy Luke Skywalker's discovery of her desperate message hidden in the droid R2-D2 . . . Luke's fateful meetings with legendary Jedi Knight Obi-Wan Kenobi and intergalactic smuggler Han Solo . . . And the climactic battle to destroy the sinister Death Star. Fully illustrated with the original storyboard art--and featuring hightlights of the famous Rolling Stone interview with George Lucas--this definitive volume is a must for every Star Wars library.
Clerks & Chasing Amy
Kevin Smith - 1997
Clerks was the independent film success story of 1994, winning the Prix de la Jeunesse and the International Critics Week Award at Cannes, and the Filmmakers' Trophy at Sundance. Set in the everyday world of a New Jersey QuickStop and its adjacent video store, the film revolves around the obsessions, love lives, and friendships of the clerks. Janet Maslin of the New York Time called it "a buoyant comedy...and exuberant display of ingenuity," and Kenneth Turan of the Los Angeles Times raves, "Clerks is boisterous and irreverently funny...an example of what is best and most hopeful about the American independent film scene."
The Complete Fawlty Towers
John Cleese - 1988
Published in its entirety for the first time and illustrated, The Complete Fawlty Towers will appeal to the millions of fans who have suffered through endless PBS fundraisers waiting for the next episode -- and anyone who has survived a package holiday tour. Fawlty Towers is the hotel of every traveler's nightmare. Basil Fawlty -- ill-tempered, henpecked, and conniving -- tries in vain to be master of his house under the disapproving and ever-watchful eye of his wife, Sybil. The hotel offers service by Manuel, the incompetent Spanish waiter whose feeble grasp of English makes for hilarious misunderstandings, and Polly, the unflappable chambermaid who is Fawlty Towers' only sane employee. Meals are scorched in the kitchen while adulterers consort upstairs and chaos reigns all around. For countless fans, Fawlty Towers is the best-loved bad hotel in the world, and with publication of The Complete Fawlty Towers they will all have a chance to relive its outrageous awfulness.
Carn
Patrick McCabe - 1993
Carn is the story of two women; Josie Keenan, who returns to Carn, Ireland, the provincial hometown she once left behind, and Sadie Rooney, a factory worker who dreams of leaving. As the two women strike up a friendship--fueled by hopes to better their lives, yet inextricably tied to the tenuous fate of Carn--each must confront the hard truths of her past and future. And despite its own attempt to thrive, the town itself cannot escape the daily reminders of Ireland's endless legacy of violence and unrest.Written in the raw, unsparing prose that marks McCabe's fiction, Carn is the timeless story of a small town struggling to break away from its bleak past, and the lives of two women aching to escape the forces that shaped them.