Legally Blonde


Amanda Brown - 2001
    President of Delta Gamma sorority, she's aced her major--sociopolitical jewellery design--and is on the verge of becoming Mrs. Warner Huntington III. Too bad Warner, bound for Stanford Law, dumps her with the explanation he needs a more "serious" woman at his side. Faced with this unexpected reversal of fortune, Woods doesn't get depressed, she gets busy.Thanks to a creative application video and a demand for "diversity" at Stanford Law, Elle gets admitted. Soon she's packing her convertible--as well as her pet Chihuahua "Underdog"--and heading north, determined to win back her man. Smart, fast, and funny, Legally Blonde proves how much fun blondes really can have!

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.

In Bruges


Martin McDonagh - 2008
    After a shooting in London goes hideously wrong, two hitmen, Ray and Ken, are sent to hide out in the strange, Gothic, medieval town of Bruges, Belgium, by their volatile and dangerous boss, Harry Waters.While awaiting instructions from him as to what to do next, the pair attempt to deal both with their feelings over the botched killing and their differing attitudes towards this curious, otherworldly place they've been dumped in ('Bruges is a shithole.' 'Bruges is not a shithole'), until the call from Harry finally comes through, and all three men are enmeshed in a spiral of bloody violence that few will get out of alive.This jet-black comedy marks the feature-film debut of writer/director Martin McDonagh, award-winning author of such plays as The Beauty Queen of Leenane, The Lieutenant of Inishmore and The Pillowman, and the film Six Shooter, which won the Academy Award for the Best Live-Action Short Film.The film stars Colin Farrell as Ray, Brendan Gleeson as Ken, and Ralph Fiennes as Harry.In Bruges was the opening night film at the Sundance Film Festival.

Taxi Driver


Paul Schrader - 1975
    When his tentative efforts at a relationship with elegant political campaign worker Betsy come to naught, Travis conceives of an assassination attempt upon her boss, Senator Charles Palantine. But as he cruises the streets at night, Travis encounters a hapless child prostitute, Iris, and her sinister pimp, sport. Travis's mounting psychosis acquires a new focus, and violence erupts . . .One of the key films of the 1970s and winner of the Palme d'Or at the 1976 Cannes Film Festival, Taxi Driver was the first of several potent collaborations between Paul Schrader and director Martin Scorsese. Inspired by Ford's The Searchers, Bresson's Diary of a Country Priest, the diaries of real-life gunman Arthur Bremer, and an especially tormented period in Schrader's own life, Taxi Driver remains a devastating portrait of a man in urban purgatory.

Into the Woods: A Five Act Journey Into Story


John Yorke - 2013
    Many of us love to tell them, and even dream of making a living from it too. But what is a story? Hundreds of books about screenwriting and storytelling have been written, but none of them ask 'Why?' Why do we tell stories? And why do all stories function in an eerily similar way? John Yorke has been telling stories almost his entire adult life, and the more he has done it, the more he has asked himself why? Every great thinker or writer has their theories: Aristotle, David Hare, Lajos Egri, Robert McKee, Gustav Freytag, David Mamet, Christopher Booker, Charlie Kaufman, William Goldman and Aaron Sorkin - all have offered insightful and illuminating answers. Here, John Yorke draws on these figures and more as he takes us on a historical, philosophical, scientific and psychological journey to the heart of all storytelling.What he reveals is that there truly is a unifying shape to narrative - one that echoes the great fairytale journey into the woods, and one, like any great art, that comes from deep within. Much more than a 'how to write' book, Into the Woods is an exploration of this fundamental structure underneath all narrative forms, from film and television to theatre and novel-writing. With astonishing detail and wisdom, John Yorke explains to us a phenomenon that, whether it is as a simple fable, or a big-budget 3D blockbuster, most of us experience almost every day of our lives.

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 Nanny Diaries


Emma McLaughlin - 2002
    Must be cheerful, enthusiastic and selfless--bordering on masochistic. Must relish sixteen-hour shifts with a deliberately nap-deprived preschooler. Must love getting thrown up on, literally and figuratively, by everyone in his family. Must enjoy the delicious anticipation of ridiculously erratic pay. Mostly, must love being treated like fungus found growing out of employers Hermès bag. Those who take it personally need not apply. Who wouldn't want this job? Struggling to graduate from NYU and afford her microscopic studio apartment, Nanny takes a position caring for the only son of the wealthy X family. She rapidly learns the insane amount of juggling involved to ensure that a Park Avenue wife who doesn't work, cook, clean, or raise her own child has a smooth day. When the X's' marriage begins to disintegrate, Nanny ends up involved way beyond the bounds of human decency or good taste. Her tenure with the X family becomes a nearly impossible mission to maintain the mental health of their four-year-old, her own integrity and, most importantly, her sense of humor. Over nine tense months, Mrs. X and Nanny perform the age-old dance of decorum and power as they test the limits of modern-day servitude. Written by two former nannies, The Nanny Diaries deftly punctures the glamour of Manhattan's upper class.

The Piano


Jane Campion - 1993
    This novel stands independent of the film, exploring the mysteries of Ada's muteness, the secret of her daughter's conception, the reason for her strange marriage and the past lives of Baines and Stewart.

Smoke Signals: A Screenplay


Sherman Alexie - 1993
    Victor is the stoic, handsome son of an alcoholic father who has abandoned his family. Thomas is a gregarious, goofy young man who lost both his parents in a fire at a very young age. Through storytelling, Thomas makes every effort to connect with the people around him: Victor, in contrast, uses his quiet countenance to gain strength and confidence.When Victor's estranged father dies, the two men embark on an adventure to Phoenix to collect the ashes. Along the way, Smoke Signals illustrates the ties that bind these two very different young men and embraces the lessons they learn from one another.

Shopgirl


Steve Martin - 2000
    She attempts to forge a relationship with middle-aged, womanizing, Seattle millionaire Ray Porter while being pursued by socially inept and unambitious slacker Jeremy.With more than 340,000 copies in print, Steve Martin's Shopgirl has landed on bestseller lists nationwide including: New York Times, Publishers Weekly, USA Today, Wall Street Journal, San Francisco Chronicle, Washington Post, and Los Angeles Times.Filled with the kind of witty, discerning observations that have brought Steve Martin incredible critical success, this story of modern day love and romance is a work of disarming tenderness.

The Annotated Godfather


Jenny M. Jones - 2007
    And yet, the history of its making is so colorful, so chaotic, that one cannot help but marvel at the seemingly insurmountable odds it overcame to become a true cinematic masterpiece, a film that continues to captivate us decades after its release. Now, thirty-five years after The Godfather's highly anticipated debut, comes this fully authorized, annotated, and illustrated edition of the complete screenplay. Virtually every scene is examined including:Fascinating commentary on technical details about the filming and shooting locationsTales from the set, including the arguments, the accidents, and the practical jokesProfiles of the actors and stories of how they were castDeleted scenes that never made the final cutGoofs and gaffes that didAnd much more Interviews with former Paramount executives, cast and crew members—from the producer to the makeup artist—and director Francis Ford Coppola round out the commentary and shed new light on everything you thought you knew about this most influential film. The more than 200 photographs from the film, from behind-the-scenes, and from the cutting room floor make this a visual feast for every Godfather fan.

Sex, Lies, and Videotape


Steven Soderbergh - 1990
    Illustrated.

The Donnie Darko Book


Richard Kelly - 2003
    . . Film of the year.' Sleazenation'Magnificently bizarre . . . Wonderful.' Empire'Unlike anything you'll have seen before . . . Honestly mind-blowing.' BBC Radio 1'Stunning . . . Totally original.' Time Out'Dazzling . . . Demands a second viewing.' Total FilmThe critical and audience response made Donnie Darko the cult film of the year - one whose dark ambiguities caused audiences to go back to the film again and again trying to fathom its mysteries.This book brings its readers further into the world of Donnie Darko and its creator Richard Kelly. Contained within these pages are an in-depth interview with Richard Kelly who recounts the gestation of the film; the screenplay; photos and drawings from the film and artwork inspired by it.Donnie Darko will never surrender up all its mysteries, but this book will be an indispensable guide into its intriguing world.

Titanic: James Cameron's Illustrated Screenplay


James Cameron - 1996
    An invaluable reference for film students and fans, this book details the evolution of the epic romance from script to screen, including scenes and dialogue cut from the final film, as well as annotations explaining footage seen in the final cut, yet not contained in the screenplay. Never-before-seen photographs of the stars, storyboards for sequences never filmed, and an in-depth interview with Cameron make Titanic: James Cameron's Illustrated Screenplay an essential companion to the #1 bestseller James Cameron's Titanic.

Collected Screenplays 1: Blood Simple / Raising Arizona / Miller's Crossing / Barton Fink


Ethan Coen - 2002
    Of the scripts included here, Barton Fink--an intense look at the psychological ruin of a New York playwright trying to make it in 1940s Hollywood--is a masterful culmination of these themes.