Serenity: The Official Visual Companion


Joss Whedon - 2005
    Five hundred years in the future, Captain Mal Reynolds and the crew of the transport-for-hire ship Serenity take on two new passengers and soon find themselves in a crossfire between an invincible military force and cannibalistic savages.

The Hunger Games Tribute Guide


Emily Seife - 2012
    Follow the tributes' journey from the reaping to the Games, with an exclusive look at all the highlights along the way—the trip to the Capitol, the Tribute Parade, the stations of the Training Center, and the interviews with Caesar Flickerman. Plus you'll find profiles of President Snow and Seneca Crane, portraits of each tribute, and detailed information on each district's industry. This unique guide to the tributes contains never-before-seen photos and quotes from the film, and is a must-have for any Hunger Games fan.

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.

The Art Of Creative Writing


Lajos Egri - 1995
    Discusses originality, emotion, characterization, improvisation, inspiration, and human nature, and tells how to develop effective stories.

The Counselor: A Screenplay


Cormac McCarthy - 2013
    But this is no ordinary screenplay. This is a work of extraordinary imagination which draws on many of the themes of McCarthy's work as well as taking it to new dark places. It is also written with great descriptive passages counteracting the dialogue, so the reader is given the full experience of the McCarthy prose. It is the story of a lawyer, the Counselor, a man who is so seduced by the desire to get rich, to impress his fiancée Laura, that he becomes involved in a drug-smuggling venture that quickly takes him way out of his depth. His contacts in this are the mysterious and probably corrupt Reiner and the seductive Malkina, so exotic her pets of choice are two cheetahs. As the action crosses the Mexican border, things become darker, more violent and more sexually disturbing than the Counselor has ever imagined.

The Sense and Sensibility Screenplay and Diaries: Bringing Jane Austen's Novel to Film


Emma Thompson - 1995
    This engaging and beautiful book includes the complete Academy Award-winning script and Thompson's own diaries detailing the production of the film, reviewed by Stanley Kauffmann in The New Republic as "vivid, funny, and gamy"

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.

Harold and Maude


Colin Higgins - 1971
    He fakes suicides to shock his self-obsessed mother, drives a customized Jaguar hearse, and attends funerals of complete strangers. Seventy-nine-year-old Maude Chardin, on the other hand, adores life. She liberates trees from city sidewalks and transplants them to the forest, paints smiles on the faces of church statues, and “borrows” cars to remind their owners that life is fleeting—here today, gone tomorrow! A chance meeting between the two turns into a madcap, whirlwind romance, and Harold learns that life is worth living. Harold and Maude started as Colin Higgins’ master’s thesis at UCLA Film School, and the script was purchased by Paramount. The film, directed by Hal Ashby, was released in 1971 and it bombed. But soon this quirky, dark comedy began being shown on college campuses and at midnight-movie theaters, and it gained a loyal cult following. This novelization was written by Higgins and published shortly after the film’s release but has been out of print for more than 30 years. Even fans who have seen the movie dozens of times will find this companion valuable, as it gives fresh elements to watch for and answers many of the film’s unresolved questions.

The Diaries of Adam and Eve


Mark Twain - 1906
    I do not go out in the fog myself," notes Adam in his diary, adding, "The new creature does. It goes out in all weathers. And talks. It used to be so pleasant and quiet here." Adam has a lot to learn about Eve, and even more from her, as she names the animals, discovers fire, and introduces all manner of innovations to their garden home. Mark Twain's "translation" of the diaries of the first man and woman offers a humorous "he said/she said" narrative of biblical events. The great American storyteller found comfort and inspiration in the company of women, and his irreverent look at conventional religion is also a thoughtful -- and humorous -- argument for gender equality.

Legends of the Fall


Jim Harrison - 1979
    This magnificent trilogy also contains two other superb short novels. In Revenge, love causes the course of a man's life to be savagely and irrevocably altered. Nordstrom, in The Man Who Gave up his Name, is unable to relinquish his consuming obsessions with women, dancing and food.'

Picasso at the Lapin Agile and Other Plays


Steve Martin - 1994
    He is also an accomplished screenwriter who has in the past few years turned his hand to writing plays. The results, collected here, hilariously explore serious questions of love, happiness and the meaning of life; they are rich with equal parts of pain and slapstick humour, torment and wit.

The Autobiography of F.B.I. Special Agent Dale Cooper: My Life, My Tapes


Scott Frost - 1991
    Discover the secrets, never before seen on television, of Twin Peaks' most-wanted man, who scored a perfect 100 on his marksmanship test and once let a gentle, beautiful woman lead him astray. He's Dale Cooper - the man who seems too good to be true - and this is his story.

Twister


Michael Crichton - 1996
    Tornadoes are an ideal film subject, because unlike most meteorological phenomena, they are small enough to fit within the film frame, and they last a short time, changing rapidly. By comparison, a hurricane is hundreds of miles across, too big to see in a single image; and it goes on for hours, with little change. Tornadoes are much more contained, and visually compelling.We were further encouraged by early research that showed the premise was valid. Not only had real scientists attempted to put instrument packs into funnels, but there had been many recorded episodes when so-called “outbreaks” of tornadoes occurred—as many as a hundred tornadoes touching down in a single day, often only a few minutes apart. That was what we required for our story, and it did indeed happen. It wasn’t even rare: outbreaks of forty or more tornadoes had occurred seven times in the past ten years. The worst recorded outbreak, according to Ted Fujita, had taken place in April 1974, when 148 tornadoes touched down in a day, producing 2,400 miles of damage path.So it seemed as if the story was possible.Michael Crichton (Signature)

Fight Club: The Screenplay


Chuck Palahniuk - 2001
    Together with Tyler Durden – part-time projectionist, banquet waiter, soap-maker and anarchic genius – he creates Fight Club, where he and men like him can get away from their work-dominated, consumer-driven, image-obsessed lives.Soon there are fight clubs in basement bars across the country; men with cuts, bruises, stitches and missing teeth wherever you look. Tyler Durden has become an urban legend – but when he invents Project Mayhem, things begin to escalate. There’s only one thing to do: shut down Fight Club. But have they created a monster they can't control?This full-cast BBC radio dramatisation of Chuck Palahniuk's visceral, unflinching novel stars Patrick Kennedy as the Narrator, Sam Hazeldine as Tyler and Elaine Cassidy as Marla.Cast:The Narrator...Patrick KennedyTyler Durden...Sam HazeldineMarla Singer... Elaine CassidyBig Bob...Martin ShermanDoctor/Boss...Nigel WhitmeyRecruit One...Danny MahoneyMechanic...John SchwabTed...Sam DaleGlenda...Jane SlavinChloe...Ayesha AntoineDramatised by Tracey Malone and Ed WhitmoreProduced by Heather LarmourDuration: 1 hour approx.

A Moon for the Misbegotten


Eugene O'Neill - 1947
    Moon picks up eleven years after the events described in Long Day’s Journey Into Night, asJim Tyrone (based on O’Neill’s older brother Jamie) grasps at a last chance at love under the full moonlight. This paperback edition features an insightful introduction by Stephen A. Black, helpful to anyone who desires a deeper understanding of O’Neill’s work.