Film & TV

This is the definitive biography of Lorne Michaels, the man behind America’s most beloved comedy show.

The beloved star of Friends takes us behind the scenes of the hit sitcom and his struggles with addiction in this candid memoir.

Wildflower is a portrait of Drew Barrymore's life in stories as she looks back on the adventures, challenges, and incredible experiences of her earlier years....

In ten brilliantly written chapters, Stephen King delivers one colorful observation after another about the great stories, books, and films that comprise the horror genre—from Frankenstein and Dracula to The Exorcist, The Twilight Zone, and Earth vs. The Flying Saucers.

James Andrew Miller and Tom Shales raucously and revealingly take the SNL story up to the present, adding a constellation of iconic new stars, surprises, and controversies....

From actor Cary Elwes, who played the iconic role of Westley in The Princess Bride, comes a first-person account and behind-the-scenes look at the making of the cult classic film....

Jinger Vuolo, of Duggar family fame, tells how she began to question the ideology of her youth and learned to embrace freedom in Christ.

The co-founder and longtime president of Pixar updates and expands upon his New York Times bestseller on creative leadership, reflecting on the management principles used to build Pixar's singularly successful culture, including what he got wrong—and how he made it right....

Legendary writing teacher and author of The Anatomy of Story John Truby provides a guide to understanding the major genres of the story world.

A memoir of leadership and success: The executive chairman of Disney, Time’s 2019 businessperson of the year, shares the ideas and values he embraced during his 15 years as CEO while reinventing one of the world’s most beloved companies....

In this eloquent and persuasive book, Neil Postman examines the deep and broad effects of television culture on the manner in which we conduct our public affairs....

A wryly funny and surprisingly moving account of an extraordinary life lived almost entirely in the public eye....

The long-awaited first work of nonfiction from the author of the #1 New York Times bestselling Once Upon a Time in Hollywood: a deliriously entertaining, wickedly intelligent cinema book as unique and creative as anything by Quentin Tarantino....

At 95, the legendary Mel Brooks continues to set the standard for comedy across television, film, and the stage. Now, for the first time, this EGOT (Emmy, Grammy, Oscar, Tony) winner shares his story in his own words....

From her creation of the “Approval Matrix” in New York magazine in 2004 to her Pulitzer Prize–winning columns for The New Yorker, Emily Nussbaum has argued for a new way of looking at TV....

Thorne shares his experiences working as the science adviser on the film (Interstellar) and then moves on to the science itself....

From the cocreator of the landmark series, the story millions of fans have been waiting to get their hands on for 25 long years....

Famed independent screenwriter and director Robert Rodriguez (Sin City, Once Upon a Time in Mexico, Spy Kids, Machete) discloses all the unique strategies and original techniques he used to make his remarkable debut film El Mariachi on a shoestring budget.

From 1962 to 1992, Johnny Carson and his Tonight Show dominated the American consciousness. Henry Bushkin was Carson’s best friend and lawyer during that period, and his book is a tautly rendered and remarkably nuanced portrait of Carson, revealing not only how he truly was, but why....

Available only in audio, Fantastic Beasts: The Crimes of Grindelwald - Makers, Mysteries and Magic lifts the lid on the moviemaking secrets behind the latest installment in J.K. Rowling's Fantastic Beasts series....

Robert McKee's screenwriting workshops have earned him an international reputation for inspiring novices, refining works in progress, and putting major screenwriting careers back on track....

Leah was first thrust under the reality television microscope when her teen pregnancy was documented on 16 and Pregnant. She has learned to live under the harsh glare of media scrutiny, yet there is a truth behind the reality that the cameras have never revealed....

The story of how The Godfather was made is as dramatic, operatic, and entertaining as the film itself. Over the years, many versions of various aspects of the movie’s fiery creation have been told - sometimes conflicting, but always compelling....

Twin Peaks: The Final Dossier tells us what happened to key characters in the 25 years between the events of the first series and the second, offering details and insights fans will clamor for....

Comedy legend Carol Burnett tells the hilarious behind-the-scenes story of her iconic weekly variety series, The Carol Burnett Show....

Over the fifty years that Lorne Michaels has been at the helm of Saturday Night Live, he has become a revered and inimitable presence in the entertainment world. He’s a tastemaker, a mogul, a withholding father figure, a genius spotter of talent, a shrewd businessman, a name-dropper, a raconteur, the inspiration for Dr. Evil, the winner of more than a hundred Emmys—and, essentially, a mystery. Generations of writers and performers have spent their lives trying to figure him out, by turns demonizing and lionizing him.

As Harry Potter's stunt double, David Holmes's amazing gymnastic skills saw him earn onscreen immortality. He was the first-ever person to play Quidditch on a broomstick; he dodged dragon's fire and dove deep into the Great Lake, without any gillyweed to protect him. Life on set was an adventure. He and Daniel Radcliffe became like brothers, and the cast and crew a second family. Then tragedy struck. During the making of Deathly Hallows Part 1 a stunt went badly wrong and David's spinal cord snapped. He was only 25 and would never walk again.

This is both one man's remarkable story and an essential guide for anyone who has a celluloid story to tell and the dreams and determination to see it through. Part production diary, part how-to manual, Rodriguez unveils how he was able to make his influential first film on only a $7,000 budget. Also included is the appendix, The Ten Minute Film Course,” a tell-all on how to save thousands of dollars on film school and teach yourself the ropes of film production, directing, and screenwriting.

Saul Goodman v. Jimmy McGill: The Better Call Saul Critical Companion collects chief TV critic at Rolling Stone Alan Sepinwall's critical essays on every episode of the Emmy- and Golden Globe-nominated series. Sepinwall covered Better Call Saul from start to finish, and conducted exhaustive interviews with creator Vince Gilligan and stars Bob Odenkirk and Rhea Seahorn, reproduced here alongside new interviews with series cocreator Peter Gould.

As Dorian Lynskey writes, “People have been contemplating the end of the world for millennia.” In this immersive and compelling cultural history, Lynskey reveals how religious prophecies of the apocalypse were secularized in the early 19th century by Lord Byron and Mary Shelley in a time of dramatic social upheaval and temporary climate change, inciting a long tradition of visions of the end without gods.

Helen Gibson was a woman willing to do anything to give audiences a thrill. Advertised as "The Most Daring Actress in Pictures," Helen emerged in the early days of the twentieth-century silent film scene as a rodeo rider, background actor, stunt double, and eventually one of the era’s biggest action stars. Her exploits on motorcycles, train cars, and horseback were as dangerous as they were glamorous, featured in hundreds of films and serials—yet her legacy was quickly overshadowed by the increasingly hypermasculine and male-dominated evolution of cinema in the decades that would follow her.

Fast-talking, warm-hearted, and endlessly rewatchable, Gilmore Girls has bonded real-life mothers and daughters since 2000, when its iconic pilot introduced us to Lorelai, Rory, and their idyllic Connecticut town of Stars Hollow. More than twenty years later, it has become one of the most-streamed TV shows, ever. In an anthology as intimate and quick-witted as Gilmore Girls itself, bestselling author Ann Hood invites fifteen writers to investigate their personal relationships to the show.

Picture this: You’re sinking into the couch, a cozy blanket over your legs, the popcorn bowl just within reach, and your favorite movie queued up. Now, imagine that none of this would be quite as relaxing if you were wearing pants. Or a shirt. Or, frankly, anything at all. Suddenly, the idea of watching movies naked doesn’t seem so outlandish, does it? If you’ve never considered watching a movie while fully unencumbered by clothes, you might be missing out on one of the most comforting experiences of your life. Let me tell you, there’s a special kind of magic that happens when you ...

Behind the Scenes of Love Malcolm Brooks is the director everyone in Hollywood wants to work with—visionary, successful, and always in control. But when he meets his lead actress, Simone Davis, everything he thought he knew about love and professional boundaries goes out the window. Simone is everything Malcolm’s not prepared for: bold, beautiful, and talented as hell. They’ve got undeniable chemistry, but neither of them is looking for distractions—especially not when the stakes are high and their careers are on the line. As the tension on set builds and their flirtation turns into...

Sacred Cinema: why movie theaters matter, is an essay by James J. Caterino, the author of The Art of Listening to Music, My Encounter with the Partridge Family, Why I Don't Drink, The Green Girl, Chrome Dome, Megan Ward: the best actress you never heard of, Girl Pop, What If, Make Me Cry, Please, True Stories, Cool Stuff, Escape to Nowhere, and much more.