Book description
"I'm mad as hell, and I'm not going to take this anymore!" Those words, spoken by an unhinged anchorman named Howard Beale, "the mad prophet of the airwaves," took America by storm in 1976, when Network became a sensation. With a superb cast (including Faye Dunaway, William Holden, Peter Finch,…
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Why read it?
1 author picked Mad as Hell as one of their favorite books. Why do they recommend it?
Years ago, on a film festival panel, I opined that no American screenwriter had ever enjoyed total autonomy without also becoming a director or producer. Then another panelist proved me wrong by invoking Paddy Chayefsky. I think about that exchange whenever I revisit Itzkoff’s rigorous book about Network, Chayefsky’s scathing satire of television. Why? Because Chayefsky lived the screenwriter’s dream of determining exactly how his story reached audiences.
The empowering example conveyed by Itzkoff is the potential every screenwriter has to capture their cultural moment, and I particularly appreciate Itzkoff’s effort to render a holistic view of Network…
From Peter's list on The best books about getting scripts onscreen.
If you love Mad as Hell...
December on 5C4
Magical realism meets the magic of Christmas in this mix of Jewish, New Testament, and Santa stories–all reenacted in an urban psychiatric hospital!
On locked ward 5C4, Josh, a patient with many similarities to Jesus, is hospitalized concurrently with Nick, a patient with many similarities to Santa. The two argue…
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