Entertainment Business

Carey Perloff, Artistic Director of San Francisco's legendary American Conservatory Theater, pens a lively and revealing memoir of her 20-plus years at the helm and delivers a provocative and impassioned manifesto for the role of live theater in today's technology-infused world. Perloff's personal and professional journey - her life as a woman in a male-dominated profession, as a wife and mother, a playwright, director, producer, arts advocate, and citizen in a city erupting with enormous change.

Whether it is a director insisting on a final cut, a star demanding a bigger motor home, a producer holding the line on a budget, or a grip with a gripe, it seems that the world of moviemaking is nothing but Sturm und Drang. Shoot Out presents a raucous look at how movies get made and the players involved, from writers, producers, directors, and stars to agents and marketers. For film buffs, aspiring filmmakers, students, and anyone else intrigued by the inner workings of Hollywood, this is the quintessential take on the how, who, what, and why of the film business.

When Haskell was young, his devoted mother, Mary, instilled in her son the values of character, faith, and honor by setting an example and asking him to promise to live his life according to her lessons. He did, and those promises have served Haskell consistently from his Mississippi boyhood to his long career at the venerable William Morris Agency in Beverly Hills.

In the book, you'll learn everything you need to know about AFM. What badge to buy, what projects to bring, what printed materials you need, and all important etiquette tips for maximizing your success at the American film market. Producers need to understand distribution to find success, and this guide is a primer for the most reliable way American filmmakers can find traditional, non-DIY distribution.

Alan McGee's role in shaping British musical culture over the past 30 years is hard to overstate. As the founder of Creation Records, he brought us the bands that defined an era. A charismatic Glaswegian, who partied just as hard as any of the acts on his notoriously hedonistic label, he became an infamous character in the world of music.

Less than one percent of all musicians reach megastar-level fame. For the rest of us, a successful music career involves playing in bars, clubs, hotels, corporate gigs, cruise ships, and wedding venues. That career can be just as fulfilling and meaningful—if you’re willing to work on the fundamentals. Gig for Life will teach you those fundamentals. Georges Elchakieh shares his system for every aspect of creating and running a successful business as a musician.

Breaking In is the must-have handbook for aspiring entertainers who want to avoid the pervasive pitfalls and myths of the industry while accelerating their opportunities to become superstars. It is also the first audiobook of its kind to address the mental preparation, skills, traits, and specific actions required to break in to any aspect of the entertainment industry.

Would you like your business......to burst into public awareness like Lady Gaga?...to have the long-lived success of Mick Jagger?...to demonstrate the creativity of The Beatles? We don’t normally think of the music business as a source of entrepreneurial insight, but we should. The best bands have longevity, a depth of customer loyalty, and a level of profitability that puts most businesses to shame. And what they know about marketing, partnerships, bartering, and overcoming obstacles isn’t taught in business school.

This is the story of the 36-year-old business relationship between Luciano Pavarotti and his manager, Herbert Breslin, during which Breslin guided what he calls, justifiably, “the greatest career in classical music”. During that career, Breslin moved Pavarotti out of the opera house and onto the concert (and the world) stage and into the arms of a huge mass public.

Fans of Veronica's Closet, MTV Sports, What I Like About You, 8 Simple Rules, and Castle will relish this exclusive account of Dan's life and career. Step Off! is a hilarious look inside the eccentric experiences of a Hollywood favorite. He discusses life from his own honest, outrageous Hollywood perspective. Cortese shares the lessons he's learned - and a few he hasn't - working on screen for over two decades as an American actor. He also reveals details about his most rewarding job: being a father.

Allen Klein was like no one the music industry had seen before. Though he became infamous for allegedly causing the Beatles’ breakup and robbing the Rolling Stones, the truth is both more complex and more fascinating. As the manager of the Stones and then the Beatles—not to mention Sam Cooke, Pete Townshend, Donovan, the Kinks, and numerous others—he taught young soon-to-be legends how to be businessmen as well as rock stars. While Klein made millions for his clients, he was as merciless with them as he was with anyone.

Before John Lennon retreated peacefully into private life in 1975, he fought a major legal battle that went under the public radar. Just as his rock 'n' roll oldies album hit the market, Morris Levy, the Mob-connected owner of Roulette Records, released Roots, an unauthorized version of the same record. The clash led to a lawsuit and countersuit between Levy and Lennon. Lennon, the Mobster & the Lawyer catches the high drama of the courtroom skirmishes in this previously untold story. It also paints a detailed personal picture of John and his world in 1975-76.

Why isn't there a professional level of competition for martial arts point fighting? A league with the standardization of rules, and points on a national or world level? A league with teams, franchise teams with owners, as in other major league sports? A national or world organization at which point martial artists can aspire to participate? Why hasn't someone started this? Why hasn't this happened? Well, that's exactly what Taking on the NFL with Pro Teams KumiteSport is all about.

Broadway’s most esteemed visionaries tell all - how they got started in the business, how they chose projects, how they raise money, why some of their shows were huge hits and others flopped, and much more. From Flo Ziegfeld and David Merrick, from Joseph Papp, from Cameron Mackintosh, from today’s up-and-coming new generation of producers - here are priceless words of wisdom.

John Denver said, “I have a producer who looks like an accountant, and an accountant who looks like a producer”. Soberly dressed, unflashy, and a trained classical musician, in the golden age of the music business, Milt Okun stood out by not standing out. His legacy does that for him. He discovered and launched John Denver, and mentored him throughout his career. He created arrangements for Peter, Paul and Mary that the trio performed for half a century. He brought Placido Domingo a crossover career that made him an international star beyond the world of opera.

There are few art forms as visceral and emotional as opera - and few that are as daunting for newcomers. A Mad Love offers a spirited and indispensable tour of opera's eclectic past and present, beginning with Monteverdi's L'Orfeo in 1607, generally considered the first successful opera, through classics like Carmen and La Boheme, and spanning to Brokeback Mountain and The Death of Klinghoffer in recent years.

Ella is tired of crying. She's more powerful than ever before, but her personal life has the wow factor of vanilla ice cream. When Bear asks her to investigate a series of mysterious deaths at the ultra-hip Cauldron Festival, Ella accepts a job as one of the comedy performers but doesn't tell anyone why she is really there, not even her excited sidekick, Vanessa.

More than 85 years after his untimely death at just age 37, Irving Thalberg remains a legendary Hollywood figure. Called the “Boy Wonder of Hollywood,” Thalberg quickly climbed the ranks at MGM studios to become one of the most powerful and high-profile producers of the time, elevating filmmaking to an art form. In this definitive biography, Bob Thomas brings Thalberg's legend to life, recounting how the producer's remarkable talent for developing stars and scripts led to the creation of beloved movies such as Ben-Hur, Romeo and Juliet, and Camille.

10,000 NOs: How to Overcome Rejection on the Way to Your YES chronicles actor Matthew Del Negro's tough journey from humble beginnings, through a sea of rejections, on the way to his eventual rise to become a recognizable face on some of history's most acclaimed television shows. Along the way, he learned hard lessons about perseverance, persistence, and resilience.

Harry Cohn was the cofounder and president of Columbia Pictures, which he ran from the 1930s through the 1950s. Cohn—who abhorred personal publicity—left no writings, made no speeches, and rarely submitted to interviews. Despite this, acclaimed biographer Bob Thomas brilliantly illuminates the life of the powerful but elusive studio head in King Cohn: The Life and Times of Hollywood Mogul Harry Cohn. Thomas details the studio head's rise from a New York City song-plugger to a Poverty Row impresario, highlighting his reign as one of the most powerful men in Hollywood.