Some of Goldman's answers were edited into a magazine piece for Esquire; this was read by an editor at a publishing house who contacted him about writing a book on screenwriting.

We mostly shouldn't, but I nevertheless decided to read William Goldman’s 1983 memoir Adventures in the Screen Trade because it's so often mentioned on the Rewatchables podcast. and into his own professional experiences and creative thought processes in the crafting of screenplays.Goldman's credits are legendary, two Oscars, for the screenplays in Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid and All the President's Men, and many many more. BTW, I was saddened to learn in this book that Goldman regrets his involvement with All the President's Men, for which he won his second Academy Award for adapted screenplay in 1977. Each of those section manages to take a swipe at individuals, groups, or imagined coteries of robed gnomes William perceives of having wronged him, the targeted loogies flying from behind a shield forged of "Oh well, what do I know? Goldman won two Academy Awards: an Academy Award for Writing Original Screenplay for Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid, and an Academy Award for Writing Adapted Screenplay for All the President's Men.

Anyway, Goldman goes on to cheerfully disparage studio execs, actors, directors, actors, audiences, and also actors. That strange blend of bitterness and false modesty permeates the rest of this farrago of a -- what is it, a memoir?Although written in 1983, with many films he cites from this era, I am sure the process is little changed. But Will shares that story and others like it throughout the book to casually note what a humble, normal person he is, despite the fact that humble, normal people avoid constantly pointing out how humble they are in their books published by Time Warner.

If you want to work (and succeed) in Hollywood, then this is a book that you must carry around with you. In 1978, Goldman wrote the screenplay for Magic, which was based on his novel, starred the great Anthony Hopkins, and was directed by Richard Attenborough.

What impressed me most while reading, beyond Goldman's frank and brutally honest discussion of Hollywood, was how relevant so much if it seems to the business today. I don't think I have much to say that hasn't been said repeatedly below but yes, this is an excellent behind-the-scenes look at the craft of screenwriting and yes, it's kind of crazy how well it holds up 30 years after it was written. The full text of "Da Vinci" and the subsequent screenplay that he wrote are included, followed by interviews with key movie industry figures, including director George Roy Hill, cinematographer Gordon Willis, and composer Dave Grusin.

Billy also loves to explain other people's decisions and character traits he dislikes by ascribing thought processes to them, while managing to ignore the fact that he's making shit up out of boogers and ego. Sadly, Goldman believes that the auteur theory was responsible for the collapse of the career of Alfred Hitchcock.Written in 1982, but evidently Hollywood anxieties are eternal: sequels, television, IP, fragile egos of specific stars that are still with us. Not surprisingly, Goldman is not a fan of the auteur theory, a notion promulgated by young French new wave critics (including Francois Truffaut and Jean-Luc Godard) in the Fifties asserting that the director is the author of the movie. The recent sad news of the death of William Goldman reminded me of an episode (October 2017) of the wonderful Backlisted Podcast about his book Adventures in the Screen Trade.