Shoot Out: Surviving Fame and (Mis)Fortune in Hollywood

by Peter Bart and Peter Guber

Book Overview

Hollywood calls it the "shoot out"... the point during the making of a movie when star-fits and power struggles turn into standoffs, walk-outs, and clashing egos. How a film ever gets made is a wonder. Leave it to two industry icons to unreel the true story...

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0399528881
• ISBN13: 9780399528880
• Release Date: June 2003
• Publisher: Tarcherperigee
• Length: 288 Pages
• Weight: 0.75 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.7" x 6.0" x 9.0"
• Age Range: 18 years and up
• Grade Range: Postsecondary and higher

Customer Reviews

A Very Interesting Hollywood Book

I enjoyed reading "Shoot Out". It is filled with behind the scenes stories of how movies were made. This is really how the business of movies really happens. If you are learning to be an actor or a director or screenwriter, and want to know what happens when you hit "the big time" - this book will give you lots of examples. Amazing stories about famous stars, the movies, deals and the biz. Well-written and easy to understand. I learned alot about everything that happens before a movie hits the big screen.

Solid yet careless in detail

An intriguing book but one that is in definite need of a date checker. You would think that Peter Guber would know what year Midnight Express (his own production) won the Golden Globe (1978, not 1974). The ten other errors regarding release dates, etc. do not lessen the educational value, but do lend a careless feel to the read.

War Stories and How to Make a Movie

This book is unique in that it tries to tell the "behind the scenes" true war stories inside the context of a "road map to Hollywood deal making". I prefer the war stories but this book does a very good job in it's "how to" section being very careful to not let the reader get bored. Peter Bart, who appears to do 80% of the writing, does an excellent job describing what is involved in doing a deal. It lets a nonindustry person realize why some movies are made that turn out to be bad movies. The bottom line is there is a process, a "Hollywood dance" so to speak, that is how deals progress. Many outsiders have talked about changing Hollywood to a more standard business environment. It will never happen. Too much history to change and frankly, with the creative people involved, they probably couldn't work in that environment. Disney has tried to shift the process with some success but the negative press does keep some creative people from working with them. Peter Bart provides many war stories from the 1970s with Guber has more current stories given his success as a producer. I expected this book to be similar to Mike Medavoy's biography of his movie career. It wasn't. But it was still very good and would recommend it.

Hollywood Spinsters Tell Campfire Stories

A terrific must-read for anyone pursuing a career in film or just the civilian Hollywood enthusiast. This book mergers a nuts-and-bolts broad view of how tinseltown operates with two film titans' war stories. Just don't forget that this is anything but impartial, with Guber's personal stories highlighting his victories and skipping over his failures. Bart comes off as having less to gain than his self-championing co-author, who can't help but toot his own horn at every turn. The narcissism notwithstanding, a quick, informative read.

Good book, but great web site

Different genre, but this book has a promotional effort on the web that is as significant to the book world as the Blair Witch site was to the movie world. Bravo to the authors and the publishing company for taking the lessons taught in the book and making them accesssible on a completely different scale even if you only have a 56k modem...