How Hollywood Works
- Janet Wasko - University of Oregon, USA
How Hollywood Works:
- offers an up-to-date survey of the policies and structure of the US film industry
- looks at the relationship between the film industry and other media industries
- examines the role of the major studios and the other 'players' - including, law firms, talent agents, and trade unions and guilds
- provides access to hard-to-find statistical information on the industry
While many books describe the film production and marketing process, they usually do so from an industry perspective and few look at Hollywood critically from within a more general economic, political and social context. By offering just such a critique, Janet Wasko's text provides a timely and essential analysis of how Hollywood works for all students of film and media.
"This book is a valuable summary of film industry practices in Hollywood. It provides good detail based on industry information that is relatively current. More importantly, it provides an excellent reference for scholars who want to include Hollywood in broader media studies and have no one good source to go to on "how Hollywood works." It includes several appendices, an excellent bibliography (plus references at the end of each chapter), and a solid index."
An excellent source for film students to learn about American film industry.
Perfect for new course on hollywood cinema
One of the frustrations of teaching the Hollywood system is the lack of texts that deal with the business/industry side. The aesthetics and history are all very well served by the secondary literature, however the real workings of Hollywood, as an exhibiting, producing machine, are often over looked.
This point however is addressed in Janet Wasko's book which comes highly recommended. It covers all the major areas of Hollywood business and places this into context with other, wider markets such as world cinema.
Its style of writing is solid yet readable and it manages to be both informative and engaging.
