The Bigger Picture

The Bigger PictureWe’re seeing a lot of the same elements in Hollywood memoirs recently, particularly ones where proximity to something popular is enough to justify publication, even from someone not very well known.

There’s usually an upbringing story nobody apart from friends and family will really care about, reflected acclaim by way of a successful property or franchise, Hollywood trivia that ultimately makes it worth reading and quite unpolished prose. Not every actor or producer is a writer, and publishers know the quality of the writing doesn’t matter because the insider access or promise of dirt is the selling point.

You might have no idea who Jon Landau is, but after a career as 20th Century Fox’s head of production he became an independent producer, falling in with James Cameron and producing Titanic and the first two Avatar films, assuring his place in history.

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