I was fortunate to read both David Mamet's Bambi vs. Godzilla and Joe Eszterhas' Devil's Guide to Hollywood in the same week. A week long since past. In particular, Eszterhas had specific recommendations about how to take a meeting in Hollywood, you know, so you don't end up giving your best ideas away for free. Syd Field mentioned that he had served as an expert witness for Mr. Eszterhas on his litigation. And Devil's was written long after his lawsuit. My favorite aspect of Devil's is that it is a fast read. My second favorite aspect of it is how he hurrah!hurrah!hurrah!-Z the past writers who have successfully bitch-slapped the suits. My third favorite aspect of the book is the description of how he sold an outline for million$.

And of course, there's the pitchmeister, Bob Kosberg, who told me, if you want to keep your ideas from being stolen, pitch to everyone. So naturally, anytime I think something good is probably going to be clipped, I pitch it to Bob.

The best part of Joe's book is, naturally enough, the last two pages. Which is approximately two minutes of screen time.