Recommended Reading for Creative Professionals
Learn before you leap.
Explore (and gift!) these exciting books from our Amazon Shop for deeper career expertise and insights.

ALL THE PIECES MATTER

If you plan to one day create a seminal television show, plan to do no less than this team did to get "The Wire" made over five exceptional seasons. Often heralded as the greatest American TV series, this oral history book shares the "making of" from the show creators, directors, actors, crew and more. The book is as engrossing as the series itself.

GET OUT: THE COMPLETE ANNOTATED SCREENPLAY

A fantastic combination of the actual script, stills from the film itself and an interview with writer/director Jordan Peele. You get to see the thoughts behind a powerful—and singular— writing and directing process, interwoven through this Oscar-winning screenplay.

FLEABAG: THE SCRIPTURES

Let's do the same for television and the Emmy-winning series "Fleabag," with this collection of series scripts plus interwoven commentary from series creator and cultural phenom Phoebe Waller-Bridge.

ENCYLOPEDIA OF TELEVISION PILOTS

They just updated this in 2019, and it is as insightful as it is expensive. Yes, you get to dive into several decades of pilots—aired and unaired!—to see what might be similar to your own pitch slate. And remember, if something similar hasn't been made before, the industry may have its reasons... For me, it also gives deep cultural insights into whose stories get told, and how, and by whom.

DIRECTORS TELL THE STORY

This is a must-read book for any creative who wants to earn a full-time living as a director or needs to work productively with one. I end EVERY conversation with rising directors with a requirement that they read this book. Like me, these are two professionals who write what they know so others don't have to "learn by doing."

WRITE IT, PITCH IT, SELL YOUR SCREENPLAY [Kindle]

With the audiobook now available, I recommend you also get the Kindle version of this the updated version of my "1-3-5 Story Structure Made Simple System." You can sync the two and switch seamlessly between reading and listening as you work on drafts of your script.
GET THE 1-3-5 AUDIOBOOK TODAY!
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