"Christmas comes early—far too early—to McCredie’s little Old Town bookshop in Edinburgh. It’s summer, but an American production company has decided that McCredie’s is the perfect location to film a very cheesy Christmas movie. After all, who can resist the charmingly narrow historic street with its Victorian grey stone buildings and warmly lit shop windows? Carmen Hogan, the bookshop’s manager, is amused and a bit horrified by the goings-on,...

"Directing film or television is a high-stakes occupation. It captures your full attention at every moment, calling on you to commit every resource and stretch yourself to the limit; it's the white-water rafting of entertainment jobs. But for many directors, the excitement they feel about a new project tightens into anxiety when it comes to working with actors. In the years since the original edition of Directing Actors was published, the technical...

"No Crying in Baseball is a rollicking, revelatory deep dive into a one of a kind film. Before A League of Their Own, few American girls could imagine themselves playing professional ball (and doing it better than the boys). But Penny Marshall's genre outlier became an instant classic and significant aha moment for countless young women who saw that throwing like a girl was far from an insult. Part fly on the wall narrative, part immersive pop nostalgia,...

How do you follow your heart when it's in two places? Filipino musician and producer Mon Mendoza has been in New York for less than a day. Just long enough to feel like he doesn't belong despite landing a life-changing opportunity. All he can do is set a date night for just himself and some pancit canton. Which, as it turns out, is the only invitation his gorgeous Pinoy neighbor needs... Actress Olivia Angeles can wear a character like a well-fitted...

One of the world's great cinema artists, Jafar Panahi has been carefully crafting self-reflexive works about artistic, personal, and political freedom for the past three decades, despite being banned from filmmaking by the Iranian government since 2010. In No Bears completed shortly before his imprisonment in 2022, Panahi plays a fictionalized version of himself, a dissident filmmaker who relocates to a rural border town to direct a film remotely...

"Emmy Harper is no stranger to Hollywood, having penned some of the most popular movies of the past few years. But her latest project has hit a standstill—unable to find the perfect leading lady, Emmy’s been recruited to take on the role herself, dusting off acting skills she hasn’t used in over a decade. Things take a turn for the worse when a she's left with the one costar she can’t trust: Grayson West. A blockbuster action hero known for...

An all-star comedy set during the latter years of Hollywood's Golden Age. It follows a single day in the life of a studio fixer who is presented with plenty of problems to fix.

In the golden age of documentaries, who benefits? Subject reveals the unintended consequences good, bad, and complicated of having your life shared on screen. Featuring the protagonists of acclaimed documentaries, The Staircase, Hoop Dreams, The Wolfpack, Capturing the Friedmans, and The Square, as well as the filmmakers of An Inconvenient Truth, Cameraperson, MLK/FBI, and more.

"Organized chronologically and covering every short film, television episode, and blockbuster movie that Steven Spielberg has ever directed, Steven Spielberg All the Films tells the behind-the-scenes stories of how each project was conceived, cast, and produced; from the creation of the costumes to the search for perfect locations. Spanning more than fifty years, Steven Spielberg All the Films details every aspect of the creative processes that resulted...

"When special-effects obsessives Dana and Lily begin work on an eco-horror movie, they realize they've been growing apart. But as everything starts going up in flames, Dana begins to forge her voice as a climate activist"--