The First Time I Got Paid for It: And Other Tales from the Hollywood Trenches

This delectable collection of entertaining essays by more than 50 TV and screenwriters is a treat not only for neophytes hoping to break into the business, but also for film buffs. While most of the contributors write about their first paying job in the profession, many of the tastiest tales venture off to detail other ""firsts"": Chuck Lorre (Roseanne; Cybill) hilariously recalls the first time he was fired (from a Beany & Cecil revival show); Melville Shavelson recollects the first time he was sued (by former First Lady Mamie Eisenhower to stop the filming of a movie about the Ike-Kay Summersby affair); and 12-time Emmy winner Carl Reiner remembers getting $1,000 to write his first novel, Enter Laughing. Many of the short pieces create suspense by withholding the name of a long-delayed or much-rewritten project until the very end. One of the best stories illustrating Hollywood's fickle nature is Australian Jan Sardi's piece on being at the center of a fierce bidding war over Shine; it concludes with the sobering fact that, over 12 years, he's had six movies produced in Australia but none in America. Each reminiscence is only a few pages long (Michael Tolkin's biography at the end of his recollection is almost as long as his story), which keeps the pace quick and the writing lively. The sassy title, eye-catching faux noir cover art and the impressive list of contributors (Steven Bochco, Eric Bogosian, Cameron Crowe, Delia Ephron, Larry Gelbart, Lawrence Kasdan and Joan Tewkesbury are just a few listed on the back cover) make this a compelling item for film buffs. (Oct.) FYI: A portion of the sales will be donated to the Writers Guild Foundation.