How is it possible that Robert Ben Garant and Thomas Lennon, co-creators of the hilarious TV show "Reno! 911" can keep it together for the duration of a "how-to" novel? Answer: They can't.
The duo's novel, "Writing Movies for Fun and Profit: How We Made a Billion Dollars at the Box Office and You Can, Too!" is exactly what it claims to be a book about screenwriting for Hollywood studios that details the less glamorous side of writing screenplays, which, as it turns out, is writing the screenplays themselves. Many times throughout the course of the book, the two proclaim that this is not a book that will help you win an Oscar or praise for a beautiful command of dialogue. No, this book is intended to be "the guide to writing hit movies that make you and the studio piles of money. Period."
From start to finish, the book offers a refreshing inside look at a profession that is often romanticized but is actually a lot of grueling work for those who try to make a career out of it. Garant and Lennon pepper nearly every line with jokes that range the gamut from ripping on Robert McKee, the author of bestselling book "Story," to making fun of Lindsay Lohan for still being alive. Even their chapter titles show that the two don't take themselves seriously, with names like "Why Does Almost Every Studio Movie SUCK Donkey Balls?" and "I'm Drinking Too Much. Is That a Problem?" It would seem that the jokes exist not only to make the whole shebang a fun read, but also to highlight how serious they really are about the studios' overbearing influences on their employees' lives and the atrocities that come with writing for cold-hearted executives who always have another writer albeit a terrible one ready to be hired.
What makes this book actually helpful in a way that "The Screenwriter's Bible" a staple of college screenwriting classes fails to be is the emphasis on writing quality rather than structure. Garant and Lennon don't baby their readers, and they certainly don't nurture them. They smother their audience, but actually don't give a hoot. For anyone interested in completing a script, this book will help you do it.
But while Garant and Lennon promise a get-filthy-rich plan, they understand that few will reach their pinnacles. They repeat the words "always be writing" several times throughout the book, reiterating that sitting down to write is the hardest thing one could do. The comedy duo's book is hysterical and informative in an unconventional way, but they have the last laugh they know their profession isn't for the weak, no matter how unsubstantial it may look. Their closing line? "What the hell are you waiting for?"
