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Billion-Dollar Kiss: The Kiss That Saved Dawson's Creek and Other Adventures in TV Writing |
Author: Jeffrey Stepakoff
Published: 2007-05-10 |
List price: $26.00
Our price: $5.99
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As of: November 20th, 2008 04:12:03 AM
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Customer comments on this selection.
 Incredibly Disappointing Vanity Project That's a Warped View of the TV Business
Let the buyer beware--this book is all about a self-important Hollywood know-it-all writer and not an objective view of TV writing. And it really has less to do with Dawson's Creek than with a minor television writer who fill his pages with hyperbole about his relatively small career.
The book starts by claiming he worked on "the hottest show on TV," Dawson's Creek. This immediately shows he knows little about what people watch and the relatively minor success that Dawson's Creek had on a small, little-viewed network. He didn't even start on the show until the third season!!!
He then doesn't go into the story of his time with Dawson's Creek, but instead gives his life story. As a college student he went to Hollywood to meet with Steven Bochco, whom he claims is "the most important person in the entire television business." Huh? Is he serious?
He then claims that teenagers are the fastest-growing TV audience (false--they actually watch the least amount of TV), slams colleges by saying that "no one in mainstream academia" has the skills to teach television courses, and has the gall to claim "A good argument can be made that modern television was invented while I was in college" in 1988. Is this guy serious?
He must be aware of how he comes across, because he also states "this is not hyperbole." Oh yes it is. It's a guy who takes everything he has experienced as being the gospel truth of the industry--but it isn't. It's just his story and doesn't say much at all about the TV business other than offering a few quirky insights into how bad TV writers are at coming up with creative ideas (he admits they steal ideas from a variety of sources).
Even the title of the book is hype and misleading--his thesis that a single kiss "saved" Dawson's Creek and made the production company a billion dollars is bunk. It's just a gimmick to sell a book that is really the story of a guy who had a tiny bit of success and then makes sweeping generalizations about the business based on his few experiences.
Unless you like egotistical Hollywood know-it-all types (and some of the five-star reviews must have come from others in Hollywood who have similar views of themselves), avoid this book. It's filled with misinformation and a very warped view of the industry.
 Great trip through 90's TV
The 90s were a golden age of television, and perhaps the last for the particular brand of scripted TV that flourished at the time. This is one man's walk though the TV business and Los Angeles in that period full of observations of the excesses and the culture of the time. Anyone who is interested in the reality of the television business or of TV history in the 90s will get a lot out of it and enjoy the book. Well-written and engaging characters throughout bring the story to life. What doesn't it have you may ask? Well, it doesn't go deep into any craft issues like what distinguishes a good story or a good TV writer from another. It's not a craft book, it's a memoir but a very engaging one.
 THE TV WRITING BIZ IN A NUTSHELL
As a TV writer who worked on staff consistently in the late 90's and early 2000's, when I came across this book I was immediately curious and interested to see what the author had to say about the TV writing business. Although our paths never crossed during that time, many of Stepakoff's anecdotes could have been my own.
Stepakoff interweaves his own experiences in the biz with the changing business as a whole and does so extremely successfully. Even though I was in the midst of the changing TV business (specifically the recent demise of scripted television), I was never fully aware of the far-reaching reasons behind it. Stepakoff has done a magnificent job of meticulously researching this book and for that, it serves not only as a fun memoir, but a legitimate historical accounting of the rise and fall of the TV writer and scripted television as a whole.
I whole-heartedly recommend this book for anyone who has any interest in what goes on behind the scenes in the life of a TV writer. It is especially relevant now given the current writer's strike as well. It should seriously be required reading for any college TV writing course. I know I'm going to make it required reading for my husband!!!
The BEST behind-the-scenes book about television writing!
Having written and produced over 250 hours of television drama, I lived nearly every scenario in Jeffrey Stepakoff's book. Now, as a Professor of Television Writing, this is the ONLY book my students will be required to read. From process to production, history to reality, "Billion Dollar Kiss" is the most complete guide to the business of writing for television. Plus, with Stepakoff's light and humorous touch, it's a kick to read.
"Kiss" the author for writing this book!
A tell-all insiders look into the "real" world of television from TV writing, making, producing, and all the eccentric characters that are involved along the way...Jeffrey Stepakoff describes the television industry from soup to nuts, through its glory (and not so glory) days. As a huge fan of Dawson's Creek, and an avid watcher of television, and lover of quality writing in general, this book was truly a non-stop treat. Thank you Jeffrey for opening our world to this crazy, fun, and certainly unpredictable biz!
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