Writers Tricks of the Trade VOLUME 8, ISSUE 4 | Page 38

houses; authors take editors with them
when they switch publishers; a small
company with a “Game of Thrones”-
level franchise is somehow in constant
danger of bankruptcy; and members of
the editorial staff spew impossible
commands like “We’re on tight launch
for the fall … so I will need marketing
and cover artwork by the end of this
week.” Have these people met a manag-
ing editor? They’d be lucky to walk away
with some of their fingers.”
N OËL C OWARD AND J ULIE H AYDON IN
“T HE S COUNDREL .”C REDIT P ARAMOUNT
D O THEY COME CLOSE TO REALISM ?
Scoundrel” is a rare bird. The closest
approximation of it I’ve seen is “Wolf”
(1994), a campy film in which an editor,
played by Jack Nicholson, and a market-
ing director, played by James Spader,
turn into werewolves as Michelle Pfeiffer
looks on, blondly. “Wolf” does wonders
with the publishing world before it starts
howling at the moon.
W RONG I MPRESSION
Unfortunately, so many newbies see
these movies and head into writing their
book starry-eyed. It will be a best-seller at
the top of the New York Times best seller
list, people will line up to book them for a
signing and advance and royalty checks
will be six figures.
Then the alarm clock rings and they
wake up.
Being an author, editor or publisher
takes lots of work and faith. Big successes
are still possible, but you have to learn
your craft and work at it. Publishers don’t
offer many of the perks they used to, but
even back in the day most movies did not
get it right.
Few movies really succeed as both
realism and entertainment. One is “The
Scoundrel,” starring Noël Coward as a
pretentious publisher. It’s filled with
jabs like “I refuse to make money im-
proving people’s morals, it’s a vulgar
way to swindle the public,” and “This
anteroom is fairly quivering with out-
raged geniuses.” But it was released in
1935. And while plenty of movies and
shows since have done well by the actual
writing life (“The Ghost Writer,” “Won-
der Boys,” “Bored to Death”), “The
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W INTER 2019