Moneywood: Hollywood in Its Last Age of Excess

America was fascinated with the movies but didn't so much like "liberal, Jewish, bleeding heart, foreign-seeming, and overwhelmingly Democratic Hollywood." This story opens in 1980 when Reagan was forming his "kitchen cabinet." A cabal of Republican best friends who coincidentally also ruled the newly minted Republican Hollywood.This book reads more like a "Vanity Fair" story than a tabloid. Although the stories have some lurid content, the emphasis is not on the sensational, rather on the workings of excess behind the entertainment industry. The numerous cameos reveal humanizing elements of the wealthy, who are indeed different than we. Actually my favorite one occurs early in the book is about Nancy Reagan and her posse of blonde, chic, skinny blondes. The maitre d had to keep a cheat sheet with pictures to make sure he had the right power luncher.This book offers an enticing look on now money, cronyism, and power entwine to dominate the movies and TV shows we all watch. The trail of money is deeply explored and the results are stranger than fact.

William Stadiem's MONEYWOOD is a must read(Bible) for any aspiring film student or anyone else interested in making their dream come true in the Hollywood Entertainment industry. Mr. Stadiem comes fully prepared as a Harvard JD-MBA screenwriter/author/co-author of eight best selling books that run the gamut from Marilyn Monroe, Frank Sinatra and even DEAR SENATOR, a memoir of the daughter of Senator Strom Thurmond. Stadiem was even a columnist for Andy Warhol's "Interview" Magazine and the restaurant critic for Los Angeles Magazine.This latest tome, MONEYWOOD, is an in depth and comprehensive, A to Z, bird's eye view of the exact strategy and machinations of what seems like every major move behind the scenes of how Actors became household names, Directors attained their dream movie - and most of all - how people of humble beginnings - such as writers and mail room schleps - utilized Mr. Stadiem's secret knowledge to rise to the highest level of Hollywood- the Mogul. My heartfelt thanks to Mr. Stadiem for what he taught me about the industry. As the young people in the Hip Hop world would say,"Mr. Stadiem, You Got The Dope!" BRAVO. FIVE STARS. LOVED IT!!!

If Hollywood is the Palace of Excess and the 80's was the Decade of Excess, what does that make Hollywood in the 80's? - a great subject for a book, particularly if that book is written by someone with a bon-mot-a-minute style and an intimate knowledge of some of the most outsize characters ever to roam a boardroom, barroom or bordello. It's all here, the monster egos and world-class connivers, the chisellers, hondlers, gonifs, four-flushers and even - hold your hats - a few genuine talents. Mixing in a narrative of his own seduction by the siren call of showbiz, Stadiem unleashes his patented blend of sociological analysis, laser-sharp observation, and scintillating wit (add a dash of schadenfreude), making this book a constant, non-stop pleasure to read.

Bringing them all down to size, Stadiem does it to perfection. He knows who is who in the zoo, and more. It's gossipy and makes you wonder about the world and how awful it really is. Or is it? If you a cynical, this will make your even more so. This is insider stuff, from someone who views the insides, I believe happily, from the dark wings.

Moneywood has 12 chapters in 332 pages and talks about the people behind Hollywood during the 1980's. Interesting premise based on a very compelling period of Hollywood but it falls far short in almost every way. It is part auto-biographical, part memoir, part anecdotal and fairly boring throughout. There are some full-page pictures inserted into the middle of the book. I couldn't read it all because it is an endless parade of people and their possessions trotted out for the world to see. Although it provides a glimpse behind the scenes into Hollywood there isn't much substance to this book. It jumps around so you can't follow any sort of logic and the author rarely provides any insights or reaches any conclusions about the last age of excess.The most interesting part was the appendix which lists the major hits and flops for each studio from the 1980's. Perhaps there is an audience for a gossipy book like this but it would be for people who want to read about aging stars, politics, and former power players in Hollywood. It's like reading People Magazine without as many pictures. The author doesn't have much to say and even includes himself in a few chapters where he pitches his ideas to the Hollywood bigwigs. Author William Stadiem also wrote "Everybody Eats There: Inside The World's Legendary Restaurants" so you get an idea about his personal interests and motivations. Moneywood is another over-hyped film book about Hollywood that ultimately reveals little you don't already know. This is not hard-nosed investigative reporting in any sense. It reads like a magazine article and doesn't deliver on its premise of talking about Hollywood, films, box office grosses or even much about the power players. It could have been so much better but it fails to live up to the hype on the back cover. It is nothing more than a vanity book and probably the worst book I read in 2013. Many readers will have trouble finishing this book because there are so many better books worth your time and money.

Some interesting stories, but most of them are boring and badly written.