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"Hollywood died on me as soon as I got here.
Welles said that, not me, but damn if he didn't nail it, you know?"
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PHIL BRODY
Phil Brody lives in Los Angeles and writes every day. He began his career in Chicago in advertising. After moving to LA, Brody toiled in development, penned a few spec scripts, and has worked as a writer, producer, and director in documentary TV. His short film, A Blue Christmas, was the grand prize winner in The Short Film Group's First Annual Script Competition and was acknowledged in the WorldFest-Houston and Cleveland International Film Festivals. Brody is a graduate of Miami University of Ohio and an alumnus of Writers Boot Camp in Santa Monica, California. The Holden Age of Hollywood is his first novel.
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Spoiler Alert: the following website below is best enjoyed after reading the novel
as it reveals plot points and potential spoilers. You have been warned.
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PHOTOS
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Synopsis
"Hollywood died on me as soon as I got here. Welles said that, not me, but damn if he didn't nail it, you know?"
Sam Bateman came to Hollywood to settle a score, but amidst the sunny and 75, his plans went astray. Everything changed the day he drank in the intoxicating legend of Meyer Holden, the greatest screenwriter Hollywood has ever known, the one who pulled a Salinger and walked away. Holden now tacks pseudonyms onto his works and buries them in the bottomless sea of spec that is Hollywood's development process. They're out there for anyone to find—but at what cost? In his quest, Bateman severs all ties and sinks into a maddening world of bad writing and flawed screenplays. Paranoid and obsessive, the belligerent savant encounters an eccentric cast of characters—each with an agenda—in his search for the one writer in Hollywood who does not want to be found.
Phil Brody's The Holden Age of Hollywood is at once a detective novel, an unexpected love story, and a provocative exposé of a broken industry. With dark humor and incisive commentary, the novel immerses readers in a neo-noir quest to attain the Hollywood dream, integrity intact. -
PRESS
REVIEWS
" The Holden Age of Hollywood by Phil Brody delivers the premise and promise of its title. It is an original, rollicking, picaresque novel that would make J.D. Salinger proud."
~ Stan Corwin, former publisher/CEO of Pinnacle Books, author of Betty Page Confidential and Oxy-Morons I Have Known
"Brody's debut novel has an ambitious agenda. It's a coming-of-age novel, a mystery, a love story, and a stinging, knowing send-up of the movie biz. Brody melds these disparate elements with energy, wit, snarky insider dialogue, and a clipped, telegraphic narrative style. . . The Holden Age of Hollywood is fine entertainment."
~ Thomas Gaughan, Booklist (May 1, 2012)
"As the sun came up today, I turned the last page of Phil Brody's The Holden Age of Hollywood. That's because I couldn't put it down. I can rarely make time for novels, but this one had me rifling through pages with constant anticipation. The back drop of this story is the same backdrop I live and work in. Hollywood. With all its fast-talkers, posers, and users, Brody weaves a tale through all the madness that is Hollywood with a voice of reason, integrity, and hilarious sarcasm. . . I have rarely been this entertained, while being informed, all from reading the same book."
~ Doug Jones, Actor, Pan's Labyrinth, Hellboy I and II, Fantastic 4: Rise of the Silver Surfer
"The Holden Age of Hollywood is a great view of the reality of screenwriting. Phil Brody's dark humor and commentary could fast become required reading for all aspiring in Hollywood."
~ Jeffrey Gordon, founder, Writers Boot Camp
What I got (from The Holden Age of Hollywood) is a startling, beautiful, and unique page turner. A pointed, focused perspective of life in the Hollywood trenches. A deeply flawed, but frighteningly relatable central character. A mystery. A love story. A fictional biography that felt, in many ways, like a character study that involved all of my real life friends and acquaintances in Hollywood. I loved Holden Age so much, I was actually reminded of how much I love books."
~ Taryn Southern, actor-writer-producer
"In a time where Hollywood and modern fiction seem to be churning out lazy, uninventive "reboots" and "relaunches," The Holden Age of Hollywood delivers an adrenaline shot to the heart of anyone who loves a great story . . . A great work by a true craft master."
~ Scott Allen Perry, filmmaker
"We found ourselves sad to leave every chapter and didn't want the novel to end—that's how good it is. In a way, The Holden Age of Hollywood never really ends though, does it? Hollywood loves a star in any form. Guess you'll have to pick up the book to see what we mean. . ."
~ Johnathan Ruggiero, CEO/Founder of ActorRated.com and Michelle Luchese, Community Outreach Coordinator of ActorRated.com
"If anyone knows Hollywood, author Phil Brody knows Hollywood. The Holden Age of Hollywood is a cynical and witty look at the real town . . . exposing the often underappreciated business of screenwriting, all while unfolding an unexpected love story. . . ."
~ Jessica Druck, The Five-Stir
"This book reminded me, in bits and pieces, of tales ranging from Ernest Cline's recent debut novel Ready Player One to much of the body of work of Chuck Palahniuk and a little bit of David Foster Wallace (names not to be thrown around lightly, I know). So if you like discovering fresh literary voices that are likely to be hailed down the road as, at the very least, cult classics, then this book is for you."
~ Scott Tate, bookseller; Colorado, USA
"The Holden Age of Hollywood is such a great story of searching for that Bobby Fisher-type who is brilliant but choses to disappear. Plus, the author has the gift of dialogue and even single lines stand out as rich prose you just want to chew on."
~ David Allen Case, nightstand.com -
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