Hello, he lied

Welcome to the world of Hollywood - a constantly spinning cyclone of glamour, money, and gossip where there is no glossary and people play by rules discernible only to those on the inside. It is a world that Lynda Obst, one of the most successful producers in Hollywood today, entered two decades ago as a neophyte and where through resolve, determination, and quick wit, she has been able to produce some of today's biggest movies, including The Fisher King and Sleepless in Seattle. Now in Hello, He Lied, Lynda Obst takes us on a behind-the-scenes tour of her world - onto sound stages with Tom Hanks and Meg Ryan, inside meetings with David Geffen and Peter Guber, on location in New York City with George Clooney and Michelle Pfeiffer, and into negotiations over The Hot Zones. She shares what she has learned in over twenty years in the business, about how to pitch an idea, impress a suit, win a bidding war over a hot script, and massage egos, as well as the all consuming issue of how to dress on location, what to say to skittish directors, where to eat lunch - whether in New York, LA, or a town you've never heard of - and most important, how to produce successful, critically acclaimed movies.

Beyond its central premise, the book can be read through the connected lenses of Nonfiction. Those themes offer useful points of attention as the characters, ideas, or world develop, especially where the book complicates the expectations of its primary category.