A few years ago Rob Long, sometime writer on Cheers and several [less succesful] US sitcoms, used to write a very entertaining column about the industry in The Observer. These either came from, or made up (I forget) a book called Conversations With My Agent which is now seemingly out of print. It was very funny.
This book is the follow-up and is a “novel” in the sense that if it wasn’t there might be some legal issues. Actually, there are also plenty of imaginary stories. This becomes obvious if you check out the Martini Shot website at KCRW (also available as a podcast). Indeed, you don’t have to listen too far back into last year to hear the same stories told in this book. But they’re funny stories, and most readers in the UK won’t have heard them. Similarly, listeners in the US are unlikely to read them since this book has only really been published in the UK.
It seems a pretty accurate account of how a writer/producer lives his or her life from show to show in the States. I say that, but obviously there’s no reason why I’d really know. But I do read quite a lot about the state of US TV so it certainly seems to be true.
Overall a funny book. And scary too. It won’t take you too long to read, however. With lots of script excerpts (conversations with his agent once again) and the book only being around 200 pages long, this really only needs a couple of sittings to get through. Worthwhile though.