THE BOOK

What does it really take to survive Hollywood without losing your soul?

In To Live and Write in LA: A Street-Level Guide to Surviving as a Screenwriter, Jim Agnew pulls back the curtain on a career spent inside the film business, writing and producingmultiple feature films alongside directors like Dario Argento and John Carpenter and actors such as Nicolas Cage, Adrien Brody and Jean-Claude Van Damme.

Agnew shares Hollywood stories filled withnear-disasters and hard-earned lessons, revealing the reality of behind-the-scenes filmmaking—where deals fall apart, egos dominate and survival depends on understanding the business as much as the craft.

Part cautionary tale, part insider confessional, To Live and Write in LA isn’t a film school guide or a glossy success story but an unfiltered look at how movies actually get made, why so many don’t and what it costs the people trying to make them.

If you’ve ever wondered how to get into the movie business or simply love books about making movies, To Live and Write in LA delivers the stories Hollywood never puts in the press kit.