Considers the work of television set assemblers, soft-core cameramen, reality-program casters, and public-access and cable commissioners in relation to the globalized economy of the television industry

Eccentric private eye Charlie Waldo is back in another wildly fun and fast-paced thriller lampooning Southern California. Former LAPD detective Charlie Waldo was living in solitude deep in the woods, pathologically committed to owning no more than one hundred possessions, until his PI ex-girlfriend Lorena dragged him back to civilization to solve a high-profile Hollywood murder. Now Waldo and Lorena have their hands full with a new client, a wild and privileged L.A. teenager named Stevie Rose who tells lies as easily as she breathes. When the teacher Stevie claims seduced her turns up dead, the LAPD pegs her as the prime suspect. Then Stevie disappears, and her self-involved Hollywood parents turn to Waldo to find her—a task that draws him down into Orange County’s dangerous and complex worlds, both opulent and seedy, where nothing is as it seems. With treachery and deception at every turn, and with Waldo’s eco-obsessed rules for living complicating his already complicated relationship with Lorena, Waldo fends off enemies old and new as he races to find Stevie and solve the murder.

Most salespeople work hard to become proficient in reaching the frontline managers in their markets. However, a salesperson who wishes to achieve long-lasting success with a client will learn how to also appeal to top-level executives from an “above the line” perspective. Master sales trainer Skip Miller shows how to simultaneously sell to both the frontline manager as well as the executive who is more concerned with profit/loss indicators such as ROI, time saved, risk lowered, and productivity improved – a strategy used by Google, Apple, Cisco WebEx, and other powerhouses. In Selling Above and Below the Line, you will learn how to: Create energy by including executives early in the sales process. Ask the right questions and pinpoint big-picture financial needs. Keep “below the line” managers from feeling bypassed. Uncover value propositions that target each set of decision-makers. Sales that seem locked in will stall or go dark. Customers who have been loyal to you suddenly back out of the relationship due to decisions made above the manager’s head. This often could have been avoided had the salesperson been intentional to sell both the technical and financial fit. In Selling Above and Below the Line, learn to effectively communicate both, leading to more successful and lucrative deals than ever before.

Movies have replaced the circus and the carnival as the traveling sideshow for the masses of America today, providing longed for escape from day-to-day reality. In the actual movie business, one is either above the line or below the line, the demarcation where the real money and power starts and stops. In a personal attempt to separate fact from fiction, the author takes a look at the beautiful, and the not-so-beautiful, people who work in films, in a behind the scenes account of "movie magic" from the thoroughly kissed bottom.

Below the Line: Anatomy of a Successful Movie is a nonfiction narrative about how major motion pictures are made today using one movie as a vehicle. As the book follows the people making Last Vegas, It stops along the way to explain process and different aspects of the business, from creating sets to costuming. The movie stars are well known -- Robert De Niro, Michael Douglas, Morgan Freeman, Kevin Kline and Mary Steenburgen - but in this book they play supporting roles. Instead, the leads are the people behind the camera, the director (Jon The Meg Turteltaub) and a huge cast of artists and artisans, designers and creators, overseers, office and logistical support, editors and musicians. Below the Line proves movies are a collaborative art form.

"Steven M. Levine. a veteran Hollywood property master, through both humorous recollections and poignant stories over a 39-year span, not only takes the reader onto a Hollywood set as a crew member but he is also ... informative about the art department and props in particular - any item handled or used by actors during the filming of a show ... explains what property masters do, how a script is 'broken down', why props must be throroughly researched, how the props master interfaces with other departments, and how to deal with the inflated egos he or she will certainly encounter. He also opens up about the toll that 14-16 hour days and being away on location for months at a time can take on family"--Publisher's description.

Production Studies is the first volume to bring together a star-studded cast of interdisciplinary media scholars to examine the unique cultural practices of media production. The all-new essays collected here combine ethnographic, sociological, critical, material, and political-economic methods to explore a wide range of topics, from contemporary industrial trends such as new media and niche markets to gender and workplace hierarchies. Together, the contributors seek to understand how the entire span of "media producers"—ranging from high-profile producers and directors to anonymous stagehands and costume designers—work through professional organizations and informal networks to form communities of shared practices, languages, and cultural understandings of the world.