The Picture Business is a delicious collection of eight stories and a novella about the private lives of the people who make the movies, written in fine detail by a keen-eyed witness/participant in Hollywood's dream factory.Elaine Kagan started in the Picture Business, as it was then known, in the late sixties, working as a secretary to John Cassavetes, a popular actor, writer, and director recognized as a pioneer of American independent cinema. Kagan began acting when serendipitously offered a part in Coming to America by director John Landis. Later, she would appear in such classic films as Goodfellas and Traffic, as well as many TV shows, from NYPD Blue to the recent High Potential. Beginning in the mid-1990s, Kagan has published five bestselling books of fiction.In The Picture Business, we meet the key grip and the actress, starting a new production, rekindling a reckless love affair. Five retired stunt men caught in an unexpected stunt at breakfast in the San Fernando Valley. An unruly actor and the hilarious plot hatched by the crew to get him to work. Two best friends, female writers, involved in an accident that drastically changes their lives. And a superstar actor/writer/director/producer and the three women who love him—before, during, and after his extraordinary life and devastating demise. And more.As Kagan writes in her Author's Note: "e;The stories are here. Just turn the page. The day-to-day intrigue, the dirt, the deals, the drama. It's the inside scoop, kiddo, written by someone who was there."e;Praise for Elaine Kagan's Fiction The Girls: "e;A hot, sweet, sexy funny-so-you-cry, right-on look at the way women have lived their lives."e; —Anne Roiphe, Mirabella"e;Elaine Kagan has done an extraordinary job of animating each interlocked life and especially of making us hear the characters' voices."e; —Roz Spafford, The Washington PostBlue Heaven:"e;Blue Heaven is smart, snappy, often laugh-out-loud funny and more. It is tremendously moving, true and wise."e; —The Philadelphia Inquirer"e;Kagan . . . is a deft writer who knows how people talk and who brings to her domestic drama just the right blend of heartache and humor. A thoroughly absorbing, thoroughly entertaining read."e; —Booklist Somebody's Baby: "e;Uncommonly heartbreaking . . . emotionally charged . . . will captivate women everywhere."e; —Booklist "e;A touching and convincing tale that looks at different kinds of passion - sexual, religious, parental - and considers the irony that genuine love can be found in unexpected places."e; —Publisher's WeeklyNo Goodbyes:"e;Mothers and daughters, the movie business, psychiatry, actors and actresses - all things Elaine Kagan knows firsthand and writes about with her heart and eyes open."e;—John Landis, director of Animal House and Coming to America"e;With wit and a great sense of knowing, Elaine Kagan punches her characters to life. Reading her is like my own journey through this industry."e; —Henry Winkler"e;Irresistible . . . a delicious summer read."e; —PeopleLosing Mr. North: "e;In this mysteriously beautiful tale, Elaine Kagan deftly weaves a story of infidelity so compelling, the reader will not be able to put it down. Linda, the wife and Rachel, the mistress, share Jack North and so much more in this Bermuda Triangle of Love."e;—Adriana Trigiani, author of Big Stone Gap and Big Cherry Holler

The Picture Business is a delicious collection of eight stories and a novella about the private lives of the people who make the movies, written in fine detail by a keen-eyed witness/participant in Hollywood's dream factory.Elaine Kagan started in the Picture Business, as it was then known, in the late sixties, working as a secretary to John Cassavetes, a popular actor, writer, and director recognized as a pioneer of American independent cinema. Kagan began acting when serendipitously offered a part in Coming to America by director John Landis. Later, she would appear in such classic films as Goodfellas and Traffic, as well as many TV shows, from NYPD Blue to the recent High Potential. Beginning in the mid-1990s, Kagan has published five bestselling books of fiction.In The Picture Business, we meet the key grip and the actress, starting a new production, rekindling a reckless love affair. Five retired stunt men caught in an unexpected stunt at breakfast in the San Fernando Valley. An unruly actor and the hilarious plot hatched by the crew to get him to work. Two best friends, female writers, involved in an accident that drastically changes their lives. And a superstar actor/writer/director/producer and the three women who love him—before, during, and after his extraordinary life and devastating demise. And more.As Kagan writes in her Author's Note: "e;The stories are here. Just turn the page. The day-to-day intrigue, the dirt, the deals, the drama. It's the inside scoop, kiddo, written by someone who was there."e;Praise for Elaine Kagan's Fiction The Girls: "e;A hot, sweet, sexy funny-so-you-cry, right-on look at the way women have lived their lives."e; —Anne Roiphe, Mirabella"e;Elaine Kagan has done an extraordinary job of animating each interlocked life and especially of making us hear the characters' voices."e; —Roz Spafford, The Washington PostBlue Heaven:"e;Blue Heaven is smart, snappy, often laugh-out-loud funny and more. It is tremendously moving, true and wise."e; —The Philadelphia Inquirer"e;Kagan . . . is a deft writer who knows how people talk and who brings to her domestic drama just the right blend of heartache and humor. A thoroughly absorbing, thoroughly entertaining read."e; —Booklist Somebody's Baby: "e;Uncommonly heartbreaking . . . emotionally charged . . . will captivate women everywhere."e; —Booklist "e;A touching and convincing tale that looks at different kinds of passion - sexual, religious, parental - and considers the irony that genuine love can be found in unexpected places."e; —Publisher's WeeklyNo Goodbyes:"e;Mothers and daughters, the movie business, psychiatry, actors and actresses - all things Elaine Kagan knows firsthand and writes about with her heart and eyes open."e;—John Landis, director of Animal House and Coming to America"e;With wit and a great sense of knowing, Elaine Kagan punches her characters to life. Reading her is like my own journey through this industry."e; —Henry Winkler"e;Irresistible . . . a delicious summer read."e; —PeopleLosing Mr. North: "e;In this mysteriously beautiful tale, Elaine Kagan deftly weaves a story of infidelity so compelling, the reader will not be able to put it down. Linda, the wife and Rachel, the mistress, share Jack North and so much more in this Bermuda Triangle of Love."e;—Adriana Trigiani, author of Big Stone Gap and Big Cherry Holler