The Church of Baseball

By Ron Shelton,

Book cover of The Church of Baseball: The Making of Bull Durham

Book description

LA TIMES BESTSELLER • From the award-winning screenwriter and director of cult classic Bull Durham, the extremely entertaining behind-the-scenes story of the making of the film, and an insightful primer on the art and business of moviemaking.

"This book tells you how to make a movie—the whole nine innings of…

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Why read it?

2 authors picked The Church of Baseball as one of their favorite books. Why do they recommend it?

I love books on the making of movies, reading a couple a year. This book is the best I’ve read, period. Not because it talks about a movie that I could quote all day long, but because it explores all the decisions and compromises Shelton made while creating the movie, and that’s something to learn from as a writer.

Knowing what a creator didn’t choose to do is as valuable as knowing what they did so you can consider what you would do in the same situation because that’s all writing really is: making decisions and compromises, large and small.

I tend to read a lot of serious books—histories, biographies, and books on important political and social issues. But sometimes reading should be just fun.

Bull Durham is one of my favorite movies. Baseball, romance, Susan Sarandon. What’s not to like?

I saw the movie with my wife, Peggy, on one of our first nights out after our second child was born. The theater was almost empty, but still, Peggy was embarrassed because I was laughing so hard. Tears in my eyes laughing.

This book by Ron Shelton (who wrote and directed the movie) brings back all the fun of…

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