Dirty Dealing, Jeffrey Allan Grosso
Dirty Dealing, Jeffrey Allan Grosso
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Dirty Dealing
Grosso v. Miramax-Waging War with Harvey Weinstein and the Screenplay that Changed Hollywood

Author: Jeffrey Allan Grosso

Narrator: Jonathan Yen

Unabridged: 6 hr 38 min

Format: Digital Audiobook Download

Publisher: Tantor Media

Published: 06/14/2022


Synopsis

When a young screenwriter goes online to check out the promotional website for a new poker movie called Rounders, he's shocked to discover how similar it is to a screenplay he wrote a few years earlier and submitted to a number of studios. When he later sees the Miramax-produced film in theaters, he is astonished by the number of overlapping elements—the protagonist playing Texas Hold 'em to pay his way through college while deceiving the girlfriend who believes he's quit, the loss of everything he has in a single hand of high-stakes Hold 'em, a character named "Worm," and many other commonalities that form the foundation of what will become his lawsuit against Miramax. He leaves the theater that day feeling that not only has the studio stolen his script, but his life, which had encompassed years of professional poker playing that informed the screenplay he hoped would open the door to a writing career in Hollywood.

Against all odds, he proceeds to take on Miramax and the Hollywood system with the help of an ingenious lawyer. Jeffrey Grosso simply has to prove how it could have happened and convince a judicial system that often favors studios over writers that he's a victim of intellectual property theft, which results in a ten-year landmark legal battle against Hollywood's most notorious studio.

About Jeffrey Allan Grosso

Jeffrey Allan Grosso is the author of several scintillating books, screenplays, short stories, feature articles, songs, and poems. He has worked as a copywriter, editor, poker columnist (under the byline Chip Stax), and professional poker player. His column, Chip Stax's Advanced Quantum Theories of Texas Hold 'em, ran in Poker Digest magazine for three years and is considered to be the first humor column to focus specifically on Texas Hold 'em.

He has also worked as an antique clock dealer, commercial real estate salesman, car salesman, prep cook, line cook, waiter, bartender, wood splitter, and handyman. He currently resides in Redondo Beach, California, where he still plays in a weekly Texas Hold 'em tournament with the world-renowned Euclid Rangers. He continues to hold his own, and a little bit of theirs.


Reviews

Goodreads review by Marc

The author’s account of Miramax stealing the Rounders story idea is mostly believable, but his tellings of other stories (including the publication backstory for this very book) are fanciful, self-admittedly embellished, and altogether pretty sleazy, so it’s up to the reader how much credence to giv......more

Goodreads review by Sean

Very easy, short read evidencing Grosso’s inability to both write or tell a story. Details on the actual lawsuit are sparse; he spends most of the 200 pages providing an autobiography of a life nobody came to this book to read about. Kudos to him for trying to make a buck off his story, but this one......more

Goodreads review by Jon

Entertaining and somewhat convincing tale of Hollywood's darker side. Would recommend to anyone interested in film or poker and especially in poker in film.......more

Goodreads review by Kim

I was fortunate enough to get a copy of the book before it is premiered. You don't want to put it down and the intertwined humor keeps you informed and guessing what is next. Corruption at it's best.......more