The Jaws Log: Expanded Edition (Shooting Script)

I saw Jaws in the summer of 1975 at the age of ten and was immediately hooked! I had this book as a kid in a small paperback version. Through the years I lost the book. So glad it was rereleased as a larger book with new material added!!!

My childhood dream was to write and direct movies but I failed for two reasons: 1. I crumbled at the first sign of failure. 2. I had no talent.Your failures pile up and you get old and bitter, choking on a lifetime of regret and botched opportunities. You can’t even watch the Oscars anymore because your ship has sailed. It’s all over for you. But what really gets your goat is how a young upstart like Steven Spielberg directs Jaws when he’s just a scant year older than Orson Welles when he helmed Citizen Kane. Where do these guys get off?! Of course, peaking so early didn’t bode so well for Welles but Jaws paved the way for Spielberg to make a comfortable living. And of course it also changed the way movies are made and marketed and — where does he get off??!!Thanks to The Jaws Log, I now understand that making the movie was no cake walk for our young Steven. It nearly broke him.It’s enormously comforting to know that.But also, The Jaws Log stands as a reminder to any aspiring filmmaker that talent without tenacity isn’t enough.All in all, this is a fascinating behind-the-scenes account of how Spielberg and his team turned an impending disaster into a rousing success. All told in a compelling and fluid narrative. I have the ADD so my bookshelves are crammed with abandoned books, but I breezed through this in two days. Couldn’t put it down.It’s a great story about the unlikely making of a great movie that would make a great movie!And seriously, I wish I read this in my 20s. It might have given me an extra push to soldier through setbacks in the pursuit of excellence instead of imploding like badly assembled IKEA furniture. Oh well.

Great book though! A must read for filmmakers!

One day, I threw a rock into the ocean. I hit Jaws. Now it's a movie.

I first read The Jaws Log when in was published soon after the film came out. I had, like most, found the film exhilarating as well as terrifying, and wanted to know more about how Steven Spielberg had pulled off that miracle when he was only a few years older than me.Gottlieb was in a unique and enviable place to watch both the on- and off-camera mayhem. He was hired for both his acting and writing talents, and was able to be present for much of the shooting schedule. Because he worked closely with Spielberg, he was privy to the frustrations and problems that plagued the production as its shooting schedule crept from eight weeks to almost five months.My perception is that this edition of the Jaws Log is much changed from the original, and if I can find the original, I will check. However, this book feels richer in its discussion how any film is made, using the director's and producers' daily problems to discuss film-making in general.Therefore, if you are at all interested in how this part of the entertainment business manages to make so many people preposterous rich keeping the rest of us amused, this is for you. If you simply want to see where arguably the best film director in history got his start -- and could easily have failed on his first big project -- read this. It's interesting, if not fascinating.As I finished it, I could only shake my head in awe. I would love to have just a quarter of Steven Spielberg's talent and luck.

Nice info regarding the making of Jaws. Would be helpful for anyone interested in directing or producing films.

I read this book many years ago, so many that reading it again was like the first time. I loved it then and I love it now.One of the best books I’ve read about making a movie and I’ve read many. Carl Gottlieb was there and witnessed everything and it’s all here.Another plus, is I saw the film today on an IMAX screen. As incredible as I remember it. Seeing the movie and reading the book in the same day is perfection.Try to do both.

I cannot believe I didn’t know about this book sooner. Filled with stories about the making of Jaws , but also the inner workings of the publishing world and Hollywood (at least how it was in the 70’s). It paints a picture of all the different parts and departments that have to work together to make “movie magic”.The updated edition has wonderful footnotes that have the benefit of 30 years to more fully flesh out some point or person in the original text. These footnotes are hyperlinks - on my iPad it brought up a box at the bottom of the page for the footnote . I’d read the note , then could cancel the box and pick up reading where I’d left off. On my phone , the link just sent you to the back of the book in the footnote sectionI, and was trickier for me to get back to where I was . A fun read, I’m sure I’ll revisit again. As other reviewers have noted there’s no shooting script in this copy of the book.

What a joy it was to read this insiders account of the making of JAWS. As a screenwriter and tutor of budding authors, I have found it to be invaluable. It's always easier to teach if the material is enjoyable and who doesn't love JAWS?

Clearly nothing could possibly do justice to the best film ever made, but Jaws Log does a credible and humble job of sharing the magic and the mystery of its production. The pages are perhaps a little weird / ‘matt’, but it makes for a more textured read.I’m very grateful to the amazing person who made the purchase for me, they clearly know me well enough to make just the right selection.

Mai tradotto in Italiano, questo libro è semplicemente perfetto, una divertente, entusiasmante descrizione del backstage di uno dei più grandi film mai girati. Una cronaca fedele e sincera, senza auto-celebrazione, che riesce a far immergere il lettore nel mare silenzioso di un racconto che riserva tante sorprese come l'oceano di Amity Island. Buona lettura.

fast shipping and great book!

Extremely entertaining book. Carl Gottlieb gives an in depth, tongue in cheek chronicle from beginning to end. A must read for all JAWS fans!