The Fall Guy and the Unsung Heroes of Book Publishing

Falling out of a window for your reading pleasure

I’ve seen the movie, Fall Guy 4 Times now. Why am I telling you this? I wanted an excuse to talk about it because its revenue is under the forecasted budget and that’s a shame. The Hollywood papers say that word of mouth might help it make its goal. Who are we if we do not champion the good things we see? Lastly, don’t worry, I’ll make this about books. 

It’s not the greatest movie ever, spoiler alert-nothing is.  It is, however, fun action, with a bit of romance. Maybe a lot of romance? 

It’s billed as an ode to stunt men but it's a rom com through and through. Sure, I like Nolan, and Tarantino but most of the time I just want the thrillride. Fall Guy delivers on the goods. 

There’s a few things that really make it great. It’s really economic. The first scene is one shot. It introduces the characters, immerses you in the world, and sets up the rest of the movie. 

Then, it pops forward 18 months but in the span of a phone call it catches you up and moves the story forward at the same time. It makes good use of scenes doing double duty in pushing the story forward throughout. I love to see that with storytelling. Even the title gets in on the act. He’s the Fall Guy, as in stunts. He Falls for the girl and he is the Fall Guy for a plot element that I won’t reveal here. 

Emily Blunt and Ryan Gosling’s chemistry is Cinema perfect. I’ve seen them both in a few things. Barbie and Oppenheimer, of course, but nothing I remember displays the happy go lucky celluloid charm these two have together in the Fall Guy. 

The action didn’t feel superhuman, which is a nice change after the Marvel years. I enjoyed the Marvel years but I am a bit worn out on it.  Fall Guy has a realness to it that doesn’t ache your brain with cringy CGI. There is no light show of the sky opening with a myriad of lasers for the final fight scene. Why does it have a realness to it? Because these are stunts done by stunt actors! You can feel the dirt and you can feel the glass in this movie. 

The dialogue is solid.  Yes, some of the script could have been better but Gosling, Blunt, and Hannah Waddingham all get 1,000 miles out of everything they were given. Waddingham’s Gail is the secret weapon of this movie.

But the thing I liked the most? 

It’s pretty simple. The guy. The girl. They have a break up but they like each other, they are in love and they end up ok in the end. I think that’s what irked me the most about Barbie. Ken and Barbie don't end up together. They have to find themselves. I get that. I do. I think my advice to young people would be you find yourself on the job. Life doesn’t give you an Eat Pray Love reprieve. 

I get it. Timing is wrong, things don’t work. But come on, what does it say about our world that Ken and Barbie aren’t together in the end?

 I think in the end it was refreshing to have it be simple in the movie. Remember Brad Pitt in Once Upon a Time in Hollywood? When Leonard DiCaprio's character can no longer pay him as his stunt guy and you think, “Well, here’s where Pitt turns on him and ditches him” and he doesn’t. I need more movies like this. 

Here’s my final bit. 

I want it to make its budget because I will write the sequel David Lietch. Here you go. 

Gail escapes, kidnaps Jody from the set of MetalStorm II. Colt and Dan and Jean Claude have to get her back. Once you see the movie, please share your ideas for Fall Guy II. 

But why are we here? We are here for books. Well, if the Fall Guy is about stunt men, the using heroes of movies, who are the Unsung Heroes of BOOKS?

Every industry has its unsung heroes and Publishing if full of them. Sure the authors and the publishers get the big applause. Sometimes the photographer does but never the cover designer. Inside the house the editors sometimes get the love but on the street not a bit. So who really saves the day? Who are the ones that you don’t notice until something goes wrong?

I used to work with an editor who had this on their desk 

Of course there are many more but here are a few that come to mind.

Typesetters- This is the person that makes the pretty words you wrote into a print ready, reader friendly experience. At the last minute you want to change a font or the trim size. You think, easy right? Wrong. Big Wrong. This person is the one sweating it after the author did all their hard work, the editors did all their hard work, and the proofreader did all their hard work. The typesetter is under the hood of the car putting everything in place while the author is out eating a steak. 

Proofreaders- The writers words, the editors revisions,, all is for naught when it gets to the typesetter if this person doesn't do their job. Even after typesetting is done it’s a good idea to let the Proofreader see it one more time. One little period can change and then domino through a document. 

Press Operators- I’ve visited LSB Crawfordsville many times in my life. I can’t remember the exact number but the average age of a worker there is 50 something. They are actively looking to entice young people into the trade. Until the robots come for us all, someone on the manufacturing floor  is loading the book blocks into binders and spooling ribbon and watching for upside down signatures. Granted a lot of this is scan code automated now but someone still has to watch and act on alerts. 

Truck Drivers-I always tell people, “Yes, the product will be there on time but pray for no flat tires, no interstate wrecks, no sick driver, and no port strike, “ All of that goes OK and we should be great. 

Production Managers-There are special Production Managers that can read your mind and anticipate what you are trying to do. They can keep you from printing a four color file on a cream sheet and muddying your results. They keep you from making a 450 page book weigh 5 lb because you really wanted 60lb paper. 

That’s just a few of the ladies and gentlemen that dive out of helicopters to make your books look nice and arrive on time. Who would you suggest are some unsung heroes of the book business?

Next time, I might write about book questions I get asked most at parties or my thoughts on writing about food.