Mark Kamine

Celebrating 25 years of The Sopranos The executive producer of The White Lotus shares how he got his start in film and television production on "the greatest TV show of all time" (Rolling Stone) An inside look at the film industry for fans, students, and aspiring professionals -- featuring a foreword by Golden Globe and Emmy Award winning creator of The White Lotus, Mike White This page-turning account of starting at the lowest rung on the production ladder among enormously famous & outrageously demanding people will be devoured for its insights, gossip, humor, & storytelling. Married and with a child, the author takes unpaid gigs to get a foot in the door, and eventually ends up working on all seasons of The Sopranos, often named the best TV show ever. The show's setting and its creator's insistence on accuracy placed the native New Jersey author in the right place at the right time to become part of television history, and to witness the effects of sudden fame and acclaim on the show's principal players. Includes many stories about guest stars like Steve Buscemi, Peter Bogdanovich, and Lauren Bacall, as well as the beloved cast, including new tales of James Gandolfini, who Kamine first meets after David Chase casts him as the Dean of Admissions in the classic first season "College" episode. Later, after he's been promoted, Kamine gets the calls from Gandolfini when he's hungover, or still drunk, and might or might not make it to the shoot that day. One night, Kamine tries to prevent Gandolfini from taking a swim in the ocean after they've been drinking all night, telling him it could be dangerous but Jim doesn't listen. Woven in is a personal story of home life and strife, achievement and frustration, anxiety and accomplishment. The book's epilogue brings readers up to the moment as the author, after many more years as an anonymous everyman, eventually enjoys outsize professional success as executive producer of the HBO hit series created by Mike White, The White Lotus.

GENTRIFICATION ON THE BLOCK, A SHOWMAN IN THE WHITE HOUSE, ETHICS GONE. THIS IS THE 1980S. Mark starts out in suburban New Jersey, where housing developments and shopping malls provide cover for medical scams, divorces and abortions. He moves on to film-biz-saturated Los Angeles, harboring Afghan freedom fighters and damaged survivors of Hollywood’s entertainment-making machine. Back east in rapidly gentrifying New York City, he falls in with art snobs, literary luminaries and real estate operators, all making the most of trickle-down economics. Law school and extreme anxiety are on the horizon, followed by a foray into France and encounters with Eastern religion, an early wave of terrorism and the burgeoning right wing movement that is its corollary. Everyone is looking for anything but what they already have. Mark is no exception.