Ready When You Are, Mr. Coppola, Mr. Spielberg, Mr. Crowe

Jerry Ziesmer is a long-time member of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences, and the Directors Guild of America. In 2006, Jerry Ziesmer was presented with the Frank Capra Achievement Award in recognition of Career Achievement by the Directors Guild of America for an Assistant Director. He attended Northwestern University and did his graduate work at UCLA where he wrote Stan Laurel: The Little One, a study of comedy film techniques. He and his wife, Suzanne, live in Los Angeles and are currently working for Steven Spielberg on another Cameron Crowe project. They also teach film production classes each year for UCLA extension, as well as mentoring serious film students and young professionals by e-mail at AC563@LAFN.ORG.

No movie has ever been made, or made well, without the character who toils just outside the spotlight. He arranged for the spotlight, hired the spotlight operator, and even made sure that it was trained correctly on the stars. At the end of the day, there would be no blinking movie screens, no blinking Oscar winners, no finished films, good or bad, without the Assistant Director. Jerry Ziesmer was an assistant director for over thirty years, working on countless films before his retirement in the middle-nineties. He has worked with some of Hollywood's biggest directors, and its biggest stars. In this memoir, he recounts his time in Hollywood including his work on the sets of Apocalypse Now, Close Encounters, and Jerry Maguire. Written with the craft and humor that made Jerry Ziesmer one of the most sought-after assistant directors in Hollywood, this book will be a treasure for students and fans of twentieth-century Hollywood. Cloth edition previously published in 2000.