Distilled from his lectures to graduate students at the University of Southern California, "The Total Film-Maker" is a frank, sometimes irreverent, personal story of the joys and pitfalls of making movies by a world-famous film-maker.

Filled with anecdotes and personal experiences, this book covers just about everything that can happen during the adventure of putting films together; the producer's job, writing a script, dealing with actors, the stage crew, preparing for the day's shooting, actual filming; Mr. Lewis also takes the reader into the cutting room, shows how to create and fit music to the sound track and then wage battle with the distributors and exploiters of the film industry.

The final section of the book deals with the art of comedy--how it is created, what makes it work, and who the great comedians are and why.

Total Film-Maker is an inside look at the way films are really made, told with candor, wit, and irresistible enthusiasm by a uniquely versatile comedian, screen writer, director, producer.