Theresa Rebeck's career has hopscotched between the Off-Broadway successes of plays such as Spike Heels, The Family of Mann, and View of the Dome, to award– winning work writing and producing network television such as NYPD Blue, to writing screenplays for independent and studio features. This writer's guide is both a discussion of the writer's craft and a no-holds-barred discussion of the politics in the movie, television, and theater worlds. Rebeck writes, "Someone once asked me, 'What advice would you give to young writers who wanted to go into show business?' And I answered, almost without thinking, 'Tell all of them to go back and reread Machiavelli.'"

In a series of hilarious and provocative discussions covering all aspects of dramatic writing, Rebeck attempts to address what she considers both of a writer's primary concerns — how to tell a story with truth and vision and how to maneuver as a dramatic writer in a dangerous world.