It's been nine months since Bobby Conlon's wife dumped him for a hot young film director and he's doing great.

Okay, so he occasionally breaks into Natalie's apartment and sobs along to her old Carole King records, but that's only when he's out of meds. He's better now. One hundred percent. And to prove it, he's throwing out that year-old Christmas tree decorated with five hundred empty Vicodin bottles and flying to Texas to work on a movie starring Ralph the Swimming Pig.

But once in Texas, Bobby realizes he's signed on to the most dysfunctional movie ever. The director can't direct, the pig catches pneumonia, and just when things can't get any worse, Natalie and her boyfriend are hired to take over the movie. Suddenly, Bobby's personal and professional lives collide, and no matter which way he turns, fresh disasters await. Still, in spite of everything, Bobby clings to the hope that a happy ending might still be possible. This is the movie business, right?

Based on the Movie is a laugh-out-loud look at what actually happens on a film location, told from the perspective of the hardworking — and long-suffering — men and women behind the scenes. Fast-paced, funny, and edgy, Based on the Movie will appeal to readers of Nick Hornby and Tom Perrotta. As real life meets reel life, prepare to be captivated by one of the most entertaining reads of the season.

"Reel life meets real life in Taylor's fast and funny debut, the tale of Bobby Conlon, a dolly grip working on a disaster of a movie. Bobby, a lifelong movie lover, is growing disillusioned with Hollywood — a feeling that's been growing since he found his wife, producer Natalie Miguel, having an affair with a colleague, Elias Simm. Bobby decides that perhaps directing is for him and sells Gerti, a grip truck worth $150,000,to a colleague, who manages to wreck it and screw Bobby on the deal. So with no funds to produce and direct his opus, Bobby goes back to being a grip. This leads to an affair with Katherine, one of Natalie's archrivals, and a fight to keep his Xanax habit kicked. Things turn particularly bad after a series of incompetent directors come and go, forcing Natalie into the picture. Laugh-out-loud moments are in plentiful supply, and the twist at the end is nicely handled. Taylor, a former grip, creates a convincing backdrop for this biting take on the bleakness beneath the glamour." Publishers Weekly (Copyright Reed Business Information, Inc.)

"Based on the Movie is the real deal — one of the funniest and most entertaining novels I have read in a long time. Billy Taylor has written that rarest of books, one that is not only a hilarious, biting satire, but also an absorbing and emotionally satisfying work of fiction." — David Liss, author of The Coffee Trader and The Whiskey Rebel

"In Based on the Movie, one of Hollywood's unsung heroes sings with perfect pitch about the maddening, addictive dysfunction of the film business. It may be lonely at the top, but Billy Taylor's pithy insight suggests that it's pretty damned funny at the bottom." — Billy Frolick, writer of the film Madagascar

Movie madness meets mid-life crisis in Taylor's hilarious debut novel as a recovering dolly grip battles egos, absurdity, and a career-obsessed wife all to keep a really lousy movie from falling to pieces.

Billy Taylor worked as a dolly grip on dozens of movies and TV shows, including My Cousin Vinny and Pee-Wee's Playhouse, before turning his hand to writing. Based On the Movie is his first novel.