Ed Wood Made In Hollywood USA L.A. Book Launch with Will Sloan & Dana Gould

“Beautifully written, intelligently funny, packed with surprising facts on every page, and composed with a sensitive love for his subject that is neither cultishly worshipful nor patronizing for the sake of a laugh.”

—Guy Maddin

When Edward D. Wood, Jr. died in 1978 at fifty-four, just days after being evicted from his home, he was largely forgotten. Two years later, he was named “Worst Director of All Time”—a title that cemented his cult status. By the time a youthful Johnny Depp starred in an eponymous movie about the filmmaker in 1994, Wood’s low-budget films including Plan 9 from Outer Space, Glen or Glenda, and Bride of the Monster, had become beloved “so bad they’re good” classics. Since then, rediscovered works and shifting cultural attitudes have led new audiences to embrace his eccentric style and ahead-of-his-time takes on gender and genre.

Ed Wood: Made in Hollywood USA is a critical reappraisal that takes Wood seriously, positioning him as a true independent who blurs the lines between high and low art. Will Sloan traces his marginal career—from Bela Lugosi collaborations to pornographic films—and explores how Wood’s chaotic sets, fading stars, and taboo subjects created something singular. Placing his films in their cultural context, Sloan reveals how Wood fused grindhouse with avant-garde, nostalgia with innovation, and failure with vision. Marking the centennial of Wood’s birth, this engaging take is both a timely investigation into the politics of taste and a loving tribute to a defiant outsider artist.

Will Sloan is a Toronto-based writer who has written for The New Yorker, Little White Lies, Jacobin, Sight & Sound, The Toronto Star, The Believer, Metrograph Journal, and Cinema Scope. He co-hosts two podcasts, The Important Cinema Club and Michael & Us

Host or Publisher Artbook @ Hauser & Wirth LA Bookstore