Doc Hollywood

About the Book

Mix the brains of Neil Shulman and Carl Hiaasen and subtract 27 years, and you’ve got the book Doc Hollywood, originally titled What? Dead … Again?, which was turned into the 1991 movie adaptation starring Michael J. Fox. Hiaasen and Shulman traipsed around rural Georgia in the late ’70s collecting the funny accounts and unique experiences of real life practicing ‘Doc Hollywoods.’ They created a book about the misadventures of Dr. Otis Stone, a high-flying city doctor gets hoodwinked into practicing medicine ‘below the gnat line,’ U.S.A.

The zany characters of Grady, Ala., and their interface with the spunky ‘fish out of water’ doc, tickled the fancy of Michael J. Fox, and thus was born the movie “Doc Hollywood.” Some even say that the popular TV series “Northern Exposure” was inspired by this novel. More than 30 years later, the Shulman-Hiaasen “Doc Hollywood” partnership has sparked many current plots, including the 2006 Pixar film Cars. The tales seems to follow Doc Hollywood's plot, as reported by medias across the nation. Doc Hollywood is a story as moving as it is hilarious. But if one has seen the movie, according to Shulman, don’t be fooled. There’s more to plot than the Hollywood adaptation. “This book is more a seed than a copy of the movie,” states Shulman. Many who have enjoyed the movie have been even more captivated by the book. Critically-acclaimed and unforgettable, it deserves a special place on every bookshelf and within every heart that has longed for the simple life. “This book is a hundred times better than the movie they made out of it. A great book.” .

About the Author

Neil’s comic personality has launched him into a successful career in entertainment where he has been using humor as therapy in a unique one-man traveling comedy show.  Favorable revises and publicity – from CNN, U.S.A. Today, The Miami Herald – keep him booked before many audiences, from comedy clubs and colleges to national conferences to a United Nations peace mission in Cyprus.  He philosophizes, performs monologues and tells of comic adventure, mixing the worlds of medicine, movies and novels.

Shulman wrote the book Doc Hollywood, then co-produced the Michael J. Fox-starring motion picture his book inspired.  Shulman’s other fiction includes The Backyard Tribe, Finally…I’m a Doctor, Life Before Sex, What’s in a Doctor’s Bag?, Under the Backyard Sky and Second Wind.

For speaking engagements, Shulman may be reached at (404) 321-0126, 2272 Vistamont Drive, Decatur, GA, 30033, nshulman@emory.edu or www.dochollywood.com