Where independent film and literature unite.

Big Beach Reads was founded in early 2024 by writer and producer Halle Arbaugh as the official book club and literary division of Big Beach Films, with the goal of identifying, amplifying, and uplifting voices in film, literature, television and beyond. We produce content, sell curated books, and engage the film & literature communities, offering a platform for auteurs, filmmakers, and writers to advance independent film and television projects together.

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After spending years working for and mentored by Oscar and Emmy-winning film & TV producers, reviewing scripts, books, and written materials for independent production companies The Weinstein Co. and Big Beach Films, and working as a producer, screenwriter and filmmaker, Halle Arbaugh founded Big Beach Reads during her tenure at the indie filmmaking company Big Beach.

 

Having written a novel and gone through the process of attaching key talent to its adaptation, including producers and a showrunner, Halle learned firsthand the process from authorship to optioning and  adaptation. Halle has worked on a diverse array of independently-produced projects in film and television and brings background in producing and coverage, adapting material, co-writing scripts and more.

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First and foremost a writer and author, Halle noticed a key glitch in the process by which books and written materials are adapted: mainly, top literary and talent agencies virtually control the channels by which authors can connect with filmmakers, filtering most content to firmly established "independent" giants, drastically limiting opportunities for funding options and adaptation deals. This disempowers independent filmmakers, diminishing the impact of indie film and severely limiting income opportunities for most authors.  In 2024, she assumed the role of Head of Books at Big Beach, launching Big Beach Reads with the goal of creating new channels for authors, journalists, and other writers to connect directly with screenwriters, producers, directors, and other filmmakers.

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In 2025, Big Beach Reads  added Uplifters Ranch, an indie production arm launched by Arbaugh in homage to The Uplifters Club, whose notorious presence at the helm of Old Hollywood included the membership of film and literary giants: members Walt Disney, Will Rogers, Clark Gable,  Darryl Zanuck, Irving Thalberg, Harold Lloyd, Spencer Tracy, Ronald Reagan, L. Frank Baum, and Louis B. Mayer were amongst those who routinely gathered in Rustic Canyon, advancing projects over social and recreational events.

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Arbaugh, a long-term resident of the Uplifters Ranch in Rustic Canyon, continues this tradition by reigniting The Uplifters Club and Uplifters Ranch, which was dissolved in the 1990s. She sees that there's a rekindling of "Old Hollywood" - and the capacity for film and television to uplift and inspire audiences worldwide - in modern independent film and through revolutionizing narrative content in the independent production sphere.

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For press inquiries, email our team at: info@bigbeachreads.com

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