The Producers Books

I loved the movie so I just had to read the book. It mostly consists of the screenplay for the film but also includes sections that were deleted from the final film. Even someone who has not seen the movie will be able to follow the story easily and for those who know the movie the extras are an interesting addition. Also included are some great stills frrom the movie and an introduction from the authors explaining their motivations behind writing the screen play. I'm sure anyone who liked the movie or has an interest in Ed Wood will enjoy this book.

Thieme's book is slim but packed with analysis. Focusing on Welles' final completed film, F for Fake, it places it in the context of the numerous other projects he was working on during his later years, and illuminates how the playful and innovative techniques used in Citizen Kane's "News On the March" montage evolved into a unique style and format used by Welles for several other important projects. From reading this book, I begin to suspect that these films offer an essential and missing link to understanding the dynamic tension between fact and fiction in the modern documentary form. Indeed, F for Fake, as a film, plays out many of the contradictions and questions that film theorists engage with constantly, in a way that is dizzying and filled with limitless layers. Thieme's study is only a first step in an important direction

The book, like most Welles scholarship, suffers from the fact that several of Welles later works are not available - such as Filming Othello, Filming The Trial, Viva Italia, and The Fountain of Youth. Thieme gives these works more thought than anyone else, and uses them to build a strong argument for her thesis. The problem is that the reader (like me) has no access to these films, and probably won't for a very long time.

If you are a serious Welles scholar or enthusiast, this book is essential for tackling his long neglected documentary work. Just be aware that it is a critical study with a formal academic format and tone. Conceptually, the book is far from perfect. It requires dialog and debate with others, and that does not seem possible given the current state of Welles' legacy. But kudos to Thieme for tackling such a neglected subject, and for doing so despite the lack of a wider audience with which to engage.

Film Business is an amazing book from Australia that probably isn't deeply stocked on American shelves. It's an essential read for producers who want to make more than one feature or documentary. Though I've read all the books on indie producing, legal matters, business plans, and marketing, none cover the very real responsibilities of a producer to themselves: to stay in business. To clarify, most other books are necessary for getting your first film done. This book moves beyond that accomplishment, to "what else are you working on?" It provides pointers to what you should be working on, and what you should reconsider.

Get Film Business if you want to see beyond that first film. Strangely, you have to think about your career as you consider that first film, because your approach will be more long view than short money. A number of accidental documentarians regret being pigeonholed as documentarians. "But I can direct features! That's what I always wanted to do!" Prove it. Documentaries are not the same as features. Totally different dynamic between careful observation of a moment in Docs and creating that moment with actors. (There you go! Why folks don't believe you can do both!) Aside aside, Film Business is a worthy read written by in the trenches film producers. You get the sense they really care about the Australian industry and sharing knowledge is a way to strengthen their industry. From the no budget perspective, there's lots to learn from their situation.

AT THE OTHER SIDE OF THE LENS

33 Female filmmakers portrayed and asked about their experiences in the film profession,which has been dominated by men for so long.

By Rob van Scheers

Towards the end of the film centennial women have managed to take up a position at the other side of the lens: no longer on screen only as actresses, but behind the camera, calling the shots. This generation in the post-feminist era is the subject of the book 'Film Fatales: Independent Women Directors'. Subdivided into four thematic sections (Documentary Film; Experimental Film; Narrative Film; Beyond the Director's Chair), the book has a pleasant, internationally oriented scope, also making it a crash course in 'female filmmakers from all corners of the world'.

Most people are more or less familiar with successful directors like Susan Seidelman (US), Mira Nair (India), Jane Campion (New Zealand), Marleen Gorris (the Netherlands) and Patricia Rozema (Canada). Other faces are introduced by Judith M. Redding and Victoria A. Brownworth for the first time to an audience which exceeds the specialised in-crowd. Because it is almost always interesting to listen to craftspeople talking passionately about their profession, the relative obscurity of a number of them is not necessarily a drawback in this volume.

PRAGMATIC

Because of the context of the book, the reader obviously starts looking for the female filmmakers'shared experiences, other than the perpetual budgetary problems that are generally applicable to the independent film scene. (`When does a documentary filmmaker know that she is in Hollywood?' the American filmmaker Jessica Lu asked rhetorically, when she was there in 1996 to pick up an Academy Award for her film `Breathing Lessons: The Life and Work of Mark O'Brien'. The answer: `When her dress is more expensive than her film.') But just as a book about female authors or female (pop) musicians would result in a pandemonium of opinions, the female directors, both thematically and stylistically, appear to aim for a wide diversity. A sign of maturity, I would say,because unlike in the seventies, the filmmakers are no longer judged by the politically correct content of their utterances (and fortunately they are not steered in that direction by the interviewers).

The pioneer work is largely behind them. `It's a good thing I was as naive as I was when I started,' Susan Seidelman (maker of films like `Smithereens', `Desperately Seeking Susan' and `She-Devil') says looking back. `I didn't realize how few women directors there were, how hard it was for women to do what men had been doing for years. (-) The good thing for me about the women's movement was I just thought I could do it, just go out and direct.' This is how pragmatic most of the filmmakers in this book turn out to be, an approach which has led to many a priceless piece of work in the past two decades.

FEMALE LENS?

Therefore, when reading this book, it is not easy to answer the question whether there is something like `the female lens'. In her commercially not very successful film `Grace of My Heart' (1996), highly appreciated by music lovers, Allison Anders told the dramatised life story of songwriter Carole King. It is not a `women's film' by definition: it recounts an episode from the history of popular culture, with an extraordinarily talented woman as the main character. That female directors would like to approach eroticism on the screen differently from their male counterparts is neither a conclusion that can be drawn on the basis of this book: Lizzie Borden (of films like `Born In Flames', `Working Girls' and `Let's Talk About Sex') perceives a `very anti-sexual time' in our juncture, that goes beyond the fear of AIDS, and that has monopolised Hollywood. Her ambition: `What I really want to do is show an erection on screen - to actually show a man getting an erection. That is something you never see, even in pornography. An erection has been used as an instrument of brutality toward women in movies - I'd like to turn that around - show it as sexual desire.' Other female directors (Mira Nair, Lourdes Portillo or Julie Dash) rather present ethnicity as their main theme, taking for granted relationships between men and men, women and women and women and men.

THE FIRST ACADEMY AWARD

Seen in this light, the fact that Dutch Marleen Gorris managed to acquire an Academy Award in 1996 as the first female director with `Antonia' (American title: `Antonia's Line', awarded in the category `Best Foreign Language Film') must have been both encouraging and alarming. In many ways, `Antonia' was pervaded with a typical `seventies-women's-film' atmosphere, which is precisely the tone most younger female directors want to abandon. But it is true: to win the prize was a milestone. Because: of all the male film bastions ever to be demolished, Hollywood, long after the documentary world and the independent film, is the final headquarters that has to 'come round'. Judging from the extent of passion exposed in 'Film Fatales', this can only be a matter of time.

Rob van Scheers is author of 'PAUL VERHOEVEN' - the biography on the Dutch filmmaker, published by Faber&Faber in november 1997

Mr. Sherk has done a wonderful job with this book, cataloging, indexing and cross-referencing the Mack Sennett Collection in the Academy of Motion Picture Arts & Sciences.Unfortunately not every film produced by the King of Comedy is included, (such as most of the Chaplin Keystones) only those films documented within the Sennett papers. Not completely reliable (certain cast & credit info was often tentative & later changed during film production), but darn close making this a great reference book. If only there were more illustrations!

Students of theatre production and theory will find this book particularly helpful. While many texts dealing with the work of Stanislavsky, Meyerhold, Reinhardt, Brecht, and others focus on their theoretical contributions, Leiter spends a great deal of time exploring these men as directors. He includes a comprehensive commentary on their professional directing careers, rehearsal processes, relationships with collegues, and in-depth analyses of their trademark production elements. This book is a great resource to anyone interested in the practical manifestations of the theatre theories of the modern stage.

I'm using this book for an Energy Accounting course. Though I have not yet finished going through it, so far has been a good source for those who wants to get an early exposure into the accounting side of the energy industry, especially oil and gas. With only basic knowldedge of finacial and managerial accounting that I took a couple of years ago, I find that the text is not too confusing to follow. It may also due to the way the author(s) present the materials as well as the flow of it. It also provides plenty of examples. Overall, it's a pretty neat text.

The book wasn't too long and was in chorological order for his life. It gave information on past business deals and childhood activities. The book only goes up to 1999 so don't buy it if you need info on more current activities such as star wars 3

This delightful 'swim' through the Great Lakes introduces us to Grimsby, a sea serpent who got his name from the freezer in which he was "hatched". From the outset 'facing fears' is addressed in Grimsby's life, and in the lives of those he encounters.
While the story at times is 'teachy', the issues of endangered species and lake pollution are well handled. The shining truth of love and friendship make this story a valuable addition to children's library and personal collections. This one is for lovers of 'sea monsters' and those who are always moving toward the light.
The soft illustrations are as warm as the message that the story conveys.
Linda Trott Dickman, MLS

Concise and intelligent guide to one of America's most consistently entertaining and illuminating contemporary directors. Giving equal focus to Hartley's features and shorts - a format the director holds in high regard for offering the potential to experiment and freedom from the tyranny of narrative convention - the author competently highlights Hartley's recurring formal and thematic preoccupations. Some of the thoughts on the individual titles are a little subjective and a mistake occurs in reference to the name of a central character in Henry Fool, bit overall this is a strong introduction to Hartley's work.