Finished a book

I'll sneak a slightly out of sequence blog note in here to the effect that I have finished reading, over the past three weeks "Film Production: The Complete Uncensored Guide to Independent Movie Making".

I found this book immensely helpful in setting out the practicalities of an indie feature shoot from beginning to end. The book has opened my eyes to some of the vast and complex fields out there in the funding and distribution of films. I had always vaguely assumed that the real difficulty was in getting the money to make the film in the first place. While that still seems to be the first truly horrendous hurdle, there are equally large hurdles beyond, with insurance, legalities, publicity, festivals, distribution deals, and so on and so forth.

Strangely the major achievement of this book is in making me really grasp the awesome challenge that faces me in my chosen career path: the financial risk, the stress, the potential for ruin, poverty, loneliness and general tragedy. And yet despite all that I'm still hoping to get there some day. I'm either very naive, very optimistic or very determined.

On a downside, the book has dated significantly since its publication ten years ago. It predates the digital revolution, and is very geared towards shooting on film, with all the expense that entails. It is also very American, with little interest in the indie scene outside the borders of the USA.

Despite these caveats, I would recommend this book highly to anyone looking for an insight into the practicalities of producing an independent feature film.