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Kevin Lindenmuth's new book delves beneath the surface of independent film making and how to get a film made and shown without the ever useful commodity of finances.
He is perhaps one of the best contemporary directors to tackle this subject with his history of low/no-budget productions and his distribution of other independent features through his Brimstone Productions company. As digital film making technology brings the opportunity to create your own feature into almost anyone's hands, The Independent Film Experience is intended for the most part as a guide to producing a good film that people will actually want to watch.
The book is structured as a series of case studies and interviews with those who have the experience, which, perhaps unsurprisingly, includes giving an overview to the history of Brimstone Productions itself and Evan Jacob's diary as he worked on Walking Between the Raindrops with Kevin Lindenmuth. These are structured as pure question and answer sessions, posing such questions as what the film makers think of film school and how they deal with special effects. The only problem with this is that the topics don't naturally flow; you'll have to read through each and every one to combine each individual's views and pick out those pearls of wisdom. And you can be sure that these are in there; this much collective experience and knowledge has to have a culminatively beneficial effect!
Finally, Kevin Lindenmuth concentrates on several key areas, often the main stumbling blocks for the prospective independent film maker - publicity, distribution, theatrical exhibition and even the possibilities of getting airplay on public access/local television (which doesn't really apply in Britain - sadly Channel 5 are just slightly harder to please.
Overall, The Independent Film Experience is an interesting read and a good mix between intuitive advice and insightful anecdotes. If you're setting out on a career of independent film making, you should probably get yourself a copy of this while you still have some money!
Phil
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