Best Book(s) on Indie Film Making?

krm27 · Feb 19, 2014

I have been interested in making movies for decades, have boxes full of ideas & notes and scenes, have books on screenwriting, creative writing, plot, etc., and am an amateur musician with some abilities at computer music production. I'm also an attorney and could handle the legal aspects of making a movie. And I live near Hollywood.

Well, I thought it might be time for me to get off my butt and start creating something meaningful, indie film or maybe even a documentary. I realized I have no book on movie production, and was thinking reading a book on indie film producing might be a good start, to get an overview of the process, so I was looking for recommendations.

On a side note, I'm also eager to collaborate with artistic types in my area (LA / San Fernando Valley / Topanga) and maybe pool resources to work on a project. I'm sort of a noob, but I still think I can bring a lot to the table. I'm a neo-hippie, so I am interested in projects that have social value, meaning, spirituality, freedom, progressive notions and the like.

Any advice appreciated.

Ken

FantasyFilmProductions · Feb 19, 2014

Books are great, doing is better...If you have pacific questions, browse these forums and if the question is not being answered, ask it

You will find here that many people will be more then happy to talk you through different things and/or point you toward competent tutorials or talks on the topic.

Other then that, go out and do

Will Vincent · Feb 19, 2014

FantasyFilmProductions said:
Books are great, doing is better...If you have pacific questions, browse these forums and if the question is not being answered, ask it

Where should one ask Atlantic, Indian, Southern, or Arctic questions?
:lol:

Seriously though.. there are quite a few threads listing books, searching would probably be the best place to start, whether looking for book recommendations or answers to specific questions.

Beatlesfan1225 · Feb 19, 2014

Will's right, a good rule of thumb before making any thread is to do a quick search of the forum, lots of questions have been answered, and there are certainly some wonderful book recommendations out there on Indietalk.

With that out of the way, I'd recommend Rebel Without A Crew. It's Robert Rodriguez's book about how he essentially did anything and everything entirely on his own to make "El Mariachi" which sent him spiraling into Hollywood. A wonderful read. Though the technological aspect of the book is a bit dated, (You don't need to devote mass pieces of your budget to film and its development anymore... stuff like that) the concept/message remains poignant today. I'd check it out.

ChimpPhobiaFilms · Feb 19, 2014

FantasyFilmProductions · Feb 20, 2014

Holy hell chimp, did you ever stop to think that you have WAY too many bookmarked film pages lol...

seriously though...just wow...I can see my next few hours of evening browsing lined up right there in your list. Cheers

FantasyFilmProductions · Feb 20, 2014

Will Vincent said:
Where should one ask Atlantic, Indian, Southern, or Arctic questions?

Seriously though.. there are quite a few threads listing books, searching would probably be the best place to start, whether looking for book recommendations or answers to specific questions.

Dammit...specific...Spec if ic...dammit...you have pointed out the bitterness that is my lifelong confusion between two words...It irks me most worrysomely lol

Will Vincent · Feb 20, 2014

FantasyFilmProductions said:
Dammit...specific...Spec if ic...dammit...you have pointed out the bitterness that is my lifelong confusion between two words...It irks me most worrysomely lol

Had to be done.

ChimpPhobiaFilms · Feb 20, 2014

FantasyFilmProductions said:
Holy hell chimp, did you ever stop to think that you have WAY too many bookmarked film pages lol...

seriously though...just wow...I can see my next few hours of evening browsing lined up right there in your list. Cheers

altarvic · Feb 20, 2014

ChimpPhobiaFilms said:
Ken, don't buy books on filmmaking. Instead, use the internet. It's full of more info than any filmmaking book can cram into it's pages.

I disagree. Some books (eg. this one) are full of essential information...

ChimpPhobiaFilms · Feb 20, 2014

altarvic said:
I disagree. Some books (eg. this one) are full of essential information...

Wonderful book. I've read it myself. Although I stand by my statement. You can learn what you need to know off of the internet and apply those skills to the actual art-form by going out and making films.

Beatlesfan1225 · Feb 20, 2014

ChimpPhobiaFilms said:
Wonderful book. I've read it myself. Although I stand by my statement. You can learn what you need to know off of the internet and apply those skills to the actual art-form by going out and making films.

Well, I think how one goes about learning a technique or skill is subjective as to how they learn. I learned guitar by myself, and I couldn't learn when I was younger and instructors tried to teach it to me. That's because I'm a certain type of learner. Same goes for this type of stuff, certain people may get a lot more out of that book or other books than by watching Youtube videos or browsing the internet. I'd debate both methods can produce similar results, it really just depends how you want to learn things.

On a side note, I'd debate sitting down and reading a quality book may give you a bit more valuable information than most places on the internet!

ChimpPhobiaFilms · Feb 20, 2014

Beatlesfan1225 said:
Well, I think how one goes about learning a technique or skill is subjective as to how they learn. I learned guitar by myself, and I couldn't learn when I was younger and instructors tried to teach it to me. That's because I'm a certain type of learner. Same goes for this type of stuff, certain people may get a lot more out of that book or other books than by watching Youtube videos or browsing the internet. I'd debate both methods can produce similar results, it really just depends how you want to learn things.

On a side note, I'd debate sitting down and reading a quality book may give you a bit more valuable information than most places on the internet!

I started out reading books. I have about 15 on filmmaking right now. But I must admit, all of the info I obtained from those books, I got from the links that I posted on this page. People do learn differently, no doubt, but I think the internet is a good start. The OP may lose interest in filmmaking, who knows. The price of books can add up quickly as well. But yes, if Ken KNOWS he is going to get into filmmaking and can better remember and obtain info, then yes, that is the way he should go.

GuerrillaAngel · Feb 20, 2014

[internet] It's full of more info than any filmmaking book can cram into it's pages.

But books are usually sans 95% of the bullshit you need to wade through to get the knowledge you need. If the writer is wrong about something, you know exactly who to hold accountable.

Morris · Feb 21, 2014

Sometimes I find books have certain sections that are easier to reference and I like to highlight certain things.