Lloyd Kaufman, the writer/producer/director of such cult-classic films as The Toxic Avenger , Class of Nuke 'Em High , and Tromeo and Juliet , offers a guide to movie-making unlike any other available anywhere. In 25 years, Kaufman, along with partner Michael Herz, has built Troma Studios up from a company struggling to find its voice in a field crowded with competitors to its current--and legendary--status as a lone survivor, a bastion of true cinematic independence, and the world's greatest collection of camp on film. As entertaining and funny as it is informative and insightful, Make Your Own Damn Movie! places Kaufman's radically low-budget, independent-studio style of filmaking directly in the reader's hands. Thus we learn how to: develop and write a knock-out screenplay; raise funding; find locations and cast actors; hire a crew; obtain equipment, permits, and music rights (all for little or no money); make incredible special effects for $0.79 each; charm, schmooze, and network while on the film-festival circuit; and, finally, make a bad actor act so bad it's actually good. From scriptwriting and directing to financing and marketing, this book is brimming with utterly off-the-wall, decidedly maverick, yet consistently proven advice on how to fully develop one's idea for an independent film.

"Sell Your Own Damn Movie!" covers everything you need to do to get your finished film seen by festival-goers, movie-goers, DVD-buyers and web-goers around the world. You will be lead through a primer on the history of film distribution to a discussion of the many ways you can get your film out there, either through a reputable distributor or all on your own. From the realities of distribution, to utilizing the internet to self-distribution, Mr. Kaufman tells you in his habitually lucid and off-the-wall way. Inserts include interviews and pointers from veteran distribution pros as well as directors and producers who share their own front-line stories. Mr. Kaufman recounts his own raucous stories of marketing pleasures and nightmares from 35 years of movie-making experience, creating a uniquely useful and entertaining read

Movies are a passion shared by people of all ages and backgrounds. Maurice Rapf, the first director of the Film Studies Program at Dartmouth College, recognizes that most people who profess a love of the movies have not spent much time learning about them. He has written this text as an attempt to fill in some of the information that movie-lovers should have but usually don't. The information contained in the book has been gleaned from courses that he has taught at Dartmouth over the past thirty years. From 30 years of experience, Rapf assembles the essential information every movie lover should know. It begins with a brief history, followed by a description of the movie-making process, broken down into five components-literary, administrative, shooting, editing and post-production, and marketing. Drawing from his own experience as a magazine film critic, Rapf then outlines how critics work and how studios woo their favor. He also touches on some of the forms movies have taken-as animation, documentary, avant-garde, and as promotion and education. Not to be read as an all-inclusive guide, this work can be seen instead as a launching-point for a deeper appreciation of the movies.