Authors: Greg Merritt
ISBN-13: 9781560252320, ISBN-10: 1560252324
Format: Paperback
Publisher: Da Capo Press
Date Published: December 1999
Edition: 1 ED
Greg Merritt is a screenwriter and also wrote How to Produce an Independent Film. He lives in Culver City, CA.
Celluloid Mavericks: A History of American Independent Filmmaking documents this rich history, showing what it meant to be "independent" in the 1930s and what it means today. Author Greg Merritt distinguishes between indie and semi-indie productions, explores the genres represented under the independent umbrella, and addresses the question of what makes a movie independent its "spirit" or the budget backing the production. From one-reel flicks at the turn of the century to the blockbusters of the ‘90s, Celluloid Mavericks takes readers on a fascinating tour of the industry.
Somewhere between Titanic and The Blair Witch Project lies the demarcation between commercial and "independent" film. In this thorough and audacious history, Merritt (How to Produce an Independent Film) attempts to offer a century's-end definition to this carelessly tossed-about term. "To truly gain freedom," he writes, "filmmakers must completely disassociate themselves from the studios until their vision is put on film: no financing, no presigned distribution agreement, no help, no interference." The dubious origins of independent cinema can be traced to a private screening of D.W. Griffith's Ku Klux Klan epic The Birth of a Nation in 1915. Merritt bestows the indie label on a select roster of films, mostly by "celluloid mavericks"--John Cassavetes, Roger Corman, John Sayles, Quentin Tarantino and the other usual suspects--who have had the courage to defy mainstream ideas and ideals. His excessive plot/theme analysis and Pauline Kael aspirations notwithstanding, Merritt applies sound research and an infectious amount of enthusiasm, often conveyed through sidebar anecdotes, cost-to-gross ratio charts, lists of award-winners and time lines. Yet while his linear narrative promises a sweeping conclusion, the last chapter fails to deliver. Instead of analyzing the relationship between the rise of Gen-X viewers and the recent proliferation of indie films, or offering predictions about the future of independent cinema, Merritt gets lost in the trees where the Blair Witch lurks and misses the forest. Agent, Victoria Sanders. (Feb.) Copyright 1999 Cahners Business Information.
Acknowledgments | ix | |
Introduction | xi | |
1896-1916 Birth | 1 | |
1917-1928 Exploration | 24 | |
1929-1944 Outside the Walls | 60 | |
1945-1952 System Breakdown | 94 | |
1953-1959 Opportunity Knocks | 123 | |
1960-1967 Ahead of the Curve | 154 | |
1968-1974 Pushing the Envelope | 194 | |
1975-1982 Building | 260 | |
1983-1989 Coming of Age | 310 | |
1990-1999 The New System | 353 | |
Timeline | 413 | |
Appendix A | Cost-to-Gross Ratios | 423 |
Appendix B | Academy Award Nominees | 425 |
Appendix C | Independent Spirit Award Winners | 427 |
Bibliography | 429 | |
Index | 434 |