Rebel Without a Crew: Or How a 23-Year-Old Filmmaker With $7,000 Became a Hollywood Player

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Summary: Celluloid in my blood!
Review: Rodriguez never ceases to amaze me. This is, by far, the most inspirational book on modern independent filmmaking that I've ever read. He simply leaves the mechanics of the art behind and gets right to the soul of it. The diary is a clear illustration of this man's personal triumph in an industry filled with closed doors. Robert Rodriguez not only tells his own story in a fast-paced, exciting style, he actually motivates the reader to get out there and make movies as well. It is evident that this man's passion is film. I am still amazed at how strongly he's able to channel that passion straight into the reader's bloodstream. Rebel Without A Crew is a definite must-read for anyone even remotely interested in producing films. If this veritable shot of motion picture-making adrenaline doesn't move you to action, you don't belong in the business! Read it, love it, live it!!!

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Summary: USEFUL TO INDIE FILM MAKERS
Review: As a low-budget film maker, I found there were some ideas here that could prove useful, and some were inspiring. Interesting insight too, on the Hollywood mechanism

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Summary: informitve and fresh.i wanted to go out and make my own film
Review: From start to finish this bookhad my attention. from the start the auther tell his story of being a lab rat to make money for his first film. to the end of filming and the time spend on the road trying to sell the film, he walks you through his fast pace aventure and you live it with him day by day acount this is writen in diary form. it is a fast read and well worth the education for futer film writers and buffs alike.

Rating:
Summary: fresh & inspiring
Review: Rodriguez's philosophy on filmmaking is incredibly simple: get a camera and make movies. This book offers a glimpse into the author's own endeavors to create his first feature film El Mariachi. Just reading the introduction made me want to pick up a camera! His positive, you-can-do-it attitude is infectious and inspiring.

Rating:
Summary: will inspire you
Review: shows what can happen if you get off your arse and make it happen, and sticks it to all those books that say you need a million plus for a feature.

not a perfect book, but I gave it five stars because anyone into film making should read it.

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Summary: Not a filmmaking book, but a clever approach
Review: What Rodriguez did was great because he took the crappiest approach and suceeded. Well i still cant believe it but it sure happened. the film wasnt any good but Thanks to Rodriguez, we all now know that hollywood needs to invest in a brain and that anything goes. Well this is why you got to love good old hollywood and the uneducated people that it holds. It would be nice if rodriguez made a good film for a change.

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Summary: Best, maybe only book you need on filmmaking; Most fun too!
Review: When I started this book I didn't have the motivation to get up and make a movie. I wanted to, but it was all a big intimidating blur. The minute I finished it, 3 days after I started (and I'm not a fast reader) I decided to make a movie, and several months later had actually made a short film, as crewless as Mr. Rodriguez had been, and had an absolute blast doing it. Then it hit me, c'mon, how hard could it be from here to make a full feature? That's exactly what he'd been saying all along. This is the only book you need.

Aw, what do I know, right? Well let me revise myself a little bit. This is the only book you need to read to be PREPARED to actually get up and make a movie, whether it's two or 120 minutes. If you still need tech and history books, all good, all good, but if you want some kind of a degree or certificate that says "Official Filmmaker", forget it, this is the only,well, ANYTHING, you need. If even! Rodriguez would probably say you don't even need to read the book, just go out and make movies. That's what he did.

This book is as simple as it sounds. A production diary, edited here and there, highly informational introduction and appendices, and the most lively, vibrant, good natured, humorous, validating, and incredibly UN-intimidating (as said by my brother, he seems incredibly laid back) narrator you could ever wish for. Sometimes you honestly forget you're reading a book about movies and are just listening to a friend recount a few crazy harebrained adventures. The book flies by and I enjoyed every minute of it. I happily list it as one of the best and most entertaining books I've ever read, next to even my very favorite classics in literature!

But Rodriguez' adoration of, common sense, and maverick independence regarding film is what takes the cake. He realized that there's a labyrinthian system of bureaucracy, upper crust of snobs, and far too many negative folks controlling the main highway of the business, from the schools to the studios, and he, a film student at the time, decided that the actual flesh and bone mechanics of film are available to anyone and that there was another way to go. He didn't like the idea of being taught how to make movies the way someone else wanted you to make them, he wanted to be himself, and he thought that if you have talent that's all you need, it can't be taught to you. So he got up and made some short films for festivals, then decided "shorts are easy, couldn't be that hard to make a feature". So he went to Mexico and made his indie hit, El Mariachi, all by his lonesome. The actual diary takes place during the making of El Mariachi (and the post production and "getting discovered" frenzy), and is a day to day account of imagination, creativity, ingenuity, a makeshift and anything goes sensibility, and old fashioned elbow grease, told by a fabulous storyteller. Everything afterwards is equally thrilling for anyone interested in filmmaking as it offers a VERY revealing glimpse into the studio system, and ends up being humorous as Rodriguez, an overnight golden boy in Hollywood, was able to deflect it and still float along doing his own thing. (Some great pictures too!)

Other than relaying some of the philosophies and wisdom he's picked up along the way, he doesn't tell you what to do. By recounting his own adventures, he aims to inspire the reader to go off and do their own thing. And it works. It's magically inspiring.

For anyone out there wanting to make movies for the sake and artistic joy and satisfaction of making movies, which is one of Rodriguez' tenets, this is the book for you. It won't tell you how to become famous or successful or how to work a field mixer, but he tells you to get up, there's another door that is open with no line and no barriers except for the one in your mind, and there are millions of possibilities and routes to take on the other side.

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Summary: unbelievably inspirational
Review: In film, whether independent or within the industry, the process is viewed with much trepidation and meticulous care. Being that film tends to be very expensive, equipment quite fragile, and lots of time and money invested in the process, it seems logical to accept the arduousness as inherent within the art and allow oneself to make excuses for not participating. Robert Rodriguez, however, does not accept such things, making anyone without films under their belt wonder exactly why they don't. His affinity for consummate practicality and refusal to accept hardships demystifies the process of filmmaking, and inspires anyone with the tiniest semblance of moviemaking dreams to get out of the house and shoot already.

Rebel Without A Crew is an essential read for anyone interested in film, whether as an established filmmaker in need of a reality check or a prospective one in need of guidance. It follows the making of his first feature, El Mariachi, through diary entries that extend from selling his body to science for pre-production to the hectic schedule of distribution. Finishing with the seminal and inspirational ten-minute film school and the El Mariachi screenplay, this proves to be perhaps the most fulfilling, useful, and downright inspirational book of independent film.

Regardless of what one thinks of the truth behind the presented $7,000 sum, or of the state of his work, or of any other quality, it cannot be denied that the ideas he presents are electric, useful, and inspirational in the truest sense of the word. This book presents a man with unquestionable rabid determination and innovative approaches, a filmmaker who helms multiple production chairs instead of insisting on lying back as a director. It is his journal, true, but it somehow seems as if he is writing to the inner filmmaking wants of the reader; those wants suppressed for monetary reasons, lack of crew, wasting time in film school, wrong locations, etc. All those self-questioning justifications we as filmmakers give ourselves to somehow pretend as if it isn't possible and that our dreams are set in some distant future when we gain this or do that, are completely eradicated by Rodriguez. He takes you in for nearly 300 pages, only asking in return that you believe in your own creativity and abilities to do what it is you want to do. He makes the impossible feasible and the difficult attainable, making you want to immediately drop the book to get shooting. His innovation, eye for logical alternatives, and never forgiving work ethic make for a reader who can't help but wonder; `Why didn't I do this already?'

[reviewer's note; when in high school, I was flipping through a theatre book and came across the term director. Knowing the occupation but having no idea what it entails, I searched for further information on the internet, and the first link that arose was Robert Rodriguez' 10 minute film school. [http://www.exposure.co.uk/makers/minute.html I was completely taken aback by its succinct, frank, and honesty, which later inspired me to become the film student and filmmaker I am presently... So if anything, I recommend Robert's writing for anyone looking for a place to start their film education. Watch his commentaries, suck in the 10 minutes film schools, read the book, and listen when he says to get out there and do it. ]

Rating:
Summary: Truly Inspiring!
Review: Even though this book came out in the early 90's prior to the digital revolution, I found that there was much to learn from this book. Not merely a how-to manual on low-budget filmmaking, "Rebel Without a Crew" is the inspiring tale of how Robert Rodriguez, a then 23 year old with nothing more than $7000, a borrowed camera, and a dream made a film (El Mariachi)that knocked Hollywood on it's collective ear. This book is a must read for any aspiring filmmaker or anyone of any profession who wants to succeed against the odds and needs a little inspiration.

As a companion to this book, I highly recommend reading "Digital Filmmaking 101" by Dale Newton and John Gaspard. It's the updated digital version of their previous book called "Persistence of Vision: An Impractical Guide to Producing a Feature Film for Under $30,000". Their Filmmaking philosophy is similar to that of Robert Rodriguez and they go into greater detail on some subjects that Rodriguez either glosses over or omits altogether. Enjoy!

Rating:
Summary: Good book but a bit deceiving
Review: I liked RR's candid views and insights on his making of the movie and adventures thereafter. What surprised me was that Rodriguez never once seems to aknowledge the massive amount of luck that turned what could have been a life of doing low budget Mexican films into a Hollywood studio director. He was at the proverbial right place at the right time. Many other similarly talented directors with similarly decent films have never even been allowed to as much as peek in the doors of studios and top agencies. Rodriguez' fate seems to be akin to a lottery winner, and the fact that he downplays this factor could make the message in this book a bit misleading. Nonetheless it is a well written and entertaining book which I would recommend. There's not a whole lot of technical info given, and the Production section is pretty short and low on the type of details that would really help an start-up director.

Lastly, I would like to point out that Robert Rodriguez did this all by himself (except for the actors). He shot, edited, sound designed, and got his own coffee! I hope that people reading this book understand that in order to shoot a film on the el-cheapo side with little or no budget, the only person that you can fairly ask to work for free is yourself.