Customer Reviews

Fast, Cheap, and Under Control: Lessons from the Greatest Low-Budget Movies of All Time

5 star:		(8)
4 star:		(4)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

All film makers have eyes that are bigger than their budgets. That's OK for Spielberg and Scorcese, but Credit Card Filmmakers need this guide to rein in their appetites and make films that don't run away from them.
This simple and sensible book injects reality into the process and helps any filmmaker prevent their film from becoming a money pit. Lessons like those in this book are cheap at ten times the price.

A terrific collection of the kind of stories that usually constitute the highlights of similar books and magazines covering independent film. Take all those highlights, cut out the filler and the "yeah-it's-a-neat-story-but-I've-heard-it-a-hundred-times" apocrphya... and you've got FAST, CHEAP, AND UNDER CONTROL.

As is clear from his other books, Gaspard has a true understanding of the nuts and bolts of indie filmmaking. Here, though, it's matched by a film lover's appreciation of the end product and the sweat that's required to achieve it. The enthusiasm that no doubt drove the author to become an independent filmmaker in the first place is evident in every chapter and that joy is what makes FAST, CHEAP not just informative but a really fun read.

Overall, this is an easy recommendation. The interviews and stories are great, the film selection is wide-ranging and Gaspard's enjoyably conversational writing style make this one of the best books of it's kind. If you think you might like this book, you'll love this book.

How low-budget can you go?

Pretty low, or so you'll discover in FAST CHEAP & UNDER CONTROL. You'll also learn how some very good films were made on a shoestring. For everyone who wants to make art without breaking the bank, John Gasper's book is worth every penny.

"A richly-detailed, highly readable and inspiring book jam-packed with information that will keep low-budget filmmakers from making costly mistakes. Filled with a ton-full (not a spoonful) of fascinating, insightful interviews, with a you-can-do-it approach."

I have posted this on behalf of Dr. Linda Seger, consultant on over 2,000 screenplays, best-selling author of Making a Good Script Great and 7 other books.

This book is a really enjoyable read. You probably will not get everything that deals with the process of filmmaking from it, but with every book you do read there is certainly information that is worth knowing in laymans terms. I would recommend this book for its great read and whatever inspirational/educative value that it offers.

John Gaspard's FAST CHEAP & UNDER CONTROL tells how to stretch production dollars, handle tight budget constraints, and get the most from personnel and props to create a memorable film production. Lessons from low-budget mavericks serve as foundations for duplicating success, with descriptions covering everything from dealing with written scripts and hidden improvisation potentials to previewing results and achieving memorable films even when poor. An outstanding recommendation and a 'must' for any serious film library holding, promising lasting lending value.

Diane C. Donovan
California Bookwatch

Just when you think it can't be done, John Gaspard comes along and proves you wrong. All of us scared, penniless, aspiring filmmakers can take comfort in the knowledge that all those household names who came before us started out scared and penniless too. With a breezy, unpretentious style, Gaspard introduces us to an array of shoestring auteurs recounting their experiences on the fringes of Hollywood. It's like an all-night gab fest hosted by your favorite college professor.

In this book, John Gaspard has compiled a trove of information regarding low-budget filmmaking. He interviews famous directors, and gets them talking about the valuable lessons that they learned while making their first projects. This book is filled with information and tips that directors can use to save time and money, as well as delivering a better product.
David Hurd, P3 Update Magazine

Filmmakers like to blaze their own trail and say "I'm going to do it my way and everyone is going to see how brilliant and talented I am!" But if you were to read this book before you make your masterpiece, you would see the potholes, problems and challenges ahead of you that have already been encountered by the filmmakers chronicled in this book and you would be better prepared to deal with them. You would learn how others have already overcome the problems and you might be able to avoid them altogether.

This isn't a "do this, don't do that" book...it's a meticulously written "here's what happened while making some of the most successful low budget movies of all time" book. It invites you to take from it what you will rather than giving you cookie cutter advice. I think that really appeals to independent filmmakers.

I love getting behind the scenes of movies I've admired and learning the story about how they got made. Fascinating stuff. The best part of the book though is finding out how they got made, the tenacity it took to make them and what I could do as a filmmaker to learn from the trailblazers before me. That information is invaluable.

Gaspard has shined a klieg light on the process in a very readable and entertaining book and in doing so provides a guide to avoid wasting time, energy and money when you're making your own low budget masterpiece.

What also impressed me about this book was the meticulous research that went into it. Every quote is footnoted and attributed and many of them come from "author's interview". That means Gaspard talked with Soderbergh or O'Bannon or Corman and got this information about low budget filmmaking directly from the source. Other quotes come from DVD commentary tracks, books, interviews from websites, interviews in magazines, PBS shows and more. The man did his research and it all adds up to a an impressive mother lode of information.

SUMMARY:
Gaspard became inspired to write this book by a comment from Ron Howard in the DVD commentary of his first film, Grand Theft Auto: Howard commented that every film he's worked on since GTA has required him to put into practice tricks that he learned in that one film. Gaspard realized that if a director like Howard had learned so much in his first film, which had a terribly low budget, how many more gems could be scattered throughout the other low budget films made in the last century?
He ended up finding several such gems, which he has pulled together in this book and refined through conducting interviews, reading interviews, and watching DVD commentaries with all these fascinating filmmakers and the films that started them off. In the end, Gaspard has helped create a classic work of filmmaking literature that reminds filmmakers everywhere to learn from the past and forge new roads into the future.

OVERALL COMMENT
While some of the information Gaspard has collected may be stuff you already know, there is enough that is new and fascinating for it to be a necessary book for any filmmaker. More than anything else, it reminds current no-budget filmmakers that they are not alone and encourages new comers to make the leap and tell their stories! More than anything, it encourages all of us to just go out and do what we love to do, without sweating the small stuff!

To read a more in-depth version of this review, including a breakdown of its Comprehension, Depth of Information, Interest Level, Reusability, and Value vs. Cost, visit Microfilmmaker Magazine online.

-Jeremy Hanke, editor
Microfilmmaker Magazine