Hard Core Roadshow: A Screenwriter's Diary [Paperback]

Noel Baker (Author), Bruce McDonald (Foreword)

Book Description

Publication Date: March 1998

With engaging, razor-sharp prose, Noel S. Baker vividly chronicles the experience of seeing his first screenplay produced, derived from a diary kept during two years of down-and-dirty filmmaking with Bruce McDonald on the film "Hard Core Logo". "This is the most absorbing account of getting a move made in this country...It's funny, perceptive, and compelling".--Atom Egoyan.

Editorial Reviews

About the Author

Noel S. Baker was born in Palo Alto, California, grew up in Vancouver, and now lives and works in Toronto. His Hard Core Logo screenplay won him many accolades.

Product Details

• Paperback: 246 pages
• Publisher: House Of Anansi (March 1998)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0887845843
• ISBN-13: 978-0887845840
• Product Dimensions: 8.8 x 6.1 x 0.7 inches
• Shipping Weight: 14.4 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 4.5 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (2 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #936,222 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars An entertaining look at the making of an independent film, April 3, 1999

By 

[e-mail] (Marin County, California) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Hard Core Roadshow: A Screenwriter's Diary (Paperback)

Written from the screenwriter's point of view, Hard Core Roadshow is about the making of a brilliant Canadian film, Hard Core Logo. Having seen and liked the movie, I then read the book by Michael Turner. There is a long road between the book and the movie and Noel Baker takes you on the journey, showing how the movie came to be from the initial blind luck of his getting the assignment through the laborious writing process, casting, financing and finally filming. This book should be required reading for anyone contemplating a career in screenwriting and will be enjoyed by anyone with an interest in filmaking.

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Great insight into the commercial writing world, April 12, 2001

By 

"calystarose" (Garland, TX USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Hard Core Roadshow: A Screenwriter's Diary (Paperback)

What struck me most about this book was the harsh realities of writing for money.

Scriptwriting is a truly harrowing process. The process of the scriptwriter taking a book and turning it into a script is full of massive pitfalls and some truly cruel moments. Scriptwriters do not have the final say on what they write, there are many people who can tell the writer to change this, or completely destroy that whole section. As a writer myself, I found it frightening. One of the wonderful things about writing is being able to express your thoughts and ideas as they come to you. Artistic freedom, however, is not something that most scriptwriters have. And so this book has a touch of tragedy about it, as Mr. Baker watches his script get gutted and re-arranged again and again.

Nevertheless, I greatly enjoyed this book, both for the insight into the scriptwriter's mind as well as the behind the scenes info on HCL. It's definitely made me determined to view the movie again. The style it's written in, journal entries, creates an intimate feel to the narrative. By the end of the book you feel like you know this person, a little bit at least.

Very impressive.