“Hey,” you say. “Whatever happened to that ‘Name the fan film book’ title contest? You know, the one where that Clive guy wanted someone to come up with a better subtitle to his upcoming book about fan films, and in return, they’d get a free copy when it comes out, plus their name in the acknowledgements for all eternity. That contest ended on Labor Day–shouldn’t there be a winner by now?”
Well, it just so happens there IS a winner. I wanted to clear the new title with the publisher before announcing it…and now the book has a new name. In fact, he wrote back, “Good call on the subtitle–I’ve taken a quick straw poll of colleagues here, and we’re in favor of it.”
The old title was Homemade Hollywood: The Fan Film Phenomenon–which didn’t really say anything. I like the “Homemade Hollywood” part, but the subtitle is cheesy, and if you don’t know what a fan film is–which most people don’t–you might think it was about psycho fans. So I wanted something that was clearer as to what the book was about, maybe a little more playful to match the tone inside, and of course, most importantly, cooler.
I’m very happy to announce then that Bryan Patrick Stoyle–AKA StoyBoy720 on the TFN Fan Film forum–has won with the simple yet elegant
Homemade Hollywood: Fans Behind The Camera.
Bryan gets all the winnings mentioned above, plus bragging rights that he named a book and is therefore smarter and more concise writer than the guy who wrote the thing.
There wasn’t a second place, but if there was, it’d have to go to TFN Fan Film forum moderator Adam Bertocci, who submitted a record 43 titles, most of which were excellent, like “From Unauthorized Knockoffs to Unbelievable Knockouts” and “Make Your Own Damn Sequel.”
Thanks to the tons of you who wrote in with suggestions–after working so hard to name the book, I hope you’ll be as intrigued to pick it up next year! In the meantime, if you want to know how the book is coming along–yeah, I’m still writing–you can follow its progress on its MySpace page ().
Thanks again to everyone who wrote in, and congratulations to Bryan!
Clive
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