As I’ve mentioned many times here on FCT, I’ve written the first book about fan films, Homemade Hollywood: Fans Behind The Camera, which will come out from Continuum Books on October 1. That’s still a month away (although yes, you can pre-order it from and elsewhere), but the first review has hit the web with the current issue of the webzine, Microfilmmaker Magazine. Luckily for me, Microfilmmaker editor Jeremy Hanke liked it a lot, rating it a 9 out of 10 while also giving it that nifty award sign up above, too.
Mr. Young’s book is a historical narrative that follows the rise of fan films from the 1920’s to their climax in the 1990’s and today. While it might not be a how-to book like the ones we normally review, per se, it is an amazingly inspirational book for filmmakers to read. In fact, in my opinion, it ties for best inspirational read with Rebels on the Backlot, the book which chronicles the rise of Independent filmmakers who infiltrated Hollywood in the ‘90’s to create classics like Pulp Fiction, Being John Malkovich, The Matrix, American Beauty, and Fight Club.
…Throughout this book, Mr. Young manages to pack it with so many interesting tidbits, that you can’t help wanting to keep reading. Every so often, the book will start to drag just a bit and, at that point, Mr. Young brings in another strange tale or a bizarre situation that pulls you right back in.
And so on. Hanke didn’t love everything, of course, but after working on the book so long, it’s great to get such a positive reaction from someone that I don’t know, who has nothing to lose if he wants to say my work sucks—and apparently it doesn’t. If you want to take a look at the whole thing, the review is here at Microfilmmaker.com.
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