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No-budget feature filmmaker Rick Schmidt has written a fascinating memoir, TWELVE DEAD FROGS AND OTHER STORIES, which, he hopes, will fill in the blanks on how he learned the tools of the trade and shared them in his seminal how-to, Feature Filmmaking at Used-Car Prices (Viking Penguin, 1988, 1995, 2000). Schmidt’s outside the box approach has resulted in the launch of countless moviemaking careers, for those who put his ideas into practice. Some notables include writer/director and action-star Vin Diesel (THE FAST AND FURIOUS, PITCH BLACK, GUARDIANS OF THE GALAXY), Edward Sanchez (THE BLAIR WITCH PROJECT), Tom DeCillo (LIVING IN OBLIVION). Academy Award™ winning cinematographer Vilmos Zsigmond declared, I wish I could have had this book thirty-five years ago, before I made my first low-budget features. And writer/director Kevin Smith (CLERKS, CHASING AMY, DOGMA), presented Schmidt with a Lifetime Achievement Award at Rome international film Festival, which should help explain the book’s and Schmidt’s wide appeal: https: //vimeo.com/161243386 But Schmidt’s path to filmmaking was anything but easy or smooth. After his first marriage fails, his artworks, like the large cast aluminum and painted kinetic piece, I Can’t Get it Up For You, reflect his personal life and help kick-start his ‘real-life’ narratives. The final transition occurs in 1970 when California author ( Ghosts ) and videographer Phillip Makanna, invites him, along with Schmidt’s future roommate/collaborator Wayne Wang (JOY LUCK CLUB, SMOKE), writer/director William Farley (OF MEN AND ANGELS), actor/producer Willie Boy Walker (THE FIFTH WALL) others, to take his video class. Using the new Sony Porta-Pac camera, Schmidt does work that immediately gains attention. Don’t miss chapters on Schmidt’s eight-day cross-country hitchhike trip, Joe’s Sandwiches, plus his three-year struggle to produce SHOWBOAT 1988-THE REMAKE. Ironies abound, in this touching and informative indie page-turner.
