NEW DARK AGES–How a Punk Movie Emerald Cities Got Its Improv, is a bold new addition to Rick Schmidt’s how-to books about moviemaking, that includes Feature Filmmaking at Used-Car Prices and Extreme DV (Penguin/Random House Books). NEW DARK AGES lets the reader participate in Rick’s IMPROV decision-making process as he applies his stream-of-consciousness approach to solving moviemaking problems, where the filmmaker must battle her movie into existence, often with little money and little time to complete the task. Readers can learn from Rick’s open universe approach, where he dares to proceed against all odds. This is a fun read. How Schmidt overcomes obstacles, physical and mental, is a miracle of inventiveness, imagination, perseverance and determination matter-of-factly remembered and told. The New Dark Ages vividly catalogues the everyday efforts required to bring forth his indie film-making odyssey Emerald Cities and in the process (as an aside) also his successful book Feature Filmmaking at Used-Car Prices.
– Bibbi Lee, translator, NOTHING GROWS BY MOONLIGHT, author of A WEEK OF MENUS/Chateau De Lesvault. Rick’s bestselling how-tos, have helped launch the careers of numerous future Hollywood moviemaker, including writer/director Kevin Smith, co-writer/co-director Eduardo Sanchez (THE BLAIR WITCH PROJECT, filmmaker Tom DiCillo (LIVING IN OBLIVION), actor Vin Diesel and many others. Maybe NEW DARK AGES can also enable readers to become successful writer/directors in the new emerging markets of indie steaming (Netflix, etc.). Without Rick’s book, CLERKS would have been an idea that never made it past this page. - Kevin Smith The book changed my life. –Vin Diesel