Last week I invested in the book ‘Rebel Without a Crew’ by Robert Rodriguez and managed to work my way through it over the weekend. It was very inspiring.
For those of you who don’t know, Robert Rodriguez is a director/scriptwriter/producer/editor, in fact he knows how to perform almost all of the tasks required to produce a feature film. His book (which dates back to 1996), follows his rise to fame and is subtitled, “How a 23-year-old filmmaker with $7,000 became a Hollywood player”.
After speaking with a friend about my video project over the Christmas holidays, he recommended that I check Rodriguez out, as in his first film, he performed all of the roles which you would usually employ a crew to perform; just as I will be doing. (Except the script writing, of course). This book, which follows diary entries throughout Rodriguez’s rollercoaster ride into Hollywood tells all the secrets that a young filmmaker might need to know.
The film is El Mariachi, and is about a young musician in Mexico who accidentally finds himself caught up in the middle of a gang war, through no fault of his own. It was shot in a small Mexican town (the hometown of the lead actor) on a budget of $7,000, and was originally intended for the Spanish straight-to-video market. Rodriguez wanted to practice his film making with a full length movie while making some money at the same time. His idea was to produce this first film, make a profit and then invest the cash into a second film, which would cost more and be even better. And then make a final third movie which would hopefully be good enough for him to get noticed by Hollywood.
However, with his raw talent, along with a bit of luck and a lot of dedication, El Mariachi was picked up by Hollywood agents and he was subsequently propelled to fame without the film ever making it into Spanish video stores, and before his second and third films being made. (He later did make these other two Mariachi films, titled Desperado, and Once Upon a Time in Mexico).
The book is an inspiration for anyone wanting to get into film making. It is very simple, to the point, and Rodriguez lets the reader into all of his secrets for creating low-budget films. It is also quite humorous and manages to make the impossibilities of making a successful Hollywood movie quite possible.
I will be taking his advice and using it to my advantage during this project, and will hopefully be confident enough in the final outcome to submit it to competitions and short film festivals.
Fingers crossed!
Movie Poster
Book Cover