Andrew Jenks: My Adventures As a Young Filmmaker - Hardcover

Jenks, Andrew

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 0545417279 ISBN 13: 9780545417273

Publisher: Scholastic Press, 2013

Synopsis

Meet the filmmaker who is the voice of his generation!

Behind the camera, Andrew Jenks has captured the attention of young adults everywhere with his innovative MTV documentary series, World of Jenks. When asked about his inspiration for the show, Jenks said, "I want to tell the stories of my generation. I want to be a filmmaker that is able to capture what my generation thinks, how they act, and what they ultimately stand for."Now fans of all ages will be able to discover everything they’ve ever wanted to know about Jenks, from growing up to becoming a renowned documentary filmmaker in this comprehensive photo-biography. How did he do it? By following his own rules for success-always be flexible, fake it till you make it, and never accept no.

About this title

About the Author

Andrew Jenks is the award-winning filmmaker who created the MTV documentary series: World of Jenks. This is his first book for young adults. To learn more about him and his work visit www.andrewjenks.com.

Reviews

Gr 8 Up-Jenks began making films as a middle schooler, was a misfit and eventual dropout at NYU, and worked hard to make a name for himself. At 19, he decided to move into an assisted-living facility for a few months and make a documentary about it. It screened successfully at film festivals, and HBO bought it. Jenks then became interested in Bobby Valentine's story and moved to Japan to document the legendary baseball manager's life as an ex-pat. Next came a show on MTV, World of Jenks, in which he immersed himself in the lives of people on the fringes of society-an autistic man, a homeless girl-for weeks at a time. Ostensibly a memoir, the book reads like a cross between a professional portfolio and a series of mass email updates from a 20-year-old. Between lists of famous people he's shaken hands with (once Tom Cruise retweeted him!), accounts of his meals ("I'm twenty-three, toasting top government officials and eating Kobe beef, the best in the world"), and endless brags about his own perseverance and abilities (he describes himself and his friends as "everything [Bobby Valentine] loved about the world"), Jenks conveys surprisingly little information, missing opportunities to teach aspiring documentarians anything about the filmmaking process. Pictures of Jenks making funny faces, with captions such as "Bottom right: No idea what I'm doing," saturate the book with unnecessary images and add little substance. Try Jan Greenberg and Sandra Jordan's Andy Warhol, Prince of Pop (Delacorte, 2004) for a more meaningful biography of a pop-culture artist.-Allison Bruce, Bank Street Library, New York Cityα(c) Copyright 2011. Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.

Jenks, a successful, 26-year-old maker of documentary films, presents a slick but lively account of how he blew off film school, ignored naysayers, and transformed his lifelong dream into a career that so far includes two lauded feature-length movies and an MTV series (currently in its second season). Rather than focusing on the technical details of production, he takes a wider angle, interspersing engaging anecdotes about filming his various subjects (who have ranged from a teen living with autism and the residents of an old-age home to baseball manager Bobby Valentine) with personal comments. Also, while he does tuck in superficial platitudes, such as “Fake it until you make it,” he highlights personal qualities that will get anyone on their way, such as being bold, learning how to listen, and never taking no for an answer. Formatted in easily digestible paragraphs with both frequent changes of type color and size and a generous admixture of snapshots and stills, this success story offers encouragement to a wide audience. Grades 7-10. --John Peters

Excerpt. © Reprinted by permission. All rights reserved.

From Andrew Jenks: My Adventures as a Young Filmmaker:

"Is this Andrew Jenks?" asked a big-time film festival director over the phone. "I received your film Room 335."

My heart started to pump with that scared happy kind of adrenaline, the kind you get when you leap from some high jumping spot into water, kiss a new girl you really like, or get a call from a film festival after receiving written rejections from dozens of others.

"We're in!"

"No."

"Huh?"

"I'm calling to tell you that you should stop sending this film out. It's not going to get into any film festivals. You're wasting everyone's time including your own."

Edition details

• Publisher: Scholastic Press
• Publication date: 2013
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 0545417279
• ISBN 13: 9780545417273
• Binding: Hardcover
• Number of pages: 224