Fan Films: Fun, free and totally illegal!
Who would swing off a six-story building for a homemade
Spider-Man movie? Why would newlyweds spend $20,000 on a Star Wars film from
which they can never profit? How did three nobodies blow Steven Spielberg's
mind with an Indiana Jones flick they made as teens in the Eighties?
They're all part of the Fan Film revolution--an underground
movement where backyard filmmakers are breaking the law to create unauthorized
movies starring Batman, James Bond, Captain Kirk, Harry Potter and other
classic characters. Regular people are making movies that the fans want to
see--and which copyrights and common sense would never allow.
Homemade Hollywood:
Fans Behind The Camera traces the fan film movement from the 1920s, when con
men made fake Little Rascals movies, to the internet video sensations of today.
Crossing the divides from a pop culture history of truly outlaw cinema, to an
exploration of Hollywood's
changing attitude towards its audience, Homemade Hollywood uncovers the
innovations and controversies surrounding these secret films and reveals how
they're changing today's media.
Get insights from the fan filmmakers themselves as well as
Hugo Award-winning author Timothy Zahn, director Eli Roth (Hostel, Cabin Fever),
punk rock icon Tommy Ramone, authors Henry Jenkins (Convergence Culture), Don
Glut (The Empire Strikes Back), Andrea Richards (Girl Director) and others. A
foreword from Chris Gore, founder of Film Threat and movie expert on G4TV's
Attack of the Show, sets the tone.
Clive Young is an author and lecturer covering the crossroads between high technology and popular culture. He has been interviewed by the London Times, Los Angeles Times and other outlets as an expert on the subject, and ran "Mos Eisley Multiplex," the first website devoted to fan films, from 1998-2000; during that time, USA Today named it a "Hot Site of the Day." He will appear in the upcoming documentary, Star Wars Fans, discussing the cultural consequences of fan productions, and has lectured on the topic at universities, libraries and conventions. As the author of Crank It Up [Backbeat Books, 2004], Young profiled 72 of the world's top rock concert roadies about their work. The book received strong reviews from mainstream magazines like Billboard and Hit Parader, as well as specialist press. Young covers the music industry as both the senior and web editors of Pro Sound News, and has also written for MTV, VH1, American Songwriter, Music Business International, Wine Enthusiast and numerous other outlets. More information on Young can be found at his website, www.cliveyoung.com.
