Seeking to understand the obstacles that even notable names face trying to finance a British film these days, Winterbottom uses the first Covid lockdown to interview an enviable list of directors, including Steve McQueen, Lynne Ramsay and Mike Leigh… There’s fascinating candour… Eye-opening and addictively readable.

Total Film

The interviews’ focus on the busi­ness side of film production is relatively unusual and all the more valuable for it. Possibly liberated by the uncertainty of the moment, Winterbottom’s subjects are more frank about the industry than is customary. Their perspectives often converge, but the directors’ reasons for not directing vary as widely as their cir­cumstances.

- Henry K. Miller, Sight & Sound

A must-read for anyone interested in how films are made, and not made.

The Saturday Paper

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The book’s strength is in its ability to unite a diversity of voices on an important issue: the state of British independent filmmaking today.

Australian Book Review

A Sight & Sound Book of the Year
"Eye-opening and addictively readable." Total Film

Who and what decides if a film gets funded? How do those who control the purse strings also determine a film's content
and even its message? Writing as the director of award-winning feature films including Welcome to Sarajevo, 24 Hour Party People and The Road to Guantanamo as well as the hugely popular The Trip series, Michael Winterbottom provides an insider's view of the workings of international film funding and distribution, revealing how the studios that fund film production and control distribution networks also work against a sustainable independent film culture and limit innovation in filmmaking style and content. In addition to reflecting upon his own filmmaking career, featuring critical and commercial successes alongside a 'very long list' of films that didn't get made, Winterbottom also interviews leading contemporary filmmakers including Lynne Ramsay, Mike Leigh, Ken Loach, Asif Kapadia and Joanna Hogg about their filmmaking practice.

The book closes with a vision of how the contemporary filmmaking landscape could be reformed for the better with fairer funding and payment practices allowing for a more innovative and sustainable 21st century industry.

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FOREWORDS
Dark Matter
The Starting Point
More is More

INTERVIEWS
Pawel Pawlikowski
Danny Boyle
Joanna Hogg
Asif Kapadia
James Marsh
Andrew Haigh
Carol Morley
Edgar Wright
Steve McQueen
Lynne Ramsay
Stephen Daldry
Ben Wheatley
Peter Strickland
Mike Leigh
Ken Loach

AFTER WORDS
Production Companies: A Protected Space
Some Numbers
More Numbers
British Cinema and Television
A Note on the Author

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What and who decides if a film gets made? How do funders influence a film's scope and content? Through a series of interviews with leading British filmmakers, director Michael Winterbottom attempts to answer these questions, and puts forward his ideas for creating a more vibrant and innovative independent film culture.
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A book by the prolific and high-profile director Michael Winterbottom, known for his hard-hitting features inspired by real-live events and conflict situations as well as for the more gentle foodie comedy series The Trip
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Produktdetaljer

ISBN
9781839023392
Publisert
2021-10-07
Utgiver
Bloomsbury Publishing PLC; BFI Publishing
Vekt
580 gr
Høyde
244 mm
Bredde
188 mm
Dybde
14 mm
Aldersnivå
P, 06
Språk
Product language
Engelsk
Format
Product format
Heftet
Antall sider
208

Om bidragsyterne

Michael Winterbottom is the director of award-winning films and TV series including Jude (1996); Welcome to Sarajevo (1997); Wonderland (1999); 24 Hour Party People (2002); The Road to Guantanamo (2006); The Trip (2010), The Trip to Italy (2013), The Trip to Spain (2017) and The Trip to Greece (2020), as well as the 2019 feature Greed (2019). He is currently working on a TV mini-series focusing on British Prime Minister Boris Johnson’s handling of the Covid-19 crisis.