Rebel without a Crew: Or How a 23-Year-Old Filmmaker With $7,000 Became a Hollywood Player

Famed independent screenwriter and director Robert Rodriguez (Sin City, Once Upon a Time in Mexico, Spy Kids, Machete) discloses all the unique strategies and original techniques he used to make his remarkable debut film El Mariachi on a shoestring budget.

This is both one man's remarkable story and an essential guide for anyone who has a celluloid story to tell and the dreams and determination to see it through. Part production diary, part how-to manual, Rodriguez unveils how he was able to make his influential first film on only a $7,000 budget. Also included is the appendix, "The Ten Minute Film Course,” a tell-all on how to save thousands of dollars on film school and teach yourself the ropes of film production, directing, and screenwriting.

A perfect gift for the aspiring filmmaker.

ISBN-13: 9780452271876

Media Type: Paperback

Publisher: Penguin Publishing Group

Publication Date: 09-01-1996

Pages: 304

Product Dimensions: 5.29(w) x 7.99(h) x 0.81(d)

Age Range: 18 Years

ROBERT RODRIGUEZ is an independent screenwriter and director of more than fifteen feature films. He pioneered the “Mariachi-style” and “one-man film crew” styles of filmmaking, and is the founder of the production company, Troublemaker Studios. Some of Rodriguez’s films include Sin City, Desperado, Once Upon a Time in Mexico, The Faculty, Sharkboy and Lavagirl, Spy Kids, Planet Terror, and Machete. He has collaborated with Quentin Tarantino on From Dusk Till Dawn and Grindhouse.

Table of Contents

Introduction
Author's Note
The Idea
I Was a Human Lab Rat
Preproduction
Production
Postproduction
Highway to Hell
The Chase
Columbia Pictures
Postproduction, Take 2
Telluride and Toronto
Postproduction, Take 3
Sundancing
El Mariachi: The Release

Epilogue: The Curse of El Mariachi
Appendix 1: The Ten-Minute Film School
Appendix 2: El Mariachi, the Original Screenplay