An Overview on The Biz

Flying out to Nevada I took along the book Making Movies by the late and great director Sidney Lumet (Dog Day Afternoon, Murder on the Orient Express, Network, The Pawnbroker, Serpico, 12 Angry Men, Running on Empty, and on and on through 73 films and TV episodes).

What a find! As actors we tend to see just one part of the elephant and can only guess about the rest. This book takes you through the entire movie-making process and explains the considerations at each step: concept, funding, writing, locations, editing, lighting, sound, directing, acting, post-production, audience previews, and marketing.

Why does a film need star casting? On what take is an actor likely to be giving the director their best? What is the preview process like? Why does a director choose to do a particular film? How has the film-making process changed over time?  And does it now make sense?  Not always.  Not even to Sidney Lumet.

But this book illuminates a lot of the whats and whys that go into making a film, and information like that makes you a more informed actor and better able to shape your career.  This is a book that is going on my Quick Reference shelf. 

I'm reading it through again, now that I'm no longer distracted by the wild-eyed woman passenger who went streaking up the airplane aisle just before the door closed and promptly keeled over in the gangway, leading to a short delay in takeoff while the airline staff called the paramedics and removed her luggage from the plane.  Ah, the joys of air travel.