Bruce Campbell and his producer partner (as straight man) in a non-stop stand-up routine by their trusty blackboard take the viewer on a whirlwind tour of the travails of indie filmmaking in this breezy short documentary video included on the DVD of MAN WITH THE SCREAMING BRAIN.
The myriad list of companies large & small scrawled on the board are familiar to anyone who's worked in the industry, and for me it was nostalgia time. Bruce's always funny and sometimes outrageous interactions with the creeps and charlatans who run these outfits is almost scary. Fortunately we know the irrepressible actor is embellishing, but probably not by much.
Yes, indie film financing is a tedious and by now old-hat affair, given the ups & downs of the industry (certainly the go-go days of the '90s when money flowed freely are over). I started covering the indie scene as a reporter (Variety newspaper in NYC) in 1980 and met Bruce in 1981 when he and partners Raimi & Tapert were finishing their first feature, and I can attest to the reality of where he speaks.
Probably due to his ultimately settling for a Sci Fi (or is it Syfy) Channel funding structure, Campbell's 18-year-old saga to film SCREAMING BRAIN resulted in a rather disappointing, middle of the road movie. But his heart is still in the right place, and his sharp mind in evidence in this classic little short.
The myriad list of companies large & small scrawled on the board are familiar to anyone who's worked in the industry, and for me it was nostalgia time. Bruce's always funny and sometimes outrageous interactions with the creeps and charlatans who run these outfits is almost scary. Fortunately we know the irrepressible actor is embellishing, but probably not by much.
Yes, indie film financing is a tedious and by now old-hat affair, given the ups & downs of the industry (certainly the go-go days of the '90s when money flowed freely are over). I started covering the indie scene as a reporter (Variety newspaper in NYC) in 1980 and met Bruce in 1981 when he and partners Raimi & Tapert were finishing their first feature, and I can attest to the reality of where he speaks.
Probably due to his ultimately settling for a Sci Fi (or is it Syfy) Channel funding structure, Campbell's 18-year-old saga to film SCREAMING BRAIN resulted in a rather disappointing, middle of the road movie. But his heart is still in the right place, and his sharp mind in evidence in this classic little short.
