In his afterword, Gaspard paraphrased Somerset Maugham:

"There are three rules for writing the screenplay. Unfortunately, no one knows what they are."

The book is organized as a set of interviews with the screenwriters of 23 low-budget movies (many of which I had never heard of) and, at first, I thought that this wasn't a very interesting book. Then I became fascinated with how different the process was for each of the authors. For many it was their first feature screenplay and many of them also directed their movies. There was a great deal of discussion about how the script changed during production, both while shooting and while editing. A good book for anyone who thinks they want to write screenplays with some really interesting bits of advice for the first time writer.

This collection of interviews presents a behind the scenes look at writing for low budget movies. Each screenwriter (some of whom also directed the movie they discuss) has their own approach to writing scripts and how they managed to keep budget in mind as they wrote. The editor and interviewer John Gaspard tries to cover a wide breadth of movies, from adaptations of short stories to horror movies, experimental filmmaking, love stories, and more. He also compiles what he calls a "highly subjective" list of lessons-learned from the interviews at the end of the book.

I love the idea of low budget filmmaking and have a desire to throw my hat into the ring someday. I don't know if I ever will, but in the meantime, reading about other people's experiences is a fun way for me to live vicariously and maybe amass some useful tips, techniques, and knowledge along the way. ( )