Publisher's Synopsis
A new and exciting filmmaking book, "SLEEPER TRILOGY--Three Undiscovered First Features 1973-1983" has emerged from author/filmmaker Rick Schmidt, on the 50th year since his first feature production, A MAN, A WOMAN, AND A KILLER ((c)1975, co-directed with his then-roommate Wayne Wang). This latest tome, SLEEPER TRILOGY--324 pages with availability in both Europe and the US-- delivers the same high-level inspirational motivation as his earlier ground-breaking how-to, FEATURE FILMMAKING AT USED CAR PRICES, Viking Penguin, 1988, 1995, 2000), with examples of ways to engineer a flow of scene-creation and dramatic framework needed to deliver a successful IMPROV FEATURE that can compete with OTHER "Sundance-bound" works. SLEEPER TRILOGY hands the reader the indispensable tools of hyper-digital IMPROV moviemaking to pull it off. It should come as no surprise that Rick has brought out a new book on IMPROV FILMMAKING, to further expose readers to the joys (and the wild ride) of creating 10-years of motion pictures without a full script, using mostly non-actors, while letting dialogue flow from the innate intelligence of all participants within range of the shoot. His TRILOGY book is every inch a NEW INDEPENDENT "BIBLE"" for producers who wish to forge their new, film-or-video features into existence using Schmidt's on-the-fly techniques. Film directors such as Kevin Smith (CLERKS), Tom DiCillo (Living in Oblivion), Eduardo Sanchez (The Blair Witch Project) and Vin Diesel have used Schmidt's previous book to produce their breakthrough features. Writer/director William Farley (Citizen, I Wanted To Be a Man With A Gun--Three American Soldiers in WWII) has this to say; "If Schmidt can overcome all the obstacles he faced producing his first three features (well-documented in SLEEPER TRILOGY), then I can certainly handle the (lesser) problems I must face, during the months of production and seeking distribution."
