Down and Dirty Pictures: Miramax, Sundance, and the Rise of Independent Film

by Peter Biskind

Book Overview

In this "dishy...superbly reported" (Entertainment Weekly) New York Times bestseller, Peter Biskind chronicles the rise of independent filmmakers who reinvented Hollywood--most notably Sundance founder Robert Redford and Harvey Weinstein, who with his brother, Bob, made Miramax Films an indie powerhouse.

As he did in his acclaimed Easy Riders, Raging Bulls, Peter Biskind "takes on the movie industry of the 1990s...

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0684862581
• ISBN13: 9780684862583
• Release Date: January 2005
• Publisher: Simon & Schuster
• Length: 560 Pages
• Weight: 1.46 lbs.
• Dimensions: 1.4" x 6.2" x 9.1"

Customer Reviews

The imagination and independence that Disney's Goblins stole

Never have I been so engrossed by a book about the politics, the scandal, the uprising (and subsequent fall), of the independent cinema as I was with Peter Biskind's book "Down and Dirty Pictures". Reading it was like witnessing a Hollywood Disney-esque fairy tale unfold before you, except instead of a handsome prince and gorgeous princess, you had the goblins, Bob and Harvey Weinstein in control. Instead of happy endings, we had overweight men yelling at everyone from Rosie O'Donnell, Steven Soderbergh, Julie Taymor, Martin Scorsese, and nearly everyone else that you can put between your arm and a little production company called Miramax. This film chronicles, in detail and energy, the rise and fall of these two brothers as they monopolize the independent filmmaker's world to finally get their $100 million dollar projects made. It goes deep Disney's pockets and how these angry men found a pot of gold at the end of every rainbow, good or bad. Biskind paints this brilliant picture of how two bullies from New York will eventually rule the film world, while also destroy the imagination and independence of it as well. It is a sad story, but needed for everyone interested in the Hollywood scene. This book really interested me because of how large of a scope that Biskind dealt with. I was nervous at first; worried that it may get caught up too quickly in too much for a novice reader like myself to understand. Thankfully, this was not the case. Biskind paints a very bold picture of the independent world, going from not just Harvey and Bob, but also Robert Redford and the ultimate effect that these powerhouses had on the overall scene. Redford is not shown in the best of light in this book, opening up the question as to why Sundance is still around and how much Redford collects from the event. I loved reading about the rise and fall of October films and how the Weinsteins could not handle their competition. It showed that even when companies looked like they were on top, they were struggling to stay there. I especially loved the guiding light near the end of the tunnel that Steven Soderbergh gives to try to revitalize the independent movement. It is sad to think that we may never see a true independent film again in our lifetime. The Kevin Smiths, Quentin Tarantino, and even Darren Aronofskys are taking larger sums to do commercial films. Our filmmakers that we grew up with are slowly fading away to mainstream leaving less doors open for anyone to follow. This is definitely a book for all you Tarantino fans out there. I am a huge fan of Pulp Fiction, but this book gave me a new light to the entire ordeal. Really, for the film enthusiast in all of us, this book holds back no punches and will literally make you tear up by the end of it all. Overall, I was very impressed with this book. Those idols that I thought for the longest time were pioneers of the independent scene, giving us this world of new visions and imagination, would even

A Dynamic and Fascinating View of "Indie" Films

This book was written by Peter Biskind who was the executive editor of Premiere Magazine and is also the author of Easy Riders, Raging Bulls. It is a very readable history of the independent film business from its beginnings as sub-titled foreign movies in art houses to the development of American films made outside of the studio system. Central to this story is the rise of Miramax and the Sundance Institute, Festival and Channel. Sundance was formed to help new talent develop their projects and give advice on script development, shooting and editing problems. Miramax began as a marketing company. They and others helped some filmmakers complete and market a feature length movie. Also at this time other people from film schools developed feature length pictures using their own resources. Usually these pictures were made with the film makers own funds or funds borrowed from their friends or parents Miramax a distributing company that bought films and released them in the United States began buying these pictures usually at the cost of production with a promise of back end participation if the film made money. Harvey and Bob Weinstein ran the company. Harvey would take a budding auteur's artistic vision and recut it to make it more commercial. This usually was done after first screening it before a preview audience and a sometimes bitter consultation with the artist. The result was that suddenly pictures which had no chance of recovering their production expenses began to turn a profit after Miramax bought the picture and bore the expense of post production, publicity and advertising. Miramax then took on the awards ceremonies spending the money and time to get nominations and awards for their most worthy actors, directors and pictures. This became possible when every Academy member was sent a videotape (later the DVDs we've heard so much about) of the films in contention. This meant that independent pictures that only got a limited play or no play in some cities could be seen and voted on by all the academy members. A second aspect to this was that the press also received a videotape or DVD and they could be lobbied to publicize the independent pictures nominated. Also of course the Golden Globes Awards voted on by the Foreign Press Association became a tracking award for the Academy Awards because of the distribution of tapes and later DVDS. One thing that wasn't clear in the book was how a film gets nominated in the first place. Also hinted at is the fact that many Academy members are older than the typical moviegoer, but the book does not tell us what this means as far it effects the films and talent voted on. The Sundance Film Festival also became an important showcase for new filmmakers to market their films. Soon the studios took notice that a small film could be a significant profit center and started or bought their own independent film subsidiaries. Sony Classics, Focus Films (Universal), Fox Searchlight, October Films and others all b

An Excelent Look at The World of Independent Films

Down and Dirty Pictures by Peter Biskind is an excellent look at the world of independent films. To an outsider, this might not seem like a terribly interesting or important subject. However, Biskind makes it clear that independent films is where most of the creativity in filmmaking is nowadays and also this is the most consistently profitable area of movies today.There have been numerous ultra low budget indie flicks that were bought by Harvey Weinstein's Miramax and turned into monster hits. These include Reservoir Dogs, sex lies and videotape as well as The Crying Game. Weinstein is the true kind of both Holloywood and of the independent film sector. Biskind paints both Weinstein and his chief competitor, Robert Redford as being profit-crazed would-be moguls whose activities threaten to turn the world of independent films into just another facet of the mundane Hollywood culture.Down and Dirty Pictures is an excellent book about an under-publicized area of the film industry by a longtime entertainment reporter. It is recommended reading to everyone who is interested in the world of movies.

A Dynamic View of What it Takes to Make a Film

This book was written by Peter Biskind who was the executive editor of Premiere Magazine and is also the author of Easy Riders, Raging Bulls. It is a very readable history of the independent film business from its beginnings as sub-titled foreign movies in art houses to the development of American films made outside of the studio system. Central to this story is the rise of Miramax and the Sundance Institute, Festival and Channel. Sundance was formed to help new talent develop their projects and give advice on script development, shooting and editing problems. This helped some filmmakers complete a feature length movie. Also at this time other people from film schools developed feature length pictures using their own resources. Usually these pictures were made with the film makers own funds or funds borrowed from their friends or parents Miramax a distributing company that bought films and released them in the United States began buying these pictures usually at the cost of production with a promise of back end participation if the film made money. Harvey and Bob Weinstein ran the company. Harvey would take a budding auteur's artistic vision and recut it to make it more commercial. This usually was done after first screening it before a preview audience. The result was that suddenly pictures which had no chance of recovering their production expenses began to turn a profit after Miramax bought the picture and bore the expense of post production, publicity and advertising. Miramax then took on the awards ceremonies spending the money and time to get nominations and awards for their most worthy actors, directors and pictures. This became possible when every Academy member was sent a videotape (later the DVDs we've heard so much about) of the films in contention. This meant that independent pictures that only got a limited play or no play in some cities could be seen and voted on by all the academy members. A second aspect to this was that the press also received a videotape or DVD and they could be lobbied to publicize the independent pictures nominated. Also of course the Golden Globes Awards voted on by the Foreign Press Association became a tracking award for the Academy Awards because of the distribution of tapes and later DVDS. One thing that wasn't clear in the book was how a film gets nominated in the first place. Also hinted at is the fact that many Academy members are older than the typical moviegoer, but the book does not tell us what this means as how it effects the films and talent voted on.The Sundance film Festival also became an important showcase for new filmmakers to market their films. Soon the studios took notice that a small film could be a significant profit center and started or bought their own independent film subsidiaries. Sony Classics, Focus Films (Universal), Fox Searchlight, October Films and others all became studio subsidiaries. Of course the biggest fish of the group, Miramax, was bought by Disney and given an acqu

A timely sobering assessment of the indie film dream

When Peter Biskind's Easy Riders Raging Bulls came out, I thought I had had my fill of the 70s New Hollywood, but that book made me see the period afresh without the usual mythologizing. The American independent film boom of the nineties, which became symbolized for the mainstream media by The Sundance Institute and Festival and Harvey and Bob Weinstein's Miramax, is the subject of this equally well written, well researched and engrossing tome. This is a particularly brave book because so many players have a vested interest in keeping the idea of "independent cinema" alive even if the truly innovative and maverick filmmakers remain a minority in America film, while much of the highly touted product promoted by Miramax and New Line is as exciting, dangerous or refreshing as a prestige picture from the factory system of the 30s and 40s (but with less staying power). Unlike Easy Riders, Raging Bulls, the filmmakers here emerge as nicer, more earnest, generally focused on their craft and less in love with the perks of success. Biskind saves most of his critique for the mini-majors like Miramax, the passive-agressive tendencies of a certain New Hollywood superstar, and the cynical goldrush mentality that has turned a nice little film festival into an uber-Cannes nightmare for desperate young filmmakers. A great book that I hope signals a sea-change in the current state of entertainment journalism. Yeah right. Well, it is still a great book anyway.