The new Hollywood

The studio system, which had dominated Hollywood for more than half a century, finally fell apart in the late 1960s. The uncertainty that followed opened the way for independent producers, many of whom were already specializing in exploitation movies with titles like Slumber Party Massacre, which were targeted at the 12-to-20-year-old age group. These films, with their starvation budgets and impossible shooting schedules, gave a start to a number of notable directors. Others were meanwhile trying their luck in television or shooting experimental movies. The first post-studio directors, the so-called "movie brats" (Spielberg, Lucas, Coppola, Scorsese, and De Palma) are now famous. Behind them has come a new generation of directors, often controversial, who now make some of Hollywood's most interesting pictures. This book, based on in-depth interviews, looks at the experiences of some thirty of them in getting established and keeping afloat in the new Hollywood. Drawing upon information gathered in interviews more often than quoting directly from them, Jim Hillier has produced an absorbing account from the filmmakers' viewpoint of the business of filmmaking. Some of the new generatio