Spike, Mike, slackers & dykes1995
a guided tour across a decade of American independent cinema
by John Pierson
Variety called John Pierson the "guru of independent film." Why? Perhaps because he wrote Spike Lee a $10,000 check to finish She's Gotta Have It; helped make "slacker" a household word; sold the documentary Roger & Me for $3 million; made Clerks famous; and has seen over 1,000 debut features, and (unlike most independent film companies) managed not to lose his shirt while backing those films he liked most.
In short, he's been at the epicenter of the tumultuous last decade that changed independent film forever, and launched a new generation of hilarious, ambitious, talented, and sometimes wacked filmmakers.
Here, for the first time, he tells it like it is - the unvarnished truth about film financing; the importance of timing and lighting; creating a sensation on the film festival...