In a time before youtube

46. Billy Frolick "What I Really Want to Do Is Direct: Seven Film School Graduates Go to Hollywood"
My mother bought me this book while I was in junior high. She knew I wanted to direct films. I told her I only wanted to direct films that I wrote and the seven people in this book wanted to direct films written by them or anyone else and I didn't care to move to Hollywood. If Kevin Smith could make a film for under $30,000, why would I want to go to film school for $30,000 a year? I could make my own. I still kind of feel that way. Due to advances in cameras and editing technology, you can make a film for less than $30,000 and have it look good. Look at something like "Conversations with Other Women," a film shot in 12 days and edited on Final Cut Pro. I'd rather make a film like that than try to get into a studio system. I'm missing the point. The book isn't about that and doesn't say it is. It's about seven film school graduates from the early 1990s trying to break in in the mid 90s.

The seven graduates have different goals. One aspires to direct animated features. One does documentaries. One wants to focus on women's issues. One on gay issues. It seems that Frolick got one stereotypical film student from each different film school stereotype and tracked them for three years. It's difficult to care about any of them. All of them fail in one way or another. They all learn the lesson that Hollywood is a hard luck town and blah blah blah.