Charlie Productions : We Like... Books About Film

First off, two of the masters of British cinema - Michael Powell in his own words, covering his time from starting out as a young boy on the silent movies, going through his time partnered with Emerich Pressburger, as they made some of the finest films ever made in the UK. And Alfred Hitchcock, as described by Patrick McGilligan, who gives you a real sense of the man and his movies. However, if you want to laugh as you learn about the filmmaking world, there are no two better books than 'What Just Happened?" by Art Linson, about the wheels falling off his production slate, culminating with the fallout from the studio reaction to Fight Club. Forget the De Niro movie adaptation - this book is very funny, because it's true. And finally, 'The Making Of The Big Lebowski' has the sense of humour you'd hope would be included in a book all about the making of one of our favourite films of all time.

Four techie books... The Screenwriter's Bible is brilliant for setting out the formatting of a feature film screenplay, with an answer for pretty much any instance you may want to throw at it. It does also have lots about story structure, but we go back to it time and again to check formatting questions. We felt like we probably had to include 'Story' by Robert McKee, who is of course the guru of Hollywood writing (one of his talks being memorably used to comic effect in 'Adaptation')... But that's enough telling you to write everything in three act structure. The Shooting People Directory is an amazing book, covering everything you need to know about making a short film - and getting it seen. But we would say that as we feature in it, with an in-depth look at the making of Death Of The Revolution. Finally, for the geeks out there, Scott Billups breaks down all the techiebabble surrounding the HD filmmaking world, should you wish to know all there is to know about 4:4:4 or 4:2:2 or whatnot, this is the book for it.

The Screencraft series of books are well worth buying. With interesting interviews with people at the top of their respective disciplines, you learn a lot, and the design and feel of the books are such that you'll look through them again and again.

Walter Murch could almost be considered the patron saint of editors - he's a terrifically clever editor who has done some amazing work on films such as The Godfather, The Conversation, Apocalypse Now and The Talented Mr.Ripley. Having started out in sound design, he brings a different eye to the editing process. Both his book and Ondaatje's (a series of interviews with Murch) are well worth the read, especially to gain an insight into the way Murch works - finding the one key frame for each shot and putting it up on the wall for reference is something we are gagging to try out on our next film. Then, two very very readable books - each one talking to ten different directors about their first feature film, they're very enlightening, and entertainingly written by Stephen Lowenstein.

Christine Vachon is an independent producer behind films such as I'm Not There, Far From Heaven, Happiness and Velvet Goldmine, which her book is mainly about. It's a very good in-depth read into the life of a producer. And last but not least, the Projections series of books are compilations of essays by filmmakers - often set to a theme, always about some aspect of filmmaking, always interesting to read.

Charlie Productions believe passionately in doing things and always trying to stop in time for tea.

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