Search - HOW TO MAKE IT IN HOLLYWOOD BEFORE YO on DVD

Ten very real people share the triumphs and struggles to mak

OdomENT | Beverly Hills | 08/13/2007

(5 out of 5 stars)

"At first I thought this documentary might be a joke, or a tinsel town producers "How-To" guide, but instead, what I got was 10 very real people taken quite seriously.

They've all had some success but lots of struggles. It's more so geared toward the folks who just got of the bus, but it's also nice for people who've been out here awhile to know they are not alone in the struggle.

You can tell the filmmaker didn't have a lot of money, but both the picture and sound are ultra clean. Although there wasn't much B-Roll the filmmaker goes out of his way to use black and white, borders, film scratches, and titles over black to break up the interview footage and give it more zing and spice.

Any one of us could have been in this documentary. It's tasteful and well-done. Definitely worth a look."

Amateurish at best

Hakim | San Francisco, CA, USA | 10/22/2007

(1 out of 5 stars)

"this vanity piece is something that mr odom should not have put his name on, since it can't do his career much good - he would have done better to credit it to 'alan smithee,' though the directors guild might have sued him for defamation.

this is an empty conceit, and hardly worth the money - he advertises two disks, but one is just an audio copy of the other.

his 'just off the bus' people have little to tell anyone who needs advice about getting into the business, except platitudes that most people who've seen some movies about hollywood could have come up with off the top of their heads.

the centerpiece of the disc is a poorly-done 'music video' of a guy in a mask jumping around on the beach - kind of a non sequitur to the purported theme of the package. the camera work and cutting of this excrescence is abominable, and would only appeal to the very young.

better to keep searching if you are on your way to tinseltown.

update: at least, after a year had gone by, mr odom returned my money.

update # 2: mr odom has asked me to remove my critiques, claiming that i have a 'personal vendetta.' if wanting to steer the unsuspecting away from hollow material that seems enormously overpriced, then perhaps he is right. but criticism is still criticism, and if mr odom cannot take the heat, then perhaps he should not try to sell something that can be criticised so thoroughly."