Below the Line

by John McFetridge, Scott Albert

It's spring in Toronto and the Hollywood movie crews are back. This is where art meets commerce full force. Instant communities are created, like summer camps for adults, with the cast and crews working long hours and always under pressure. Over the six weeks of production, the cast and crew lives, loves, hates, wins and loses together on and off the film set. Inspired by the authors' own experiences, Below the Line goes behind the scenes and tells the the stories of on-set romances, ambitions, cynics and even artists. We all know the celebs by first name (even if we don't want to admit it), but who are the other guys -- the Canadians working the crew, the location scouts, caterers, make-up artists, grips, gaffers and armies of assistants? Who are these people who bring the stars their breakfast, park the trucks and paint the set the director's favourite shade? On budget sheets and cost reports they are the "below the line" crew members; these are the names rolling down the screen long after the audience has left the cinema.

Co-written by two fellows with a lot of experience in the Toronto film world, Below the Line is a complete film set experience -- including script pages, call sheets, camera reports and invoices to really get the reader down and dirty in the trenches of the industry.

277 pages, Kindle Edition

First published May 1, 2003

About the author

On the back of my books it says:

John McFetridge, author of Dirty Sweet and Everybody Knows This Is Nowhere, became fascinated with crime when attending a murder trial at age twelve with his police officer brother. McFetridge has co-written a short story collection, Below the Line. He lives in Toronto with his wife and two sons.

Reviews

[Stephanie]

This book was co-written by my fella Scott and our friend John McFetridge. It's about a film shoot that takes place in Toronto. If you ever wanted a behind-the-scenes look at the movie business that's funny, this is it.

[Nagaisgich · Rating 2 out of 5]

Enjoyed the references to my city but this book was written in a hurry, I'd say.

[Justin · Rating 3 out of 5]

A collection of short stories about the movie industry that's part romance, part rock raising. All I'm going to say is that the cover made it an awkward read on the GO train.