Below the Line

by J.R. Helton

Movies have replaced the circus and the carnival as the traveling sideshow for the masses of America today, providing longed for escape from day-to-day reality. In the actual movie business, one is either above the line or below the line, the demarcation where the real money and power starts and stops. In a personal attempt to separate fact from fiction, the author takes a look at the beautiful, and the not-so-beautiful, people who work in films, in a behind the scenes account of "movie magic" from the thoroughly kissed bottom.

207 pages, Paperback

First published July 1, 1996

Reviews

[Smiley III · Rating 5 out of 5]

Good book. Like Stan Goff's Hideous Dream: A Soldier's Memoir of the US Invasion of Haiti — a funny book to be reading side-by-side with this one — this gives you a behind-the-scenes peek at something you'd hardly guess about, that you don't even know you have unformed opinions about: Day-to-day routines behind something huge. Helton reveals that for a "scenic" (term for a set painter &etc. duties) one gets a lot of work on TV mini-series that are terrible, which no-one wants to watch, and starring people you'd just as soon forget about, but funded to the hilt and keeping everyone in line. "Below the line," the title's source, refers to people other than the Creative Types everyone crows about — watch the ducks fall into formation, and what's worse, grovel for attention and crow about it for years afterward (the crew member who misconstrues a quick handshake from Robert Duvall with a muttered "hello" later on to anyone who'll listen is a not-atypical case in point). His comments about Richard Linklater I didn't appreciate, but hey, he recounts Steven Soderberg sticking up for him later on, so, whatever's fair.

Often hilarious, self-effacing (more so than the stars), and snappily-written, this little item is gobble-uppable in an afternoon's read. It'll change your head's architecture about how Pictures Get Made. Believe this!

[Melissa · Rating 4 out of 5]

It was a fun read. I have friends in the film industry (one of whom is named in the book) and found these stories to be spot on.

[Austin Peck · Rating 5 out of 5]

Love this book. I’ve read it multiple times over the years. JR Helton is a great funny honest writer.(I work in “the biz” btw)

[MarkTheMeS · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book was written by a fellow crew member from the movie Flesh and Bone starring Dennis Quaid, Meg Ryan, and James Caan. The descriptions of what it's like to be a below the line grunt working on a movie production are accurate. I'm not mentioned by name in the book, but an incident involving an angry homeowner and Dennis Quaid that is in the book resulted in me having to police Quaid's cigarette butts "Marine style", as the producer put it, since the homeowner was a former Marine.