What I Really Want To Do Is Direct

by Yvonne Collins, Sandy Rideout

Roxanne Hastings has wanted to be a director ever since she started storyboarding home movies and demanding that her teacher recast her grade-school play...

Even though working her way up the ranks of a film crew has been slow and sometimes grueling, Rox has made it to assistant cinematographer. It's quite a coup, but what she really wants to do is direct.

Rox is convinced that a coveted B-list action movie is going to bring the big break she needs, until a friend's promising screenplay seems ripe for the making and she offers Rox the best seat in the house: the director's chair. Given the chance to call the shots, Rox does what any right-minded wannabe filmmaker would do. She says yes. To both projects. (And the one guy she knows she shouldn't have.)

Can Rox juggle two lives? Either way, it'll be an award-winning performance!

Genres: Chick Lit, Fiction, Romance

400 pages, Paperback

First published December 1, 2005

About the author

When I'm not writing books with Sandy, I can usually be found on a film set, where life is anything but dull. I've hung off the side of Toronto's CN tower, faced down a Grizzly bear, danced with Gregory Hines, and shared a beer with Ireland's Lord Guinness.

In 2003, Panavision Canada recognized my camera skills with the coveted Woody Award. It's an honor. Really.

And to think I almost became a cop. Fortunately for the citizens of Toronto, I flunked the psychological profile. Then, there was my brief stint as a bank manager, but I don't want to dwell on that.

Better to dwell on the restaurant job where I met the man who became my husband. I was the bartender; he was the busboy. It's still a perfect match: I get to call the "shots" and he cleans up after me. More importantly, he cleans up after our schnauzer, whom we affectionately describe as a four-bagger (Note: Dog-owners, you know what I'm talking about here).

I am a tea granny and a home dècor magazine junkie. I play the piano, although I don't own one. I own two guitars, although I don't play them. I sing to my dog, wear fleece even in summer, and never miss an episode of Coronation Street.

I could go on, but my tea is cold. And let's face it, you probably stopped reading after I mentioned the Woody Award.

Reviews

[IrishFan · Rating 2 out of 5]

This one was left in my Little Free Library so I thought I'd read it. It was ok. The story was fine enough, I liked Rox and was rooting for her to get the directing job she wants. and it was a quick read which was great. But it wasn't the best book I've ever read. It was a bit confusing as to why sometimes the book was written from Rox's point of view and other times from 3rd person. Not sure I'd read more of Yvonne Collins' books if I had to buy one, but if I found one free again I would read it.

[Sheri Radford · Rating 3 out of 5]

Uneven but ultimately readable.

[Charity · Rating 3 out of 5]

Roxanne is a focus puller/cinematographer who longs to direct. However, when she gets her directing debut, she doubts her ability. This selection was good overall, but suffered somewhat from a weak beginning. The story began to pick up in the middle and was very enjoyable from that point forward.

[Kim · Rating 3 out of 5]

I liked this book, but it was about 100 pages longer than it really needed to be. (That's why I only gave it three stars.) It just kinda droned on and on in the middle and lost my interest briefly. Overall, pretty good.

[Jenn · Rating 3 out of 5]

Ok chic lit. Not my favorite

[Lynn Spencer]

Just couldn't get through this one. On the one hand, the book is somewhat refreshing. The narrator is a 30-somethingish woman in the film industry who has been steadily working her way up the ladder toward the director's chair. While there is some romance worked into the story, this book differs from a lot of chick lit in that the heroine's quest is all based around her dream of becoming a film director.

We spend a lot of time in her head seeing where she has come from, as well as where she wants to go in life. It's a very different experience from some of the "fresh out of college, first time living on my own" books that I encountered a lot of back when chick lit was trendy.

So, with so many positives, why couldn't I finish this book? Well, the narrator is VERY into her job. However, if you are not that into the minutiae of how Hollywood works behind the camera, the story does drag quite a bit. I learned a lot about what different cinematography-related folks do to help make a movie, but the endless snippets about shooting scenes lost me after a while. If you're a film buff, you might like this one, though.