Gather up the pages of my life - and read them before us all.

I met my intern yesterday. When I spoke to him on the phone beforehand he said, "Everyone I tell about this movie has seen the movie "Matewan." As the instructor in this case, "Duh" seemed like a poor retort.

So, I talked to him about how he might be able to find a VHS copy of the film in the public library. While he searched for the images we'd be working around, I knew I had to find him the words.

Sayles' book "Thinking In Pictures" was, to my knowledge, the first real "how-to" independent film guide. He talked about everything from finding actors, to finding sets, to finding the money.

It's a great book for film students. There's a nice little book wholesale werehouse in Virginia I was turned on to in college that I like to visit. (I would give it a plug if I could remember the name.) About two years ago, I walked in looking for screenplays of anything and instead found a goldmine. There was a stack of "Thinking In Pictures" for an incredibly reasonable price. I bought them all.

Since then, I give them away to students as inspiration or just information. I have since given all of those copies away; so, I need to find one more. Driving down Battleground, I turned into Edwin McCay to see what the chances were that they had the one book I was looking for. There it was tucked away beside Gilliam on Gilliam and Traufaut's book on Hitchcock.

The gift that keeps on giving.

j.brown