R2PC: Road to Park City (2000)

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Renowned exploitation film director Hershell Gordon Lewis once told an interviewer, "I knew how to load a Mitchell camera, I knew how to mix a multiple sound track, and I knew how to cut for opticals. What else is there to making a feature film?" In The Road to Park City, aspiring filmmaker John (John Viener) doesn't know quite that much about the process of making a movie, but he isn't about to let that stop him -- he's decided since everyone else around him seems to be making an independent feature film, why shouldn't he? Convinced it can't be especially difficult, John quits his job and sets out to make a film, which he's certain will win at the prestigious Sundance Film Festival. First, of course, John needs to write a script, so he approaches Syd Field, author of a number of books on the art of screenwriting, for some friendly advice, and as he digs deeper and deeper into the thousands of details that are part of making a film, John learns the hard way just what a Best Boy does, what a clapper is for, and just what the lab can and will do to your footage. The Road to Park City was the first feature film from cinematographer Bret Stern, and featured Paige Turco, Christopher Lawford, and a cameo from Robert Kennedy Jr.; the film never did make it to the Sundance Film Festival, but it was screened at the rival Slamdance Film Festival, and went into limited release in 2001 just as that year's Sundance Festival was getting under way. ~ Mark Deming, Rovi