A Killer Life: How an Independent Film Producer Survives Deals and Disasters in Hollywood and Beyond

The day-to-day life of independent film production is not the stuff of charming anecdotes on DVD commentaries. Instead, as Vachon skillfully explicates, it is a constant and difficult struggle between the competing influences of artistic vision and the always present bottom line. As the head of Killer Films, which has produced such alternative hits as Boys Don't Cry and Far from Heaven , Vachon is in a difficult position: she is an insider whose job is to constantly support outsider stories. The financial reality of the world she chronicles provides the drama that sustains this empathetic and thoroughly engaging memoir. Vachon's voice is likable and slightly neurotic, allowing the reader to develop a rooting interest in her continual quest to secure financing for often controversial films. Though Vachon's account is slightly hampered by her obvious bias toward her own films, the book teems with the veracity that can only come from hard-earned experience. This is an immensely appealing view into the expensive reality of imaginative filmmaking. (Sept.)