At the age of twenty-five, Ed Burns directed and produced his first film on a tiny $25,000 budget. The Brothers McMullen went on to win the Grand Jury Prize at the Sundance Film Festival in 1995 and established the working-class Irish-American filmmaker as a talent to watch. In the twenty years since, Burns has made ten more films (She’s the One, Sidewalks of New York, and The Fitzgerald Family Christmas), while also acting in big-budget Hollywood movies (Saving Private Ryan), hit television shows (Entourage and Mob City), and pioneering a new distribution network for indie filmmakers online and with TV’s On Demand service (“why open a film in twenty art houses when you can open in twenty million homes?”).
Inspired by Burns’s uncompromising success both behind and in front of the camera, students and aspiring filmmakers are always asking Burns for advice. In Independent Ed, Burns shares the story of his two remarkable decades in a fickle business where heat and box office receipts are often all that matter. He recounts stories of the lengths he has gone to secure financing for his films, starting with The Brothers McMullen (he told his father: “Shooting was the twelve best days of my life”). How he found stars on their way up—including Jennifer Aniston and Cameron Diaz—to work in his films, and how he’s adhered religiously to the dictum of writing what you know, working as if he was just starting out, and always “looking for the next twelve best days of my life.”
Chronicling the struggles and the long hours as well as the heady moments when months of planning and writing come to fruition, Independent Ed is a must-read for movie fans, film students, and everyone who loves a gripping tale about what it takes to forge your own path in work and life.
Non-Fiction Book Reviews Blog: Independent Ed
I was heading towards a downward spiral, mentally, having read a few true crime books as of late. Add to the plethora of true crime podcasts that I listen to and television shows and documentaries and my brain was en route to culminating in a matter of mush. Yes, I am fascinated and intrigued by the darker realm that resides amongst us. It is a morbid curiosity that even my wife and friends fail to comprehend. To each their own, right? But, there was a point where I needed to distance myself from the dark and macabre stories that accompany these horrific individuals and their crimes. So I turned to my second love, movies (my first love is my family for those with inquiring minds).
I am a big fan of film – all of them, from horror to comedy, dramas, foreign to independent films. Enter independent filmmaker Edward Burns. I saw his first film, The Brothers McMullen in 1995 when I was still a teenager and still living in the way, way upper West Side of Manhattan (Washington Heights) and still did not have a firm grasp on what it meant to be an independent filmmaker. I didn’t even know, at the time, that The Brother’s McMullen was an independent film. No, to me, it was just a low-budget film or a “cheap” film with a small budget. Yeah, I know but I was young and naive and the internet was still in its infancy at the time. I can’t even say, without question how I saw this film but I do remember loving it and wanting to see more of Burns’ work. Then, there was She’s the One, and again I was enamored by the film with its cast and witty dialogue that resonated with me, being a New Yorker myself. After that, things went dormant, at least I thought they did. Then, I saw him on Saving Private Ryan, and it brought a smile to my face and provided some trivia to my girlfriend at the time singing his praises for his film efforts in McMullen and She’s the One before being shushed to death.
Fast forward to the year 2019, and while perusing the virtual bookshelves on Amazon, I stumbled upon Independent Ed. I had no idea that he wrote a book and I immediately placed it in my cart and made the purchase. Two days later (thank you Prime), the book was in my hands, and I devoured it in less than twenty-four hours. Burns goes through his journey as a filmmaker and the “givings” and misgivings that come along with the business in the chronological order of his filmography provided me with great insight as to what he was doing when I lost track of his progress. He goes on to describe the success of The Brothers McMullen and She’s the One only to be confronted with a brick wall with his third outing as writer and director with No Looking Back. Still, he continues his perseverance, not letting a bump in the road keep him down and even pursued acting more rigorously to the point where I watched certain films solely because Burns was in them (see One Missed Call or don’t).
Independent Ed gives fans of the director’s work a behind-the-scenes look at how certain of his films were made, from acquiring the funds, distribution, the process of getting the talent as well as the trials and tribulations that come along with being an independent filmmaker including not seeing what you thought was gold sit on the shelf only to never see the light of day. It was fascinating to see the “truth” of what goes on behind the curtains. Just because Burns had a critically acclaimed film in McMullen, a successful follow-up in She’s the One, and a role in Stephen Spielberg’s Saving Private Ryan did not cement his role as having “made it.” From the layman’s perspective, such as mine, he did but as detailed in Independent Ed, the foundation that he built with the help of friends and family went a long way with Burn’s dedication to the craft. He provides its readers, namely those seeking a career in filmmaking, nuggets of information, singling out things that he wished he did differently had he known beforehand as well as citing his sources of inspiration, including the likes of Woody Allen. Independent Ed was an extremely entertaining read for both aspiring filmmakers and film lovers in general. It even inspired me to revisit Edward Burns’ body of work.
