Top 5 Inspirational Independent Directors

Independent filmmakers have no shortage of role models in the entertainment industry. Some have gone on to massive commercial success, others - like Herk Harvey - only ever produced one film. For the aspiring filmmaker, here are five independent directors whose careers serve as inspiration on your path to independent cinema glory.

5. Oscar Micheaux

Oscar Micheaux's name isn't tossed around much these days, but the fact is that he made his films at a time when an independent film producer was almost unheard of - let alone a black independent film producer. After talks with the African-American owned Lincoln Motion Picture Company fell through, Micheaux began production on his own film adaptation of his novel, The Homesteader. Financed by a handful of white businessmen and a large number of black farmers around Sioux City, Iowa, the film came in at eight reels making it the first feature length film produced and directed by a black artist in the United States. In fact, it even pre-dated Charlie Chaplin's first feature film, The Kid, which was produced in 1921.

Micheaux continued on to produce more than 30 films, including Within Our Gates, a 1920 response to D.W. Griffith's Birth of a Nation. He produced musicals, comedies, westerns, and romances, casting his films from New York's Lafayette Players. As an early independent film director, he worked to produce films that reflected and served his community and paved the way for other independent film producers to come.

4. Robert Rodriguez

Rodriguez lived the dream of every aspiring independent filmmaker. From his childhood watching the movies of John Carpenter, Sergio Leone, Charlie Chaplin, and Buster Keaton, Rodriguez dedicated his life to the art of filmmaking. After making a handful of shorts using his own family as cast members, his first feature production was created on a budget of $7,000 with the grand dream of selling it to a video distribution company selling to Latin American markets. Instead, he wound up selling it to Columbia Pictures.

Rodriguez has since parlayed his success with El Mariachi into a grand film career, directing big box office pictures like the follow-ups Desperado and Once Upon a Time in Mexico, as well as the Spy Kids series and Sin City. In addition, he has helped to build the American film careers of Antonio Banderas, Salma Hayek, and Danny Trejo - three actors without whom Hollywood would be a very different place. Even with big box office success under his belt, however, Rodriguez continues to follow his gut when it comes to filmmaking, turning down major multi-picture contracts and resigning from both the WGA and the DGA to avoid what he felt were unnecessary restrictions on his work.

3. Herschell Gordon Lewis

H. G. Lewis is one of the exploiteers of the golden age. These fiercely independent filmmakers worked outside of the Hollywood system to create film for independent theatres and drive-ins. David F. Friedman and H. G. Lewis co-produced a string of burlesque films, nudie cuties, and roughies. Then, in 1963, Lewis had a brilliant idea. He turned to Friedman and said, "Has there ever been a movie with a lot of blood in it?"

The result was Blood Feast. The film itself is no grand prize winner. Production values are low and the acting is rough at best. Lewis made the film on a shoestring budget with a short production period and shoved it out to theatres as quickly as possible. Even so, it shocked audiences who had never seen anything like it before and created a cinematic movement that continues even to this day, and Blood Feast is still a cult smash. Lewis recently produced the self-satirical Blood Feast II: All You Can Eat, and continues to dispense advice to independent filmmakers at horror conventions across the United States.

2. John Carpenter

John Carpenter was a director with a couple of minor cult successes in hand (Dark Star and Assault on Precinct 13), but it wasn't until 1978's Halloween that the director had his first blockbuster hit. The film launched a franchise and turned Carpenter from just another fan making movies into one of the masters of American horror. All of this from a movie that, frankly, is not all that good - a fact that John Carpenter is willing to acknowledge on many aspects.

Watching Halloween with information on the production is an amazing experience for the independent filmmaker as they realize just how much the movie has actually been shaped by the film's limitations. The original script called for the action to take place over several days - but setting the film during a single night meant fewer costume changes. Speaking of costumes, the cast wore their own clothes. Paper leaves were bought to mark the film as taking place in autumn - and had to be gathered up after every external shot to be re-used. Even the killer's trademark blank-faced mask was selected due to budgetary restrictions. Even with its limitations, however, the film went on to inspire millions of fans and remains a real-world example of what independent directors can do with limited means.

1. Lloyd Kaufman

Lloyd Kaufman's Troma Entertainment Inc. first rose to prominence with their smash hit comedy horror film The Toxic Avenger, but his history in film stretches even farther back. While studying Chinese Studies at Yale, Kaufman became fascinated with filmmaking after seeing the works of Roger Corman. After working on hit films like Rocky and Saturday Night Fever, Kaufman set out on his own, directing The Battle of Love's Return - a tribute to the heroes of silent film.

Today, Kaufman's Troma continues today with 30 years as a successful independent film studio. They are one of the last truly independent film companies around, producing their movies without the financing of major studios. Lloyd Kaufman's success extends beyond Troma, however, as he works to inspire others to "Make Your Own Damn Movie!" through lectures, books, and instructional DVD's. He is ready to share his years of filmmaking experience with anybody else who has a story to tell.

While fighting to get his latest film - Poultrygeist - into theatres, Lloyd Kaufman has called out the major studios on their monopolistic manipulation of film distribution. Being blacklisted from the entertainment press and becoming a running punch line for Entertainment Weekly has yet to discourage Kaufman. In every way he continues to fight the good fight for independent cinema of any kind, sponsoring the Tromadance series of film festivals and supporting both the pulp filmmaker and the art student alike. His suit-clad form and easy-going goofy manner have made him more accessible than any mainstream director, and his rogue attitude embodies the independent spirit.