Review in in Svenska Dagbladet, Sweden's third largest morning newspaper.
HOMEMADE HOLLYWOOD: FANS BEHIND THE CAMERA traces an underground 'fan film' movement from the 1920s to YouTube modern times, covering everything from the indie filmmaking industry to how big media changes attitudes and content of movies themselves. Any movie fan interested on more than a general level will find this a lively fascinating coverage of alternative movie media. -- James A. Cox * California Bookwatch *
Young's riveting volume, illustrated with stills and behind-the-scenes photographs, also covers what these films have to say about our relationship to our favorite characters and Hollywood's gradual, wary acceptance of their existence. * SciFi Magazine *
Homemade Hollywood offers something for everyone. Whether you're looking from some inspiration for your own planned fan filmmaking adventure, have dreams of knocking on Hollywood's rear door, or you're seeking an insightful history lesson on this purely grassroots movement, this book delivers. It's a thoroughly entertaining and impassioned read that I think should be required reading for teenagers who claim there's absolutely nothing cool to do in their cities and towns. I'd much rather have my son creating cinematic web gems, than vegging out on video games. It's written for anyone with an obsession for the popular film medium, who might need a little emotional validation and credibility for their fervent pass-time, and will certainly be an enjoyable tome for everyone else. * FilmFetish.com *
Clive Young manages to turn what could have been a lugubrious analysis into an interesting, chatty, and accessibly fun look at why fans do what we do. -- JM Frey * hardcorenerdity.com *
Overall, Homemade Hollywood is an excellent primer for academics new to the field of fanthropology, fan film makers who want to avoid their predecessor's pit falls and trace their successes, and copyright owning legal departments at a loss to decipher what to do about transformative works based on their properties. Young manages to convey not only the whys and wherefores of the hobby, but also the gleeful passion of the fans, the dedication, the heart, and the drive of the fan film maker out there with a camera not for fame, not for fortune, but as an act of utter love. -- JM Frey * hardcorenerdity.com *
Author Clive Young brings the rigors of a scholar and the inside-baseball of a fan to this well-researched and -written survey of how doing it yourself has both helped drive our enduring love of motion pictures and to articulate the populist roots of that obsession. -- Michael E. Ross * PopMatters.com *
Terrific.... The cool, revealing tales...make Clive Young's book, Homemade Hollywood, an absolute pleasure to read. If you're interested in fan movies, or the subterranean world of Hollywood, it's a must-read. -- Annalee Newitz * io9.Com *
He knocked this book out of the park...I had a hard time putting Homemade Hollywood down. * ComicBookBin.com *
It is an amazingly inspirational book for filmmakers. In fact, in my opinion, it ties for best inspirational read with Rebels on the Backlot. * MircoFilmmaker *
Clive Young's book does a great job putting together the unknown history of fan films...I never got to make a fan film, but after reading Homemade Hollywood, I wish I had. * RetroThing.com *
Homemade Hollywood works because it properly historicizes the fan-movie experience, and deepens our historical understanding of the hold that cinema has on the popular imagination. -- Michael E. Ross * PopMatters.com *
Some have called the fan-film phenomenon a movement, but that word suggests an immediacy not borne out by historical facts. It's bigger, wider than a movement; it's a culture. Homemade Hollywood is a fascinating chronicle of much of how that culture came to be. -- Michael E. Ross * PopMatters.com *
Part celebration, part scholarly history, Clive Young's homage to fan-made flicks is a passionate, persuasive exercise in balance. -- Kevi Hurley * Total Film, 1 June 2009 *
Young's acoount is intelligent and partisan. -- Roz Kaveney * Times Literary Supplement, 5 June 2009 *
