Films About Making a Film Against the Odds

This documentary follows Mark Borchardt trying to finish a low-budget horror film while money, family and everyday obligations keep intruding. The practical setbacks make the ambition moving without making him infallible. Begin here for the clearest view of the distance between wanting to make a film and getting one finished.

Steve Buscemi's director tries to hold a tiny production together through technical mishaps, bruised egos and scenes that never quite land. Its small failures feel more revealing than an extravagant Hollywood disaster. A sharp choice if you enjoy ensemble comedy built from people needing one another while getting on one another's nerves.

Tim Burton makes Ed Wood's determination and his affection for an odd company of collaborators inseparable from his dubious judgement. Martin Landau's Bela Lugosi gives the make-do enthusiasm a cost. It is a stylised biographical film, so enjoy its generosity without treating every scene as documentary evidence.

Stay with the rough-looking opening before deciding what kind of film this is. The later perspective makes the constraints, mistakes and improvised fixes much of the pleasure. Best watched knowing as little as possible, especially if you like seeing apparently chaotic work reveal the people holding it together.

The making of The Room becomes a story about friendship, money and the difficulty of telling an overpowering collaborator the truth. The awkward shoots are funny because conviction and competence keep parting company. Choose it for a less reassuring account of artistic persistence than a simple triumph-over-adversity story.

After a video shop's tapes are erased, two friends remake familiar films with whatever their neighbourhood can supply. Michel Gondry finds pleasure in cardboard effects and collective invention. This is the warmest option when you want filmmaking to feel like a social activity rather than a contest for individual genius.

A desperate producer shoots around a film star who does not know he is in the picture. The absurd plan makes every location and apparently normal encounter a logistical problem. Steve Martin and Eddie Murphy turn resourcefulness into something ethically slippery, with farce replacing the comforting idea that a finished film excuses everything.