The Film Academy of Seekonk, Ri.: A Satire of Film School

FROM THE NOVEL: The incoming student body ran the gamut-aging housewives, young upstarts, frustrated middle-aged businessmen, artsy teens, Americans, and foreigners. Here were Fitz, Shafransky, Müller and Schenk; here were Pettingil, Cunningham, Lauren Derek, Cassavetes, Channing, Cooper, and others. So many hopes, so many dreams, so much ambition. Here were the jackals of technology, the women of a certain age, the cineastes, the brainiacs, the survivors, andthe delusionals. Individuals who, regardless of their race, color, creed, or amount of disposable income, had paid upward of twenty thousand bucks to be schooled in the art and craft of making movies. Some had gone broke paying for film school, others had taken out loans. Some worked day jobs, renting apartments near campus while others continued to live at home. Regardless of their background, ethnicity. gender, age, social status, or income bracket, all were dreamers.