True Independants
by nathanoj-17658 | created - 27 Jul 2019 | updated - 02 Apr 2023 | PublicAmerican filmmakers who got their start (and some of whom have remained) outside of Hollywood and New York.
1. Robert Altman
Director | Gosford Park
Robert Altman was born on February 20th, 1925 in Kansas City, Missouri, to B.C. (an insurance salesman) and Helen Altman. He entered St. Peters Catholic school at the age six, and spent a short time at a Catholic high school. From there, he went to Rockhurst High School. It was then that he started...
2. S.F. Brownrigg
Director | The Forgotten
Do-It-Yourself Texas regional independent filmmaker S.F. Brownrigg might have only made a handful of highly distinctive and peculiar low-budget horror exploitation pictures, but he nonetheless carved out his own singular little niche with his small, yet unique and impressive body of cinematic work....
3. Larry Buchanan
Director | A Bullet for Pretty Boy
Self-described schlockmeister Larry Buchanan was born Marcus Larry Seale, Jr. on January 31, 1923. Orphaned at an early age, he was sent to a Baptist orphanage. After graduating from high school in Dallas, the 18-year-old turned down a scholarship to study the ministry at Baylor University to ...
4. Bob Clark
Director | A Christmas Story
Bob Clark was born on August 5, 1939 in New Orleans, Louisiana, USA. He was a director and writer, known for A Christmas Story (1983), Baby Geniuses (1999) and Porky's (1981). He died on April 4, 2007 in Pacific Palisades, California, USA.
5. Don Dohler
Producer | Alien Factor 2: The Alien Rampage
Don Dohler was born on January 27, 1946 in Baltimore, Maryland. Dohler became interested in fantastic films at a very young age (Dohler was a longtime reader of the popular horror magazine "Famous Monsters of Filmland"). He began making 8mm shorts at age 12. Dohler also published a "Mad" magazine ...
6. William Girdler
Director | The Manitou
Born October 22, 1947 in Jefferson County, Kentucky, William Brent Girdler launched his filmmaking career with the 1972 release of Asylum of Satan. He made a total of nine films in six years and provided the music for the Pat Patterson quickie Dr. Gore. Girdler died in a helicopter accident in the ...
7. William Grefé
Director | Mako: Jaws of Death
William Grefé was born on May 17, 1930 in Miami, Florida, USA. He is a director and writer, known for Mako: The Jaws of Death (1976), Live and Let Die (1973) and Whiskey Mountain (1977). He was previously married to Grace Grefé.
8. Herk Harvey
Director | Carnival of Souls
Colorado-born Herk Harvey majored in theater at Kansas University, directing and acting in stage productions and later returning to the school in a teaching capacity. He broke into the film business as an actor in some of the movies being made by Centron Corporation of Lawrence, Kansas, an ...
9. S. William Hinzman
Actor | FleshEater
S. William Hinzman was born on October 24, 1936 in Coraopolis, Pennsylvania, USA. He was an actor and cinematographer, known for FleshEater (1988), Night of the Living Dead (1968) and The Crazies (1973). He was married to Bonnie Hinzman. He died on February 5, 2012 in South Beaver Township, ...
10. Tobe Hooper
Director | The Texas Chain Saw Massacre
Honored with many awards for his films and achievement in the horror genre, Tobe Hooper is truly one of the Masters of Horror (2005).
Tobe Hooper was born in Austin, Texas, to Lois Belle (Crosby) and Norman William Ray Hooper, who owned a theater in San Angelo. He spent the 1960s as a college ...
11. Herschell Gordon Lewis
Director | This Stuff'll Kill Ya!
Only one film-maker can claim the title "Godfather of Gore." That peculiar but apt identification seems to be the exclusive property of Herschell Gordon Lewis. With an unusual background that included teaching English Literature to college students, producing and directing television commercials, ...
12. Richard Linklater
Director | Waking Life
Self-taught writer-director Richard Stuart Linklater was born in Houston, Texas, to Diane Margaret (Krieger), who taught at a university, and Charles W. Linklater III. Richard was among the first and most successful talents to emerge during the American independent film renaissance of the 1990s. ...
13. Curt McDowell
Director | Thundercrack!
Curt McDowell, born on January 9, 1945, Lafayette, Indiana, USA as Curtis A. McDowell. He was a director, writer, actor and artist in underground cinema. In the mid sixties he moved to San Francisco to study painting at the S.F. Art Institute, but he soon became interested in filmmaking and ...
14. John McNaughton
Director | Henry: Portrait of a Serial Killer
John McNaughton was born on January 13, 1950 in Chicago, Illinois, USA. He is a director and writer, known for Henry: Portrait of a Serial Killer (1986), Wild Things (1998) and The Borrower (1991).
15. Edward L. Montoro
Producer | The Losers
A pioneer of independent filmmaking, exhibition and distribution, Edward L. Montoro remains one of the most notorious film producers in the motion picture industry and has since become an enigma of sorts in Hollywood after his mysterious disappearance in 1984.
Originally from Cleveland, Ohio, ...
16. Jon Moritsugu
Director | Scumrock
Jon Moritsugu was born in Honolulu, Hawaii and graduated from Brown University in 1987. As a writer and director, he has created 7 features and numerous shorts, music videos, and commercials which have screened at MOMA, the Guggenheim, Whitney, Cannes, Sundance, Berlin, Rotterdam, and more. He is a...
17. Daniel Myrick
Writer | The Blair Witch Project
Daniel Myrick was born on September 3, 1963 in Sarasota, Florida, USA. He is a writer and director, known for The Blair Witch Project (1999), Book of Shadows: Blair Witch 2 (2000) and The Objective (2008).
18. Alan Ormsby
Writer | Dead of Night
Writer, director and make-up effects artist Alan Ormsby was born on December 14, 1943. He was a drama student at the University of Florida, where he met future director Bob Clark. The pair first collaborated on a tongue-in-cheek low-budget zombie horror flick, Children Shouldn't Play with Dead ...
19. Charles B. Pierce
Director | Boggy Creek II: And the Legend Continues
Charles Bryant Pierce was an independent filmmaker from Arkansas whose movies have become cult classics. Films that he wrote, directed and/or produced were not only made in Arkansas with local actors but also drew their inspiration from Arkansas themes. He is believed to be the source of one of the...
20. Sam Raimi
Director | Spider-Man
Highly inventive U.S. film director/producer/writer/actor Sam Raimi first came to the attention of film fans with the savage, yet darkly humorous, low-budget horror film, The Evil Dead (1981). From his childhood, Raimi was a fan of the cinema and, before he was ten-years-old, he was out making ...
21. Fred Olen Ray
Director | Hatfields and McCoys: Bad Blood
Fred Olen Ray spent most of his childhood in Florida, where he was always a fan of horror movies on TV. He collected autographs of many of the actors in those films where he met Christopher Lee and Peter Cushing. His early career was filled with low-budget horror and science-fiction films, but the ...
22. Chuck Parello
Director | In the Light of the Moon
Writer/Director Chuck Parello, a Chicago native and graduate of the city's Columbia College, had been running director John McNaughton's development company for over three years when he was hired to write a sequel to McNaughton's chilling cult classic Henry: Portrait of a Serial Killer (1986) for a...
23. Bill Rebane
Director | The Giant Spider Invasion
Bill Rebane was born on February 8, 1937 in Riga, Latvia. Bill is a director and producer, known for The Giant Spider Invasion (1975), Blood Harvest (1987) and Twister's Revenge! (1988). Bill was previously married to Barbara J. Rebane.
24. Robert Rodriguez
Producer | El mariachi
Robert Anthony Rodriguez was born and raised in San Antonio, Texas, USA, to Rebecca (Villegas), a nurse, and Cecilio G. Rodríguez, a salesman. His family is of Mexican descent.
Of all the people to be amazed by the images of John Carpenter's 1981 sci-fi parable, Escape from New York (1981), none ...
25. George A. Romero
Writer | Land of the Dead
George A. Romero never set out to become a Hollywood figure; by all indications, though, he was very successful. The director of the groundbreaking "Living Dead" films was born February 4, 1940 ,in New York City to Ann (Dvorsky) and Jorge Romero. His father was born in Spain and raised in Cuba, and...
26. Eduardo Sánchez
Director | The Blair Witch Project
Eduardo Sanchez was born in Cuba in 1968. It was at a young age he gained an interest in film making. At Wheaton High School Ed made school movie projects such as Shrimp Fried Vice and Pride (in the name of Love) all of which starred his friends and family, as well as Ed himself.
After High School ...
27. Rufus Butler Seder
Director | Screamplay
Rufus Butler Seder is known for Screamplay (1984), The Steve Katsos Show (2009) and East by Southwest (1987).
28. Earl E. Smith
Writer | Sudden Impact
Earl E. Smith is known for Sudden Impact (1983), The Shadow of Chikara (1977) and The Legend of Boggy Creek (1972).
29. Perry Tong
Producer | Mermaid of Discovery
Perry Tong is known for Mermaid of Discovery (1993), Stepsisters (1974) and Slick Silver (1974).
30. Jim Van Bebber
Actor | Deadbeat at Dawn
Jim Van Bebber was born on November 24, 1964 in Greenville, Ohio, USA. He is an actor and director, known for Deadbeat at Dawn (1988), The Manson Family (1997) and My Sweet Satan (1994).
31. Gus Van Sant
Director | Elephant
Gus Green Van Sant Jr. is an American filmmaker, painter, screenwriter, photographer and musician from Louisville, Kentucky who is known for directing films such as Good Will Hunting, the 1998 remake of Psycho, Gerry, Elephant, My Own Private Idaho, To Die For, Milk, Last Days, Finding Forrester, ...
32. John Waters
Writer | Pecker
Growing up in Baltimore in the 1950s, John Waters was not like other children; he was obsessed by violence and gore, both real and on the screen. With his weird counter-culture friends as his cast, he began making silent 8mm and 16mm films in the mid-'60s; he screened these in rented Baltimore ...
33. Irvin S. Yeaworth Jr.
Director | The Blob
Irvin S. Yeaworth began his career in radio, singing (at age ten) on the first radio station in the world, KDKA in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. He later became a radio and TV producer. His first feature, "Twice Convicted", was shot in Chester Springs, Pennsylvania, in the early 1950s (several years ...
Tell Your Friends