Spike Lee Book: "Spike Lee's Gotta Have It"

I have always been a fan of Spike Lee, his book “Spike Lee’s Gotta Have It” changed my life and altered the way I look at filmmaking. Most of the book is from his journals as he was making his film, “She’s Gotta Have It.” I don’t know if the book is still in print, but it is worth reading.

From the introduction by Spike Lee:
“Everybody and his mother has a script or is a filmmaker, but the ones who gets their films done are the ones who don’t listen when everybody says, “Forget it, you’re wasting time and money.” The ones who believe, have an unwavering faith in their films and ability and are almost, but not quite, willing to kill to get that “bad boy” made, will prevail---’cuz dat’s what it takes.”

It has been fun to watch his career evolve from “She’s Gotta Have It” to bigger Hollywood stuff, to stuff shot on DV to documentaries. “Four Little Girls” is one of my favorite documentaries he has done, and shot by one of my favorite cinematographers Ellen Kuras.