“Flying In”: Goldcrest’s Gretchen McGowan Shares Her Eyewitness Account of a Career in Independent Film Production

Gretchen McGowan’s new memoir, Flying In: My Adventures in Filmmaking, offers a fascinating insider’s view of the world of independent film from the 1990s through the early years of the new millennium. McGowan, who serves as head of production for Goldcrest Films in New York, and has worked with directors including Jim Jarmusch, Brian De Palma, Mary Harron and James Ivory, vividly describes the always challenging, often maddening and occasionally ludicrously insane process of shepherding films produced outside the studio system along the bumpy road from script to screen. Whether you’re an industry professional, an indie film fanatic, or simply love a funny and inspiring story, it’s a page-turning read.

 “Flying In celebrates the crazy people who take the chance of making a movie in the hope of finding distribution,” McGowan says. “It explores the whole journey from reading the script to taking it to Sundance to, once in a while , walking down the red carpet at the Oscars. It’s the ups and downs of it all.”

The story begins with McGowan’s childhood trips to Mexico and the Grand Canyon where her father’s obsession with capturing every moment on 8mm celluloid sparked her interest in film. She tells of working her way up the ladder in the scrappy freelance world and earning her producer’s stripes. We see her placate Shelley Winters when the star demands pizza at 6 a.m. and plead with the vice president of Costa Rica for help in rescuing a palette of film gear trapped on an offshore boat. She takes us to Vietnam, Spain, Jordan and Buffalo, New York as she works miracles on behalf of chick flicks, screwball comedies, mockumentaries and thrillers.

McGowan tells her story with a light touch and sharp, self-deprecating humor, yet she makes some serious points. She pays tribute to the grit and determination of her fellow travelers who overcome daunting odds to bring their projects to fruition. She also hopes to motivate a new generation of filmmakers to follow in her peripatetic footsteps.

“I didn’t go to film school. For me, becoming a filmmaker was a trial by fire,” she says. “Recently, I taught a pre-production class at Columbia University, and when I told my students what I’ve learned from my successes and my mistakes, their eyes lit up. I encouraged them to think about their careers in a new way so that they don’t feel stuck, and they can realize there are unconventional ways into this industry.”

Flying In: My Adventures in Filmmaking, from Post Hill Press, is available on Amazon and Barnes & Noble.