Film Freak

Much-loved and admired novelist Christopher Fowler follows up his acclaimed memoir, Paperboy, with a second beautifully told, funny and affecting autobiographical volume, recounting his years in Britain's movie business.

It's the late 1970s, and Christopher Fowler is a film freak, obsessively watching lousy films in run-down fleapit cinemas. Longing to put his dreams on the screen and become a famous screenwriter, he heads for Wardour Street, the nation's equivalent of Hollywood, with an armful of scripts.

But he's made a spectacular mistake. He arrives just as the industry falls to its knees, knocked down by the first appearance of video and the destruction of the old movie palaces. The only films being made are smutty low budget farces and TV spinoffs. He thought he'd be asked to make another 'Bullitt', but finds himself writing short films for boilers. Somehow, against the odds, he finds success -- although in a very different form from the one he expected. Ghastly, hilarious and finally moving, Film Freak is a trawl through the arse-end of the British film industry that turns into a search for friendship and happiness.