John Pierson hunted down, represented, and, in some cases, financed over twenty first-time independent features by directors including Spike Lee, Michael Moore, Richard Linklater, and Kevin Smith. After writing this chronicle of that era, he created and hosted IFCtv's first original series Split Screen, a globe-trotting, magazine-format show by filmmakers for film aficionados, which eventually took him and his family to Fiji's remote 180 Meridian Cinema. When he returned, Pierson moved to Austin to teach in the University of Texas Department of Radio-Television-Film, where he’s interviewed over seventy notable industry guests in his RTF master class.

• Introduction: Stranger Than FictionDialogue. LeadersA Quick and Slanted Pre-1984 HistoryDialogue. Starting PointStranger Than Paradise and the First Golden AgeDialogue. ParadiseParting Glances & The New Queer CinemaShe’s Gotta Have ItTube Socks and Tube SteaksBlack and WhiteBirth of a SalesmanDialogue. Be Like SpikeWorking Girls and WomenInspector Errol Morris Walks The Thin Blue LineD.O.A.The Dance Part 1DeceasedQuantity Not QualityDialogue. Batman and Sex1989: The Year It All ChangedDialogue. Sex and RogerRoger and Michael and MeThe Cinderella SyndromeHow to Make a Studio DealThe Morning AfterDialogue. Role ModelsSlacking OffDialogue. Straight Outta BusinessThe Next SoderberghSundance 1990Sundance 1991Sundance 1992Dialogue. DogsSons of Mean StreetsDialogue. $26,685How Low Can a Budget Go?Dialogue. ShannenAmongst Jerks: Rob Weiss and the Dark Side of Overnight SuccessToll MoneyHitchcock: Who Needs Him?Murder InkThe Odd Couple: Sundance 1994In Hock and Staying ThereGo Fiscal: Anatomy of a Back EndA Doc In The HouseDialogue. The Clerky BoysEpilogue: It’s A Wonderful Life, July 4, 1995AcknowledgmentsAppendix IAppendix IIAppendix IIIIndex

"[I]f you've ever wondered what the indie film industry was really like back in the day, read this." - Austin Monthly Magazine "Needless to add, Pierson is a player on virtually every page of Spike, a lively and highly personal account that begins by reminding readers of what was already thriving before 1989, the year indies broke big with Soderbergh's Sex, Lies, and Videotape." - Shepard Express