“Not understanding money in the movie business is like an artist who doesn’t understand paint.” - Jack Nicholson1
I first became a fan of Roger Corman as a little boy watching monster movies on television. His low budget monster films captured my imagination and brought out a boyish wonder in me, inspiring me to one day become a genre filmmaker myself. As luck would have it, I was hired in May of 2011 to produce a Corman-like creature feature film titled The Prey. The experience in independent low budget genre filmmaking made me appreciate Roger Corman even more so. My appreciation of Corman as a low budget filmmaker and businessman inspired the writing of this paper, which hopes to summarize Corman’s illustrious career, his business strategy and his legacy on mainstream cinema.
Roger Corman studied engineering at Stanford University but quickly lost interest in engineering and developed a love for filmmaking. He only worked four days as an engineer after graduating before deciding to quit his job. He landed a job at 20th Century Fox as a messenger and was eventually promoted to script reader.
He became the youngest reader on staff, yet he never recommended a script for production because he felt the brass never gave him a script good enough to recommend. He eventually received a good script that he made a number of story notes on, and the script became the film The Gunfighter (1950) starring Gregory Peck. The story notes Corman suggested were used in the film but the studio never gave Corman any recognition. To add insult to injury, the story editor whom Corman worked under received a bonus for Corman’s notes. Corman decided to leave the studio and to try his hand at independent filmmaking.
Corman’s first independent film was Monster from the Ocean Floor (1954). Corman hadn’t gone to film school so making movies became his education in filmmaking. Corman did every job he could on set to learn as much as humanly possible. His second film was The Fast and the Furious (1954). Even then Corman had a sense of saving money; he borrowed cars from a local sports car dealership to shoot the film and returned them at the end of the day. Corman immediately saw the problem for independent filmmakers; independents needed to make their money back on their current picture before they had the money to invest to make their next picture. Corman circumvented this dilemma by signing a 3-movie deal with American International Pictures, allowing him to constantly make movies instead of waiting for returns.
The major studios didn’t understand what young people wanted and for the most part during the ‘50s, completely ignored the youth market. Corman and AIP purposely targeted the youth market that the major studios weren’t able to reach and didn’t care for anyway. Underworld: Rise of the Lycans (2009) screenwriter Howard McCain commented:
Roger started in a different world in the late ‘50s and early ‘60s when he was directing movies. The market they went for was the drive-in movie market and/or double feature . . . The strategy was to make cheap movies really fast with hotrods, bikinis, and monsters. These films were meant for teenagers and were made with no more care or no better scripts, but filled a market that the studios ignored.3
Corman continued making his youth market films with AIP throughout the ‘50s, but by the beginning of ‘60s, Corman began to have confidence in his abilities to master the craft of filmmaking. This inspired him to make a series of horror films based on Edgar Allan Poe stories starring Vincent Price. The films that came out of his Poe period were House of Usher (1960), Pit and the Pendulum (1961), Premature Burial (1962), The Raven (1963), The Masque of Red Death (1964), and The Tomb of Ligeia (1964). Masters of Horror (2005-) executive producer and director Mick Garris expressed, “he made Poe a commercial basis for horror films! Imagine, a 19th Century author the source material for many commercial horror movies that appealed primarily to teenagers in their prime!2” The Poe films symbolized the highest production aesthetic in Corman’s career, yet the exploitive filmmaker in him still sought ways to maximize his financial investments. While shooting The Raven (1963), Corman wanted to shoot another movie using the sets he’d already paid for to get two pictures for the price of one. The movie that came out of this experiment was The Terror (1963) starring Boris Karloff and Jack Nicholson. Various directors such as Roger Corman, Francis Ford Coppola, Monte Hellman, Jack Hill, and Jack Nicholson shot the film back-to-back, ultimately making a disjointed narrative that even the filmmakers themselves can’t comprehend.
Even though Corman had great success with genre films, he wanted to do something different than the genre fare he became known for. He read the book The Intruder by Charles Beaumont, which dealt with the issues of race segregation in the south. Corman wished to adapt it into a film, so he pitched the project to AIP but they decided they didn’t want to make it. He was quite astonished because they never said no to him before. Corman chose to self-finance The Intruder (1962) with his brother Gene Corman since it was the first film that allowed him to make a personal statement about his feelings regarding social ills of the time. Roger and Gene cared about the project so much that they mortgaged their homes to make the film. Future Star Trek star William Shatner played the lead role, a character that comes to the south to stir up conflict between the races. Corman shot the film in the south since the film dealt with racism and separate but equal was the law of the land there. At first, the general population left Corman alone to shoot since the title and his reputation made them think he was shooting a horror film. Once the townspeople found out about the political nature of the film, they began driving Corman out of locations. Corman was able to get enough footage to complete 
the picture and people would scream “communists” at the Corman brothers during the screening of the film. Unfortunately, the picture became a wonderful commercial failure. Gene said, “It’s the only film we didn’t make money on. And it’s our best film1.” Roger learned from the experience and studied the concepts of text and subtext from method acting. From this point on he would make the text of his films be the commercial content his audiences paid to see, such as monsters and naked women, and within that he would hide the subtext, which would be the social message that was important to him.
the picture and people would scream “communists” at the Corman brothers during the screening of the film. Unfortunately, the picture became a wonderful commercial failure. Gene said, “It’s the only film we didn’t make money on. And it’s our best film1.” Roger learned from the experience and studied the concepts of text and subtext from method acting. From this point on he would make the text of his films be the commercial content his audiences paid to see, such as monsters and naked women, and within that he would hide the subtext, which would be the social message that was important to him.
Corman wanted to make a picture about the Hells Angels movement for his next project and AIP agreed instantly. Corman started working on The Wild Angels (1966), a film that casted real Hells Angels as background actors and as actor Bruce Dern recalled, “The extras made the movie1.” Actor Peter Fonda stepped in for the lead role since he knew how to ride motorcycles and the original lead didn’t. Future director Peter Bogdanovich had a reputation as a film critic and magazine wrier, but wanted to break into the film business. At the time there weren’t many avenues into the industry since film school was still in its infancy. Howard McCain said of the era, “Roger was about the only game there was if you were a new person3.” Corman gave Bogdanovich his start in the business and paid him $125/week to work as his assistant on The Wild Angels (1966). The Wild Angels (1966) became the biggest grossing independent film ever made to that time and changed the public’s perception of Peter Fonda.
Corman wanted to somehow make a film out of some leftover footage and two shooting days with horror legend Boris Karloff. He asked Bogdanovich if he’d like to try his hand at the project and Bogdanovich made the film Targets (1968) out of it. Corman was so pleased with Bogdanovich’s work on Targets (1968) that he asked if he would like to direct another picture. AIP wanted to do a picture with sexy women and the film Bogdanovich made became Voyage to the Planet of Prehistoric Women (1968).
Bogdanovich said of his directing experience with Corman, “Roger is the type of person who asks if you know how to swim then throws you in the water1.”
There was a revolution occurring during this era in the youth culture; sex, drugs, and rock and roll symbolized the time. Corman, with his professorial demeanor, was the
straightest guy in the wild political movement, yet his views were left of center. Howard McCain commented on his impressions of Corman’s, “He’s a very polite formal guy. He’s very well spoken but he’s definitely a character within that3.” Mick Garris expressed his first impression of Corman, “He's an extremely intelligent and educated and cultured gentleman.2” Corman wanted to do a film about LSD as his next project and hired his good friend Jack Nicholson to write the script. Nicholson originally asked to be paid a little more than scale but Corman immediately refused. Nicholson still wrote the film and used his knowledge of drug culture to write The Trip (1967). Since Corman was the director, he felt that he couldn’t shoot a film about LSD if he hadn’t used LSD himself. During Corman’s LSD trip, he described what he was experiencing and future screenwriter Frances Doel took extensive notes of his experience. Even though Corman had a great trip, he wanted to show bad trips in the movie since he wanted to make a serious movie about LSD. After Corman submitted the completed film to AIP, AIP became concerned that the project was becoming a pro-drug movie and changed the ending without Corman’s consent.
The biggest independent film of the era was Easy Rider (1969). To Peter Fonda, the lead actor and co-writer of Easy Rider (1969), the whole film came from Corman who made The Wild Angels (1966) and The Trip (1967). When Corman pitched the project to AIP with Dennis Hopper attached as director, AIP agreed to make the film on the stipulation that if Hopper fell one day behind schedule, they had the right to replace him. This forced Hopper to take the project over to Columbia and both AIP and Corman lost their percentages on Easy Rider (1969), which became one of the most successful independent films ever made. Nicholson had attended the screening of Easy Rider (1969) at Cannes. When he saw how crazy the audience went when they saw him onscreen, Nicholson had the realization, “Oh shit. I’m a movie star1.”
AIP wanted to make a woman gangster movie next and Corman’s wife Julie found the book Box Car Bertha by Ben L. Reitman. Boxcar Bertha (1972) became the first picture 
Julie worked with Roger as a co-producer on and the first feature film directed by Martin Scorsese. Corman knew Scorsese was going to be a big time director when he visited Scorsese before the shooting of the film and saw that Scorsese had sketched 500 storyboards encompassing the entire film. After the film was finished, Samuel Z. Arkoff of AIP took over the film and released it in a way Corman didn’t agree to. This final action caused Corman to break off from AIP and form his own company New World Pictures. Outwitting authority had always fueled Corman, and by owning his own production and distribution company, no one could tell him how to make his movies. Corman had a loyal audience of young people who would watch his films during the two weeks they ran at the grindhouses and then at the drive-ins. McCain commented on Corman’s decision to form his own company:
Julie worked with Roger as a co-producer on and the first feature film directed by Martin Scorsese. Corman knew Scorsese was going to be a big time director when he visited Scorsese before the shooting of the film and saw that Scorsese had sketched 500 storyboards encompassing the entire film. After the film was finished, Samuel Z. Arkoff of AIP took over the film and released it in a way Corman didn’t agree to. This final action caused Corman to break off from AIP and form his own company New World Pictures. Outwitting authority had always fueled Corman, and by owning his own production and distribution company, no one could tell him how to make his movies. Corman had a loyal audience of young people who would watch his films during the two weeks they ran at the grindhouses and then at the drive-ins. McCain commented on Corman’s decision to form his own company:
He broke away from AIP and set up shop; the model followed. He mirrored himself since he went to Stanford. He approached things very logically because guys who made movies for teenagers trained him. What he added to it was this, “I’m gonna hire more people like me.” He finds kids that are really smart and really want to be in the film business knowing that even if the films are crap, at least they’ll get it done. Being as that is, he’s never said anything disparaging about his own product.3
The MPAA rating system came in effect by the time Corman made the film Hollywood Boulevard (1976). The rating system allowed filmmakers to do and show things that they couldn't before. Corman began making raunchy ’70s exploitation films like Jackson County Jail (1976) and The Woman Hunt (1973). He hired young smart ambitious filmmakers to shoot his films and this became unofficially known as the Corman School of Filmmaking. If you were a new filmmaker at this time and didn’t have any connections, Corman was the only place in town that would give you your shot. It was a true exploitation experience because Corman exploits these young ambitious filmmakers with long hours and slave wages, but they’re also exploiting him because he’s their only road into the movie business. Corman asked a young Jonathan Demme, “you can write press releases but can you write a screenplay? 1” Demme tried his hand at screenwriting and out of this came the woman’s prison film The Hot Box (1972). As long as the new filmmakers knew what genre notes they had to hit, they could do whatever they wanted in between. McCain recalled his first meeting with Corman:
I had an obligatory meeting with Roger for new directors. Roger had a real office in front of the building. You sit on couch and Roger comes in. He introduces himself and has a polite, calm, erudite manner. He reminds you the basics: get plenty of coverage, work from a shot list, and don’t let things go too slowly on set. Every new director got this standardized speech.3
The reward for doing a great job for Corman was matriculation into the mainstream film industry. Hollywood was desperate for new talent in the ‘70s and turned to film school graduates and Corman alumni to take over. Ron Howard was known as an actor but wanted to get into directing. Corman gave Howard the opportunity to direct as long as
he would also act in the film to make it more marketable. Howard agreed to Corman’s terms and made a car chase comedy called Grand Theft Auto (1977). During the production, Howard needed to get a shot of a stadium full of extras but didn’t have enough on set. He called Corman to ask to hire more extras and Corman said no. Corman could tell Howard was dejected and told Howard, “you do a good job for me on my terms on this movie and you’ll never have to work for me again.1”
Corman got into making Blaxploitation films for urban audiences such as The Big Bird Cage (1972) starring Pam Grier. Grier did her own precarious stunts and said of Corman, “He can talk you into buying sand on a desert and it’ll taste good too.1” Martin Scorsese actually brought his project Mean Streets (1973) to Corman first to produce. Corman said he would do the picture if the characters were black instead of Italian. Scorsese gave the idea some thought but chose to keep the characters Italian because that was his own upbringing. Scorsese didn’t make the film with Corman but because of his experience on Boxcar Bertha (1972), he was able to shoot the film on a time limit.
Surprisingly, Corman’s taste in pictures is a lot different than the films he makes; Corman is a big fan of international art films. Corman owned his own distribution company that distributed Federico Fellini and Ingmar Bergman films when the studios gave up on them. Mick Garris commented on Corman’s tastes, “He's also got a taste for the outré, in addition to his more commercial endeavors. He has a good sense of humor, but seems rather serious at times, and unflappable.2”
Things were looking good for Corman and New World Pictures in the ‘70s. Corman made a lucrative deal with CBS to license his old films for television. Corman had decided to get into more expensive filmmaking but the new generation of filmmakers completely caught him off guard. Steven Spielberg’s Jaws (1975) became the first summer blockbuster hit, a film that brought a very Corman-like premise of a killer shark eating a naked woman, into the mainstream. Suddenly, people stopped going to drive-in movies. The biggest blow to Corman’s business model happened with the release of Star Wars (1977). The hit came from nowhere and a giant change occurred just like the Easy Rider (1969) change. Star Wars (1977) was a major threat to Corman’s business model because the major studios were doing what Corman was doing for low budget, but they were doing it for multimillions. He didn’t know how he would be able to compete in this new landscape. The major studios hit him in his bread and butter and Corman knew he couldn’t get away with making cheap science fiction anymore.
By the time the ‘80s came around, Corman’s business was diminishing but the advent of home video through VHS saved his business. The major studios didn’t realize the potential of releasing their catalogues on home video yet, so the VHS landscape was his to dominate. Corman began cranking out movies that went straight to video, spending a lot of money making sure the videos had catchy boxes. This strategy gave his business a second life and Corman began making even more films than he had 
before. The over production, and the fact the films weren’t going to be released on the big screen anyway, caused a giant reduction in production value. The roads to the film industry for young filmmakers had changed too since new opportunities had presented themselves with the advent of music videos and commercials. New filmmakers no longer had to go to Corman to break in.
before. The over production, and the fact the films weren’t going to be released on the big screen anyway, caused a giant reduction in production value. The roads to the film industry for young filmmakers had changed too since new opportunities had presented themselves with the advent of music videos and commercials. New filmmakers no longer had to go to Corman to break in.
Hollywood started paying attention to commercial filmmakers and music video directors in the early ‘90s. Things really changed with the birth of the Sundance Film Festival and strong receptions to independent films like Sex, Lies, and Videotape (1989). Independent films and their filmmakers began getting attention and making a lot of money. Young filmmakers didn’t have to make subpar genre films through Corman; they could actually produce films they were proud of and that were lucrative like Reservoir Dogs (1992) and El Mariachi (1992). As the VHS market matured, the major studios began putting their film libraries out on VHS. Corman responded by making his films more marketable overseas. Howard McCain was hired as a director at New World Pictures in 1994. By then, everybody had already realized that the Roger Corman experience was on the downward slope and that the heyday had passed. McCain would go on to direct two feature length films for Corman, No Dessert, Dad, Until You Mow the Lawn (1994) and The Unspeakable (1997).
The advent of DVDs in the late ‘90s and the general reception of them in the 2000s boosted sales for Corman. The major studios had learned their lesson from VHS and were quick to release their catalogues on DVD. Corman was able to thrive in the 2000s by making coproduction monster films with Syfy Channel, which would air the films. With such a long and rocky career, the question of relevancy comes to mind and McCain commented:
The very fact that I go to film schools and no one knows who Corman is speaks volumes. Roger Corman is relevant because of the people he helped who became the leaders of the film industry, never because of his films. That has since stopped. Only in the lingering sense that those people are still relevant in the upper echelons in the film business is he relevant.2
It is true that most film students do not have the slightest idea who Corman is, yet they do know who his world-class alumni are. It does seem like the people who Corman discovered are the ones who cement his legacy, yet Mick Garris shared a quite positive outlook on Corman’s relevancy:
Hey, he's a human being, and a human being who left a tremendous mark on the world of cinema, so he'll always be relevant. You judge someone by their best work, and he's got a long list of best works. And even today he is churning out Syfy movies with abandon! In his eighties! So yeah, Roger is and always will be relevant.3
In 2009, Corman was invited to the Academy Awards where he won an honorary award for lifetime achievement. The many filmmakers whom he had started were giving back to him. Quentin Tarantino presented the award to Corman and said to him, “The film lovers of the planet earth thank you.1” As Corman made his way up to accept his award, Jonathan Demme told him, “I know when you get up there you’re gonna stick it to the man.1” Corman accepted the award and expressed in his thank you speech, “To have success in this world you have to take chances. Keep gambling and keep taking chances1.” Everyone in the star-studded audience stood up and applauded the man, the legend, and the legacy that is Roger Corman.
Today Corman still produces high volumes of low budget films with his latest company New Horizon Pictures. I actually had the honor of working on one of his brilliantly titled movies Attack of the 50ft Cheerleader (2012). New generations of low budget filmmakers have copied Corman’s formula for their own financial rewards, yet there can only be one Roger Corman. It’s difficult to discuss Corman’s legacy without mentioning the waves of notable names who got their start through him such as Francis Ford Coppola, Joe Dante, John Sayles, Peter Bogdonavich, Robert Deniro, Sylvester Stallone, Pam Grier, Martin Scorsese, James Cameron, Peter Fonda, Dennis Hopper, Jack Nicholson Ron Howard, Jonathan Demme, and so many others.
At the age of 86, Corman still wants to stay in the game and is the shining example of how there is no retirement age as long as you love what you do.
Bibliography
1. Corman’s World: Exploits of a Hollywood Rebel. Dir. Leslie Alex Stapleton. Blu-ray. Anchor Bay Entertainment, 2012.
2. Garris, Mick. E-mail interview. November 17, 2012.
3. McCain, Howard. Phone interview. November 9, 2012.
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