“Like Brothers” by Mark Duplass and Jay Duplass

My friend Jackie Stansbury and I were cool in high school, but not for the reasons you might think. Cool, to us, was seeing every independent movie we could drive to on the West Side. I remember the first time we saw John Sayles' film, “The Return of the Secaucus 7” in 1979. We were blown away by how much we loved it. The movie about the reunion of college friends at a summer house in New Hampshire was quirky, funny, off-beat, smart and just exactly the way we wanted to be. If you are a fan of independent movies today, you probably know Mark and Jay Duplass. Jay is best known for his role as the brother in the Amazon series “Transparent,” and Mark is from “The League,” but you might not know that they are brothers. Together they have written a book called “Like Brothers,” which is highly entertaining. They grew up in New Orleans, using a video camera to make movies just like Steven Spielberg used to do. They both attended the University of Texas in Austin, and eventually hit the big time when their feature “Baghead” was at the center of a bidding war at Sundance. Google Books called this one, “Part coming-of-age memoir, part underdog story, and part insider account of succeeding in Hollywood on their own terms.” Their close relationship often gets in the way at times, forcing them to take some time apart. But like all families with talented people, they work it out and move on to the next project. The two are going to be making television shows and movies for a long time to come so it is interesting to read their backstory. To purchase this book on Amazon click here.