Director: Robert Rodriguez

Robert Rodriguez made El Mariachi for around seven thousand dollars, funded partly by volunteering for medical trials, and wrote a book about it that has launched a great many first features. He frequently shoots, edits and scores his own work.

Desperado, From Dusk till Dawn, Spy Kids and Sin City followed, and he was an early and total convert to digital capture, building a studio in Austin to stay outside the Hollywood system.

The results vary enormously, which is the trade. Working that fast and that cheaply produces both Sin City and a long list of films nobody revisits.