Editing Francis Ford Coppola (section)

===1960–1969: Early works===
After earning his theater arts degree from Hofstra in 1960, Coppola enrolled in [[UCLA School of Theater, Film and Television| UCLA Film School]] attending with Bart Patton and Pete (John) Broadrick.<ref name="Francis Ford Coppola" /><ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.hofstra.edu/home/news/ur/points-pride.html |title=Points of Pride – Hofstra University, New York |website=www.hofstra.edu |access-date=May 8, 2017 |archive-date=May 23, 2017 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170523061106/http://www.hofstra.edu/home/news/ur/points-pride.html |url-status=live }}</ref> There, he directed a short horror film, ''The Two Christophers'', inspired by [[Edgar Allan Poe]]'s "[[William Wilson (short story)|William Wilson]]" and ''Ayamonn the Terrible'', a film about a sculptor's nightmares coming to life.<ref name="The Gods of Filmmaking ">{{cite web |url=http://www.ambidextrouspics.com/html/francis_ford_coppola.html |title=Francis Ford Coppola biography |access-date=November 30, 2010 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100710050242/http://www.ambidextrouspics.com/html/francis_ford_coppola.html |archive-date=July 10, 2010}}</ref> He also met undergraduate film major [[Jim Morrison]], future frontman of [[The Doors]].<ref>{{cite web|title=SparkNotes: Apocalypse Now: Score and Soundtrack|url=http://www.sparknotes.com/film/apocalypsenow/section3.rhtml|url-status=live|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120504054656/http://www.sparknotes.com/film/apocalypsenow/section3.rhtml|archive-date=May 4, 2012|access-date=October 18, 2010|publisher=www.sparknotes.com}}</ref>

In the early 1960s, Coppola made $10 per week<ref>{{Cite book |last=Coppola |first=Francis Ford |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=XDu7cRa4f5oC&dq=francis+ford+coppola+10+dollar+a+week&pg=PA8 |title=Francis Ford Coppola: Interviews |date=2004 |publisher=Univ. Press of Mississippi |isbn=978-1-57806-666-7 |language=en |access-date=June 21, 2022 |archive-date=February 10, 2024 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240210103505/https://books.google.com/books?id=XDu7cRa4f5oC&dq=francis+ford+coppola+10+dollar+a+week&pg=PA8#v=onepage&q=francis%20ford%20coppola%2010%20dollar%20a%20week&f=false |url-status=live }}</ref> (roughly equivalent to ${{Inflation|US|10|1963}} per week today).{{Inflation-fn|US}} Looking for a way to earn some extra money, he found that many colleagues from film school made money filming erotic productions known as "nudie-cuties" or "skin flicks", which showed nudity without implying any sexual act.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Jones |first=Jenny M. |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=5EISEAAAQBAJ&dq=francis+ford+coppola+skin+flicks&pg=PT26 |title=The Annotated Godfather (50th Anniversary Edition): The Complete Screenplay, Commentary on Every Scene, Interviews, and Little-Known Facts |date=September 21, 2021 |publisher=Running Press |isbn=978-0-7624-7382-3 |language=en |access-date=June 21, 2022 |archive-date=February 10, 2024 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240210103626/https://books.google.com/books?id=5EISEAAAQBAJ&dq=francis+ford+coppola+skin+flicks&pg=PT26 |url-status=live }}</ref> At 21, Coppola wrote the script for ''The Peeper'', a short comedy film about a [[Voyeurism|voyeur]] who tries to spy on a sensual photo shoot in the studio next to his apartment. Coppola found an interested producer, who gave him $3,000 to shoot the film. He hired [[Playboy Bunny]] [[Marli Renfro]] to play the model and had his friend Karl Schanzer play the voyeur. With ''The Peeper'' finished, Coppola found that the cartoonish aspects of the film alienated potential buyers, who did not find the 12-minute short exciting enough to screen in [[Adult movie theater|adult theaters]].<ref name="FanFare">{{Cite web|last=Guerra|first=Felipe M.|title=The Nude-Father: the 'erotic' films directed by Francis Ford Coppola|url=https://medium.com/fan-fare/the-nude-father-the-erotic-films-directed-by-francis-ford-coppola-79535b0cf211/|access-date=November 18, 2020|website=FanFare|date=October 28, 2020|language=en|archive-date=October 23, 2020|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20201023152315/https://medium.com/fan-fare/the-nude-father-the-erotic-films-directed-by-francis-ford-coppola-79535b0cf211|url-status=live}}</ref>

After much rejection, Coppola received an opportunity from Premier Pictures Company, a small production company that invested in ''The Wide Open Spaces'', an erotic [[Western (genre)|western]] written and directed by Jerry Schafer, which had been shelved for more than a year. Both Schafer's film and ''The Peeper'' featured Renfro, so the producers paid Coppola $500 to combine the two films. After Coppola re-edited the picture, it was released as the [[Softcore pornography|softcore]] comedy ''[[Tonight for Sure]]'' (1962).<ref name="FanFare" /> Another production company, Screen Rite Pictures, hired Coppola to do a similar job: re-cutting the German film ''{{Ill|Mit Eva fing die Sünde an (film)|de|3=Mit Eva fing die Sünde an|lt=Mit Eva fing die Sünde an}}'' (''Sin Began with Eve''), directed by [[Fritz Umgelter]]. Coppola added new color footage with British model [[June Wilkinson]] and other nude starlets.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Phillips |first=Gene D. |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=A1hEAgAAQBAJ&dq=francis+ford+coppola+June+Wilkinson&pg=PT34 |title=Godfather: The Intimate Francis Ford Coppola |date=April 23, 2014 |publisher=University Press of Kentucky |isbn=978-0-8131-4672-0 |language=en |access-date=June 21, 2022 |archive-date=February 10, 2024 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240210104013/https://books.google.com/books?id=A1hEAgAAQBAJ&dq=francis+ford+coppola+June+Wilkinson&pg=PT34#v=onepage&q=francis%20ford%20coppola%20June%20Wilkinson&f=false |url-status=live }}</ref> The re-edited film was released as ''[[The Bellboy and the Playgirls]]''. That same year, producer/director [[Roger Corman]] hired Coppola as an assistant. Corman first tasked Coppola with dubbing and re-editing the Soviet science fiction film ''[[Nebo Zovyot]]'' (1959), which Coppola turned into the sex-and-violence monster movie ''[[Battle Beyond the Sun]]'' (1962).<ref name="Francis Ford Coppola (Yahoo!)" /> Impressed by Coppola's perseverance and dedication, Corman hired him as a dialogue director for ''[[Tower of London (1962 film)|Tower of London]]'' (1962), sound man for ''[[The Young Racers]]'' (1963) and associate producer and one of many uncredited directors for ''[[The Terror (1963 film)|The Terror]]'' (1963).<ref name="Francis Ford Coppola Biography" />

Coppola's first [[feature film]] was ''[[Dementia 13]]'' (1963). While on location in Ireland for ''The Young Racers'', Corman persuaded Coppola to use that film's leftover funds to make a low-budget [[horror movie]].<ref name="Francis Ford Coppola Biography" /> Coppola wrote a brief draft in one night, incorporating elements from [[Alfred Hitchcock| Hitchcock's]] ''[[Psycho (1960 film)|Psycho]]'',<ref name="Francis Ford Coppola Interview page 3">{{cite web |title=Francis Ford Coppola Biography and Interview |website=www.achievement.org |publisher=[[American Academy of Achievement]] |url=https://www.achievement.org/achiever/francis-ford-coppola/#interview |access-date=April 2, 2019 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190323144840/https://www.achievement.org/achiever/francis-ford-coppola/#interview |archive-date=March 23, 2019 |url-status=dead }}</ref> and the result impressed Corman enough to give the go-ahead. On a budget of $40,000 ($20,000 from Corman and $20,000 from another producer who wanted to buy the movie's English rights),<ref name="Francis Ford Coppola Interview page 3" /> Coppola directed ''Dementia 13'' over the course of nine days. The film recouped its expenses and later became a [[cult film]] among horror buffs. It was on the set of ''Dementia 13'' that Coppola met the woman he would marry, [[Eleanor Coppola| Eleanor Jessie Neil]].

In 1965, Coppola won the annual [[Samuel Goldwyn Writing Awards| Samuel Goldwyn Award]] for best screenplay written by a UCLA student for ''Pilma, Pilma''.<ref name="Francis Ford Coppola" /> The honor secured him a job as a scriptwriter with [[Seven Arts Productions|Seven Arts]]. During this time, Coppola also co-wrote the scripts for ''[[This Property Is Condemned]]'' (1966) and ''[[Is Paris Burning? (film)|Is Paris Burning?]]'' (1966). Coppola bought the rights to [[David Benedictus]]'s novel ''[[You're a Big Boy Now (novel)|You're a Big Boy Now]]'' (1963) and merged it with a story idea of his own, resulting in his UCLA [[thesis]] project ''[[You're a Big Boy Now]]'' (1966), which earned him his Master of Fine Arts Degree from [[UCLA School of Theater, Film and Television]] in 1967.<ref name="Francis Ford Coppola Biography" /><ref name="UCLATFT">[http://www.tft.ucla.edu/about/executive-board/francis-ford-coppola/ "Profile: Francis Ford Coppola"] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140716061348/http://www.tft.ucla.edu/about/executive-board/francis-ford-coppola/|date=July 16, 2014}}, UCLA School of Theater, Film, and television, Executive Board</ref><ref name="Thomson"/> The film also received a theatrical release via [[Warner Bros.]] and earned critical acclaim.<ref name="Francis Ford Coppola (Yahoo!)" />

[[File:Francis Ford Coppola, gtfy.00687.jpg | thumb|Francis Ford Coppola in 1973]]
Following the success of ''You're a Big Boy Now'', Coppola was offered to work on an adaptation of the musical ''[[Finian's Rainbow]]'' starring dance legend [[Fred Astaire]] and [[Petula Clark]] in her first American film. Producer [[Jack L. Warner]] was not impressed by Coppola's shaggy-haired, bearded, "[[hippie]]" appearance and generally left him to his own devices. Coppola took the cast to the [[Napa County, California| Napa Valley]] for much of the outdoor shooting, but those scenes were in sharp contrast to those filmed on a Hollywood soundstage, resulting in a disjointed look. None the less, [[Finian's Rainbow (1968 film)| ''Finian's Rainbow'']] (1968) was a critical and commercial success. Clark received a [[Golden Globe Award for Best Actress – Motion Picture Drama| Golden Globe]] Best Actress nomination. The film introduced Coppola to [[George Lucas]], who became a lifelong friend and a production assistant on his next film.

''[[The Rain People]]'' (1969) was written, directed, and initially produced by Coppola himself, though as the movie advanced, he exceeded his budget and the studio had to underwrite the remainder of the movie.<ref name=" Francis Ford Coppola (Yahoo!)" /> It won the [[Golden Shell]] at the 1969 [[San Sebastián International Film Festival]]. Coppola wanted to subvert the studio system, which he felt had stifled his visions, intending to produce mainstream pictures to finance off-beat projects and give first-time directors a chance. While touring Europe, Coppola was introduced to alternative filmmaking equipment and, inspired by the [[Bohemianism| bohemian]] spirit of Lanterna Film, decided he would build a deviant studio that would conceive and implement unconventional approaches to filmmaking. He decided to name his future studio "Zoetrope" after receiving a gift of [[zoetrope]]s from Mogens Scot-Hansen, founder of Lanterna Film. Upon his return home, Coppola and Lucas searched for a mansion in [[Marin County, California| Marin County]] to house the studio. However, in 1969, with equipment flowing in and no mansion found yet, the first home for [[American Zoetrope| Zoetrope Studio]] was a warehouse in [[San Francisco]] on [[Folsom Street]].<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.zoetrope.com/zoe_films.cgi?page=history |title=A Brief History of American Zoetrope |access-date=October 18, 2010 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100925031247/http://www.zoetrope.com/zoe_films.cgi?page=history |archive-date=September 25, 2010 |url-status=dead }}</ref> [[Andrew Sarris]], in ''The American Cinema'' (1968), wrote: "[Coppola] is probably the first reasonably talented and sensibly adaptable directorial talent to emerge from a university curriculum in film-making&nbsp;... [He] may be heard from more decisively in the future."<ref>[[Andrew Sarris|Sarris, Andrew]] (1968). ''The American Cinema'' (Paperback ed.). New York, NY: EP Dutton and Co., Inc. p. 210.</ref>