Magic Movie

I didn't see it noted, but there were 2 versions of this movie released on video. One from SGE and one from StarMaker. Both have the same picture on the box, but the StarMaker version is easily recognized by the gold border around the picture. (The one pictured on IMDb while I write this.)

Most people agree, the SGE version is the better version.

A lot of the jokes in the film do revolve around Hollywood, unions or the IRS and the characters' somewhat Dilbert-like frustrations that the process of making films or money is not nearly the straight-forward process they'd expect.

A good bit of lore has built up around the movie as well, as many ironic stories have sprung up around it. A usenet newsgroup dedicated to Mike Jittlov fans has been around for a long time (relative to the internet anyway.)

It also has the unusual distinction of having parts being played by the real people: the filmmaker is played by a filmmaker, the evil producer is played by a ....well, producer, the musician is played by a musician, his mother is played by his mother, his brother is played by his brother... etc, etc, etc.