Brian De Palma directed this treatise concerning an egotistical film professor as a film-making project for his film-production master class at Sarah Lawrence College in New York. Kirk Douglas plays Doctor Tuttle, known as "The Maestro," who is the leader of a frenetic film-production cult entitled Star Therapy. The Maestro exhorts his disciples to "put your name above the title in real life." To prove his adage, he has his own life continuously filmed, with himself as the director and the star. The Maestro singles out one hapless student, Denis Byrd (Keith Gordon) for being totally ineffectual and "an extra in his own life." In response, Denis tries to put his name above the title by filming himself sleeping and eating and pursuing his older brother's girlfriend.