Robert N. Zagone

Robert N. Zagone is an independent filmmaker and television director who is best known for his independent feature films Read You Like a Book (starring Karen Black, Tony Amendola and Danny Glover) and The Stand-In (starring Danny Glover). He is also well known for the iconic guerilla-style documentary Drugs in the Tenderloin, as well as many film recordings of the musical culture of San Francisco, including Go Ride the Music, featuring Jefferson Airplane and Quicksilver Messenger Service; A Night at the Family Dog, featuring the Grateful Dead, Santana, and Jefferson Airplane; Big Brother and the Holding Company with Janis Joplin; and the infamous Bob Dylan Press Conference. Zagone was one of the first filmmakers to cover the cultural explosion of the 1960s in the San Francisco Bay Area.

Zagone is the recipient of three Emmys from the San Francisco chapter of the National Academy of Television Arts and Sciences, and is a member of the Directors Guild of America. Zagone is also the author of a memoir about his directing career, entitled Attack the Cameras! Musings of an Independent Film and TV Director, which was self-published in 2023.

Despite their original distribution format, many of the films and programs Zagone directed can be viewed online, including the Bob Dylan Press Conference, Credence Clearwater Revival's music video for "Sweet Hitchhiker," and The Human Be-In.