@warmaksen @chrismcquarrie @clmazin When I was 21, on the basis of a short , I got a major studio deal. And at the end of a year there, the studio pres. explained to me quite plainly that I was not good enough to work there. This didn't make me want to do it more. In fact it lead to a period of disillusionment. 1/
@warmaksen @chrismcquarrie @clmazin My agent disappeared as did any job possibilities. I did odd work; wrote narration for trailers, an Easter Special for a Claymation Company but I found myself broke & convinced the system was impossible if you wanted to make cinema. I thought about becoming a novelist but... 2/
@warmaksen @chrismcquarrie @clmazin a kind man who ran a great university writing program told me (after hearing my story) that I'd be much better off pursuing my career in film as I'd already gotten quite far for a person my age. So, I decided to go back to film school, the last place I remembered being happy. 3/
@warmaksen @chrismcquarrie @clmazin My time at Columbia University was a bit humiliating because I had to live w/ my parents again after being on my own. And because I had to return to film school after blowing my chance at a career, which made me seem strange to other students. But the school gave me refuge. 4/
@warmaksen @chrismcquarrie @clmazin This is why I agree so strongly with @chrismcquarrie regarding the idea of waiting for "Lotto". What I did by going back to school was buy myself time. Time in which I did not read trades or follow Oscar gossip. Time in which I buried my head in work. 5/
@warmaksen @chrismcquarrie @clmazin We live in an age where success is perceived as simply being famous. But, of course, fame is not success and me must remind ourselves that. Success is good work. Nonetheless, we get despondent when we feel invisible. When we feel we don't matter. So -- 6/
@warmaksen @chrismcquarrie @clmazin I wrote a script about feeling invisible. About feeling unattractive & marginal in a world spinning around me. A film about a character living with his parents & at the edge of hopelessness. Some of the faculty at my school were not encouraging but Milos Forman was kind to me. 7/
@warmaksen @chrismcquarrie @clmazin I also wrote a script about a local cop who was deaf in one ear. Also about a guy who, in a different way, felt left behind and robbed of his dream, but who, in my story became a kind of Western hero by the end, facing down his fears. 8/
@warmaksen @chrismcquarrie @clmazin The 1st script became HEAVY, my 1st film, financed by hook & crook w/o industry help. It premiered at Sundance and Cannes. My 2nd script became COP LAND. Neither of these journeys were easy & were also fraught w/ heartbreak. But I got my films made and I told my stories. 9/
@warmaksen @chrismcquarrie @clmazin This is why I agree w/ McQ & Craig & others that the greatest enemy of a young film maker is thinking too much about "making it". Like Dorothy's red shoes, the key to your own fulfillment already w/ you. Instead of focusing on "making it", focus on your work and its quality. 10/
@warmaksen @chrismcquarrie @clmazin Yes, you may need to take an odd job or two. The odder the better cause it'll fuel your writing & compassion 4 character. I promise, if you avert your eyes off success as defined by fame & refocus them on your work, really seeing your work & the flaws in it & working them... 11/
@warmaksen @chrismcquarrie @clmazin You will be rewarded will better work. And 2ndly, the possibility that others will notice your efforts at craftsmanship & emotional honesty. The success you seek may follow, but not because you were chasing it for its own sake, but bc you were chasing excellence. 12/
@warmaksen @chrismcquarrie @clmazin Cause if you love cinema, the goal should be excellence not success. There are too many successful frauds in our world. Don't be one of them. Speaking for myself, I try to live this every day. I still feel like I have not done my best work yet. And this is what drives me. 13/
@warmaksen @chrismcquarrie @clmazin PS -- About two weeks ago, I got an email from that Studio President. He had screened my recent film and wrote a very kind note. He probably has no memory of being a crushing blow in my life. Nor does he know that there was time in my life when I hated him. 14/
@warmaksen @chrismcquarrie @clmazin I don't hate him anymore. I'm grateful. Cause he's partly responsible for my journey. If I'd stayed at his studio, I'd never have made discoveries I made or had these adventures. Stop thinking about getting in a door. Truth is you're already there. Don't play lotto. Make art. END
