Best Advice you've ever received

I have two.

A couple years ago, a director whom I very much respect and admire told me that filmmaking is storytelling, first and foremost. I had already known this but I don't think I fully understood it until I heard him say it and I thought it through. I realized that I had always thought that technical adequacy was the most important factor in order to make a good film, but from his advice I learned that knowing how to tell a story was the most important and the most difficult. Anyone can learn technical skills.

A while later, another producer told me that the pursuit of success in this industry is a process, not a race. It made me focus a bit more on my own path rather than what the people around me were doing and where they were going.
 
#2 there is especially important. Focusing on where *other* people are going, is a good way to lose your marbles.
 
Max Adams (screenwriter of Excess Baggage) told me to "Keep it Real" and
from a screenwriter's p.o.v., it's advice I'll never forget, thanks, Max.
 
John_Hudson said:
"Instead of spending all your time on DVXuser, why don't ya spend that time making movies?"
Click to expand...
I get the same one at home, except it's, "Instead of spending all your time on DVXuser, why don't ya spend that time doing your 2004 tax returns?"
 
Charli said:
Max Adams (screenwriter of Excess Baggage) told me to "Keep it Real" and
from a screenwriter's p.o.v., it's advice I'll never forget, thanks, Max.
Click to expand...

Ahhhh yes

But one's reality is another's Wes Anderson.
 
I threw my stepdad out when I was about 18. My mom called from work and said "I don't care what you do, as long as he's gone when I get home."

Now he's kind of a guide for me. If I am in a dillemma I ask my self "What would Ray do?" Then I do the opposite. SOme of the best advice I've ever gotten.

:kali: Ray LaDieu
 
I think you get the picture. To quote Davis Straitharn in Matewan, "I wouldn't piss on him if his heart was on fire."
 
I'll give a best and a worst.

1) I was at Home Depot getting some work lights (pathetic), and I got talking with an old man who worked there about how I'd be using them for movies. He didn't mean it to be good advice or even slightly motivating but he said something along the lines of, "Starting to do exactly what you want early is the way to go. There's a lot of stuff that I wish I'd done, and I never got the chance to. You really only get one shot." I looked at him with that inspired face (squinty eyed, tiny slow nods, head tilted), and whispered "Yeah man..." I think he was pretty freaked out.

Worst advice: I'll give some backstory to this also like I did for my best advice. This was at my brother's highschool graduation last year. We have a really high-ranked highschool that is super competitive, but the valedictorian was the most socially-awkward person I've ever encountered. She got up to give her speech, and just listed 10 things of "advice" that she was giving to her fellow classmates. The worst: "Always bring a map if you choose to embark on a 7 mile walk into woods." Even if she meant that metaphorically it is still the worst advice ever. The sad thing was she laughed, and most of the parents did too.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top