Do you ever get jealous?

MattinSTL said:
Talk to the hand.
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Did I read that right, your best friend became friends with the guy your gilrfriend is cheating on you with. Ouch The only thing worse than that would be if your best friend was the one cheating with your girlfriend. But in a sense it's almost the same thing if he didn't tell you. I dont know I would be jealous as much as straight up pissed off and seeing red angry. thats just brutal.
 
Sniper1154 said:
I don't sit in a room and stew over other folks' success; I just occasionally seem to find myself with a creative explosion and no real outlet to channel that energy because I'm short on help. I also find that my standards for myself are fairly high, and it tends to impede the process when I am less-than enthusiastic in working with dilettantes
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I can relate to this 100%

I've found it very difficult to find any like-minded filmmakers in Michigan...despite being enrolled in the film program at a local college. I'm not even remotely rich and yet I'm the only one in the program that seems to have invested in any equipment. I signed up hoping to meet people to pool resources with, but it turns out I'm the only one who has any! I've got camera and sound covered but no money left over for lighting or anything else. Obviously, there's a lot of people who have it much worse, and in a way this feels a lot like crying over spilled champagne ("Waaaah! My glass slippers are too tight!") but everything is relative and it's still discouraging.

Even worse than the lack of gear is the lack of knowledge. Very few of my classmates seem to know...anything? Not even the basic stuff, F-stops and shutter speeds, color temperatures and audio clipping, basic story structure and cutting on action...

None of it.

Bovine blank stares.

Dripping strings of drool.

And again, it's not like I'm some walking encyclopedia but I've AT LEAST done the basic research. I at least have a basic working knowledge. I've read countless books on the theory, the craft, and the business, read countless online tutorials, joined websites like this one...I don't say this to brag. I don't think it's brag-worthy. But unfortunately, I also don't think I've met anyone in school that's even done this much...the absolute bare minimum.

For many I think, a film degree is the perceived path of least resistance. And they're right, you can easily half-ass your way through the entire program. Forget everything. Learn nothing. Do nothing. Be nothing. Easily.

But why would anyone want to?

Apathy seems to be the predominant state of mind among fellow students. I've seen no sign of passion in anyone I've met so far, no dedication, no real drive. Maybe I've missed it, maybe THEY don't see any of that in ME...who knows?

But yes, it's very discouraging, especially when you hear about all these famous actors and directors and editors and DPs who met in college, in their twenties, and were able to forge mutually beneficial collaborations that continue to this day, decades later. I'm definitely jealous of those fortunate few, lucky enough to find their creative counterparts early on. It's got to make things so much easier.

Not "easy", of course. But easier. Definitely easier.

All my friends are getting real jobs, getting married, buying their first houses and their first new cars, investing in stocks and enjoying their health and dental plans. It's hard to be on the sidelines of all this forward momentum. All this practical ascension and tangible progress. Next to them, it must look like I'm just spinning my wheels, going nowhere fast.

But for the vast majority of tomorrow's filmmakers, I think that's what you have to do. I think that's what it takes.

Apart from fellow students, there's another demographic I like to call "yesterday's dreamers". With these folks, being a filmmaker may have been a passion early-on but at some point it became just a hobby. It's easy to get comfortable with day jobs, starter homes, spouses, portfolios and 401k's. It's hard to blame someone for deciding to take the safer path. Security is a hell of a drug. You have to be a little bit crazy to put all your eggs in the filmmaker basket and go for broke (literally).

I just wish I knew someone as "crazy" as me.
 
Jealousy is a valid emotion. It's a subconscious pointer to the line of action or accomplishment that you would like to achieve. Use it. It becomes a poison when you focus on the person rather than the deed; that's when it locks you up from action with hatred.

Isaac_Brody said:
Not jealous, but inspired. I think jealousy springs from insecurity, but if you can use what someone else is doing as a motivator it can be an effective way to help light a fire under your own ass.
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Or what Isaac said.
 
In all honestly jealousy is a choice. And when you make that choice, you are clearly worrying too much about someone else and not enough about yourself. You can choose to spend time thinking about so and so's career, but that does absolutely nothing for your own. Or you can spend time working on your own career. Which has obvious benefits.
 
> But, yes, I admit, I occasionally get jealous of other filmmaker's success - or, rather the resources they have to achieve their success.

I used to. All the time. Almost ruined my film school experience. Now I realize a rising tide floats all boats and I welcome success to all my friends and competitors. Success of others now makes me happy as I can learn from them or benefit by proximity or exposure. It sounds cheesy, but really that perspective has given me more success than the jealousy fueled competitive drive I used to have. Now it's just fun.
 
arroway said:
I can relate to this 100%

I've found it very difficult to find any like-minded filmmakers in Michigan...despite being enrolled in the film program at a local college. I'm not even remotely rich and yet I'm the only one in the program that seems to have invested in any equipment. I signed up hoping to meet people to pool resources with, but it turns out I'm the only one who has any! I've got camera and sound covered but no money left over for lighting or anything else. Obviously, there's a lot of people who have it much worse, and in a way this feels a lot like crying over spilled champagne ("Waaaah! My glass slippers are too tight!") but everything is relative and it's still discouraging.

Even worse than the lack of gear is the lack of knowledge. Very few of my classmates seem to know...anything? Not even the basic stuff, F-stops and shutter speeds, color temperatures and audio clipping, basic story structure and cutting on action...

None of it.

Bovine blank stares.

Dripping strings of drool.

And again, it's not like I'm some walking encyclopedia but I've AT LEAST done the basic research. I at least have a basic working knowledge. I've read countless books on the theory, the craft, and the business, read countless online tutorials, joined websites like this one...I don't say this to brag. I don't think it's brag-worthy. But unfortunately, I also don't think I've met anyone in school that's even done this much...the absolute bare minimum.

For many I think, a film degree is the perceived path of least resistance. And they're right, you can easily half-ass your way through the entire program. Forget everything. Learn nothing. Do nothing. Be nothing. Easily.

But why would anyone want to?

Apathy seems to be the predominant state of mind among fellow students. I've seen no sign of passion in anyone I've met so far, no dedication, no real drive. Maybe I've missed it, maybe THEY don't see any of that in ME...who knows?

But yes, it's very discouraging, especially when you hear about all these famous actors and directors and editors and DPs who met in college, in their twenties, and were able to forge mutually beneficial collaborations that continue to this day, decades later. I'm definitely jealous of those fortunate few, lucky enough to find their creative counterparts early on. It's got to make things so much easier.

Not "easy", of course. But easier. Definitely easier.

All my friends are getting real jobs, getting married, buying their first houses and their first new cars, investing in stocks and enjoying their health and dental plans. It's hard to be on the sidelines of all this forward momentum. All this practical ascension and tangible progress. Next to them, it must look like I'm just spinning my wheels, going nowhere fast.

But for the vast majority of tomorrow's filmmakers, I think that's what you have to do. I think that's what it takes.

Apart from fellow students, there's another demographic I like to call "yesterday's dreamers". With these folks, being a filmmaker may have been a passion early-on but at some point it became just a hobby. It's easy to get comfortable with day jobs, starter homes, spouses, portfolios and 401k's. It's hard to blame someone for deciding to take the safer path. Security is a hell of a drug. You have to be a little bit crazy to put all your eggs in the filmmaker basket and go for broke (literally).

I just wish I knew someone as "crazy" as me.
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Shame you're in USA man I'd meet up with you and have a chat about film ideas etc. I feel exactly the same as you. That was my main problem trying to find a metal band that took music as seriously as I did..i.e I wanted to get somewhere with the band.....record pro demos and tour as much as we could but so many lazy people out there, no one with drive etc...and the ones that do have the drive are the ones you never meet!!!
 
Maybe it's kinda different for me, but I'm not realy jealous. Of course at the end other soundguys or "competitors". If someone can choose between different soundguys and another one has the job...

But it's important to stay "friends" with eachother, because maybe it happens that someone who was going to do the job has to go in jail or something. So if he/she knows you, he/she can advice you to
do the job.

At the end, it's the client that decides, they just want a soundguy...
 
I'm jealous when someone other than me resurrects a thread.
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It's weird because I've never been jealous of other artists' success. I've only ever been jealous of their abilities and attention to details, and even then only in the rarest of cases.

I have an awkward perspective of monetary success, though, and don't really have much want for it outside of the basics. I've had a lot of money and very little, and I prefer to have very little. And as for fame, I can't imagine anything more horrible than would be being famous. The entire living objective of the writer and most artists is to *observe*. Once you're easily recognized, the ability to observe effectively becomes impossible with any sort of normality.

If you're feeling jealous over other's perceived opportunities, it sounds harsh, but it's probably because you're not working hard enough or sacrificing enough normalness in your own life, or you're sacrificing and working your tail off towards an end that may not be exactly where your true passion exists.

I certainly thought my life's goal was to be a novelist until life brought about some obstacles that angled me down my correct path. Now I do about 10 different things all to serve a single story and I wake up happy and utterly fulfilled every day of my life.

As to the perception we might have of the public artist, remember that the objective of the public artist is to have what they achieve appear to be effortless to everyone but their peers. It benefits the mystique and often times is crucial to the final piece of art existing as a living entity all its own. If people knew how much effort it took you to paint a picture, the painting then becomes about you the artist, not the art itself.

That's why the worst thing an artist can ever do, unless they are preparing for death, is to write their own story -- and even then hopefully they leave out all the parts that might be relative to their stories.

If you feel jealousy, though. Double check yourself. Maybe you're priorities are askew or maybe you're on the wrong path. Not all obstacles are meant to be overcome -- some are meant to help us know when to turn left or right. You just have to know the difference, which takes living a life.
 
It's weird- I actually get jealous of people who seem content making average work. I think "if only I could be content making a mumblecore piece of tripe". Having a perfectionist personality, it's tough to complete things sometimes. I compare what I'm doing to David Lynch or Polanski and think it's not good enough and toss it. Ridiculous.

That being said I know that I am not giving filmmaking 100% as yet, so yes I think Brian is right in much that he says.

The thing is, that I have never failed as a filmmaker because I have never given it 100%. So to be jealous of others is silly.
 
Related to this thread, my girl just brought home a book today from campus called "Too Far" which was written by a venture capitalist turned (ahem) literary fiction author. Hardcover book, beautifully bound, comes with a CD and everything. Turns out the guy is giving away his novels w/ accompanying CD away at colleges. Now for a normal publishers this would be impossible, even if it was a soft cover genre deal (which this isn't). The costs would simply be too prohibitive. But in the end, no matter how many tens of thousands of dollars this guy spends, and no matter how pretty the books might look, it's not going to make him a great author.
 
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