Do you think you're talented?

ChipG said:
The good news is people with no talent can make alot money in this business, you just have to have a little business smarts. Very little actually.
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No real talent, complete hack. But at lea$t I'm having fun! :Drogar-Thinking(DBG:Drogar-Shock(DBG)::Drogar-Thinking(DBG:Drogar-Shock(DBG):
 
EVERYBODY IS TALENTED

Persistance, shameless self promotion and just plain dumb f---ing luck, now that's the key to success.
 
Johnny Cola said:
Persistance, shameless self promotion and just plain dumb f---ing luck, now that's the key to success.
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Luck is when experience meets opportunity. I think anyone who tries long enough gets the opportunity, but if you don't have the experience to make the most of that opportunity you won't be able to exploit it.
 
Batutta said:
Luck is when experience meets opportunity.
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You are so correct, I think I am am the best example of dumb luck meets persistence.

I was 18 years old with little/no experience in the business (but I was working my butt off trying to learn as much as I can). One day I get a random call from a Documentary Cameraman who got my number from a mentor/friend of mine. He was Peter Jennings and Ted Koppels personal cameraman and worked on their top documentary style shows.

I was noooowhere close to his league but he offered me a job to work as his soundman/assistant. At 18 I had a retainer from a major network, travelled the world and made a six figure salary. He taught me everything he knows and helped me advance my career in any way possible. Of course I worked my butt off for him and rose through the ranks.

I sincerely believe some people have a talent that puts them above the rest . Funny enough just last night I was watching "Amadeus" as salieri was being tormented by the pure genius of Mozart.

I see people around me who are pure genius as a director or cameraman or editor.....at the same time I see a lot of people who try so hard and put in a very noble effort, but are dwarfed the "Mozart's" of our days.

It is the simple reality of our business. It doesnt mean you wont be successful, it just means you have to work much much harder than people who are talented at it.
 
Great story.


Almost everyone I know that has had success in this (or any other) industry will happily equate some of their success to luck. It does not in any way diminish their efforts. In fact, just the opposite. Luck opens doors, but you still have to deliver.

I really hate the word "talent" at times (in fact, I think I had a rant on here about it a while back). I believe that some people are more talented than others, but even the most talented people work very hard for success. I always feel that when someone tells someone else that they are talented, they are in a way, diminishing that work. As though it must just come to them.
 
Since this thread about the question of "what separates amazing and average", here is my definition and example.

A talented director is somebody with the talent, vision, flexibility, knowledge and experience.

Recently I worked on a feature and we ran into a roadblock when on the day of the filming we were informed that we could not film an essential scene due to legal block. (I have a NDA so I cant get into too much detail).

The director within 15 minutes had a new plot that complemented the script that made perfect sense. He also was technically very competent so he had answers for each department, even when people were asking questions like "are you sure it will work" he was explaining to them in their language what they needed to do in order to achieve their goals.

After he explained to us in detail the changes there was nobody on set that had a question in their mind that it would work. His talent was the raw power of his creativity coupled with extensive knowledge of production/post. At $200,000 a day we could not afford delays and he probably saved a cool $1M by not delaying the production.
 
The whole "luck" argument, I think, is a pretty weak one. I think the quote goes something like "Luck is just the moment when preparation meets opprotunity". No amount of opprotunity is going to help someone who can't deliver, and no amount of preparation is going to help the person who doesn't receive (or create) opprotunity.

As to talent specifically, my mom runs several music schools and says without hesitation that "everyone can be taught". I think that's true -- everyone CAN be taught, but it's like others have said in this thread: not everyone has anything unique or worthwhile to show.

I think you can be SUCCESSFUL in filmmaking without having any talent whatsoever. Do I think you'll matter in 20, 50 or 100 years? Probably not. Lots of people writing books, lots of people scribbling comics or pointing cameras at things -- but most of them are doing it for reasons associated with the perceived lifestyles associated with their crafts, not because they have an inability to function any other way in society except via said crafts.

Talent, to me, simply means that you have the ability to do something easily that no one else can recreate, regardless of how well they understand your craft.

HOWEVER, I'm not sure I believe in such a thing as a "talented filmmaker". I can't imagine filmmaking existing as something seated deeply enough within us, be it biologically or spiritually. I think you can be a talented storyteller. You can be a talented performer, musician, artist. I think the talented filmmaker is actually just talented in one (or more) of these -- they just translate it to film.

In the end, though, I feel that 99% of people in the arts actually have no business being in the business of it. Go back 300 years to when it was an actual sacrifice (not a lottery) to be in the arts. Compare the percentage of folks from then to now who have decided they're a performer, artist, writer, director, etc. The question isn't whether or not talented people exist, it's whether or not we'll ever again get to know of them.
 
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emretufekci said:
You are so correct, I think I am am the best example of dumb luck meets persistence...

...One day I get a random call from a Documentary Cameraman who got my number from a mentor/friend of mine...
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If your mentor/friend didn't think you could pull it off, I doubt he would have recommended you. You created the opportunity by associating with someone who turned out to have connections, and you showed you could deliver. It paid off.

I just don't subscribe to the idea of luck.
 
Sad Max said:
And yes, talent is a loaded nasty term, much like artist.
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I think anyone who engages in a creative endeavor is an artist. Doesn't mean you're a GOOD artist, but you are an artist. The term got mucked up because pretentious intellectuals felt only good artists were worthy of the moniker. And then pretentious artists believed only certain types of work were worthy of engaging in so they could be perceived as artists.
 
It's a pretty useless term overall. People like to call themselves that, or be called that, but without any functional standard as to how the word is applied it might as well be "dude."
 
It helps but it doesn't matter. It's your end product people want. They dont' care about what went into it. Unless it's great. Then they care, until your next eventual failure that is. Then they don't care again... he's (she's) a hack now. ect. Doesn't matter. Do what you want. Let other people worry about it. :beer:
 
Talent confused with OCD? How so?

In my case and others around here that may seem the case but it's not OCD that's the cause.
Many of us have worked 3 days with no sleep to finish a project. Not unusual from what I've been reading. And being bent on a goal/timeframe I don't consider to be OCD.

//and how can OCD make you a better sketcher, a better compositor, a better director, writer, ect? Nope.

Alright. Joke right? Still don't get the OCD reference but... have any knock-knock jokes?

Here's one: Knock-Knock-
-a: Whos' there?
-b: The interupting cow.
-a: The interupting cow w..(...interupted)?
-b: moooooo.

Timimg, is everything with that joke.
 
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I think it's OCD that sometimes gets mistaken for talent.

Kind of how they used to describe Ferdinand Porsche: A man whose eccentricity was frequently mistaken for genius.
 
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