Wilbur's Epic "YOU CAN DO EET" thread.

Wilbur Eddings

Wilbur Eddings

Well-known member
So you want to know what kind of mindset you need to achieve your ultimate dream as a film maker....

There are many types of personality profiles out there, every imaginable temperament with a spider web of influences and defining moments... Everyone has their way of doing things but there is one constant profile requirement for anyone who desires to achieve their dream - Tenacity.

I have conquered huge obstacles and achieved more than I ever thought I would through being stubbornly optimistic by keeping myself consistently motivated with every motivational resource I could lay my hands on. Tony Robbins, Jack Welch, Robert Greene, Dr Phil... Whatever man.. Just keep your eye on the ball.

In my travels I have also bumped into some negative, nasty people who still get ahead and make things happen! They scoff at my goody two shoes approach to life and live by the 'it aint personal, it's just business' motto.

I have seen conniving and palm greasing, under the counter kick-backs and every manner of dodgy activity. Yet these guys get away with it and thrive. It's how they roll - it aint nice for the guy they stiffed, but it works for them!
Success is not exclusive to the good the bad or the ugly! It rains both on the righteous and the unrighteous, the fat and the thin, the Eddings and the Kutcher!

You are naive if you think success is dependent on your personality or lack thereof.
A great personality might get the door open, but it's tenacity that follows through!

The key is self belief. if you don't believe in you then no-one else will believe in you.
Self Confidence is the most underrated asset in your room! Take that weapon with you when you leave the house!

I recently invested into a film student's film purely because of his confidence. His show-reel was crap. Really crap! ...but this guy oozed self confidence.
My common sense said "hell no!" but I decided to give him a chance anyway... a man who believes in himself enough to maintain his confidence in the face of failure will inevitably succeed. Experience may be a harsh teacher, but she is a great one!

What is the point of having great gear and great talent if you have no faith in yourself?
You are the investment - not your movie - movies don't shoot themselves!

It also works exceptionally well for getting the girl you've been eying out for the past 2 years too... Why should she invest her life into you if you don't see worth in it yourself?

Confidence gets the job and competence keeps it.

I try to be a nice guy, but I have realized that it is neither the nice guy nor the nasty guy that gets to eat the cake - it's the confident guy that walks straight to the middle of the room and helps himself to a slice. His personality is almost irrelevant. Eastwood likes a silent set and Bay blows his horn like a madman! You think Bloom and Green are popular because they were lucky? Think again. It takes balls to write that first review and keep writing till you get it right!

Fear is your greatest enemy - fear of failure, fear of rejection, fear of humiliation - all massive limiting factors with more bark than bite! You need to face the facts - everyone fails on some level at some point in their life - you might as well get stuck in and get it over with while you can still wipe your own ass.

My first movie bankrupted me (for about a year before it started paying me back).
I was humiliated on a national platform by critics and suppliers alike.
But guess what - I made a movie. I did it. A full length feature shown on the big screen. Now I get to make more and I get to learn from my mistakes. I have survived the humiliation and the (overwhelming) feelings of failure. I get to do it right this time because I know things that no film school could ever teach me.
Read some books about people that have succeeded in chasing their dreams - failure is a standard feature on the road to success. I think Abe Lincoln and Thomas Edison were trying to set some kind of record in mishap and failure - but lo and behold - one truckload of confidence and an aircraft carrier of tenacity later - SUCCESS! Woohoo!

Screw fear. Just go for it. Be bold, be confident, be relentless! Leave the moaners and naysayers to their own world!
This life is yours for the taking so gird thy loins and take that mountain!

"You can do eeet! Keek that mountains asss!" (To be read out loud ala Schneider).

Well.. I hope that encourages someone. I like encouraging people, it rocketh!


So whats your mindset?
Have you achieved the things you have achieved by blind luck or lotto draw or are you driven to succeed?

Share some principles if you have any that particularly work for you, you never know who is reading...
 
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I like this thread, it is absolutely true. Self belief and tenacity that edges on insanity are absolutely essential. There is no middle ground when it comes to creative acts, you either care or you don't, and if you care you will make it happen, because there is no other choice, no other possibility. My personal motto? The only way to do it is by doing it.
 
What you are describing sounds more like arrogance than confidence. True confidence comes from mastery of your craft. It is not put on like a mask. It is earned through hard work and dedication.
 
Mark Harris said:
In the time it took you to opine here, you could have written the first draft of a FictionFEST short...
Click to expand...

Here, Best I could come up with on short notice:


INT. OFFICE -- NIGHT

AUDIO:

We hear Tapping Noises on a keyboard somewhere in the room.

Crickets chip noisily outside.

Visual:

We slowly push forward along a bedroom floor strewn haphazardly with random items of dirty clothing and the odd Beer can here and there. Our push comes to rest on an open box of pizza and an obviously stale piece of pizza. The box lies next to the the wheels of an office chair. We can just make out the outline of a pair of legs behind the chair. Chair legs and Pizza box in focus, legs in bokeh.

A hand comes into shot and grabs the piece of pizza. We now jib upwards and follow the pizza slice as it makes it's final journey and cut to..

Computer keyboard, very tight shot. Suddenly something big and out of focus blocks our view of the keyboard. We rack to the new object and immediately see the slice of pizza with a bite out of it.

Two hands start typing on the keyboard. We rack to the left hand and then cut to...

The screen. We have the bottom third of the screen with the words: "In the time it took you to opine here, you could have written the first draft of a FictionFEST short.".

Our shot of the screen picks up the last two words being typed before we cut to...

Close up of 'Enter' button. A grubby thumb hammers down on the Enter button.

We hear Mark speak in the background.

MARK HARRIS

"Know it all asshole."

CUT TO...

A Cigarette lies on top of a beer can, smoke wafting up into the light.

TBC


Now right something encouraging in mah thread please!
I did my part.
 
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Batutta said:
What you are describing sounds more like arrogance than confidence. True confidence comes from mastery of your craft. It is not put on like a mask. It is earned through hard work and dedication.
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Whoaa.. I have absolutely no desire is to promote arrogance!

Maybe I should clarify:

Arrogance is rooted in insecurity.
Confidence is rooted in self belief.

Arrogance achieves it's objectives at the expense of others - I certainly hope that my post has not carried that kind of message across!
Arrogance is also the assumption that you know more than others - Another message I hope I am not conveying!

Phew. Tough Crowd! Ha Ha.

How does one master your craft without stepping out and confidently pursuing the highest level of excellence?
To master anything takes a lot of sacrifice. Sacrifice takes tenacity - Tons of it!

Strangely enough, one may start out arrogant on your journey to success, but the journey itself has a way of humbling the toughest heart!
 
Batutta said:
What you are describing sounds more like arrogance than confidence. True confidence comes from mastery of your craft. It is not put on like a mask. It is earned through hard work and dedication.
Click to expand...

That's a fair point. It does sound a little arrogant. But, then, self belief is quite an arrogant thing in a way. Essentially you are saying that you are going to succeed and do whatever it is you are going to do, and that is unquestionable, and isn't based on ability, but on drive and desire. So, depending on the person, self belief could be baseless and seemingly misguided, or it could be backed up and borne out by the persons ability. Either way, it's essential for the person to have it in order to reach the place they want to be.

There is a difference between arrogantly bluffing your way through under the guise of being confident, and being truly motivated and driven and comfortable with that. And of course, real confidence in your ability's (both from yourself and other's) is earned through hard work and dedication, and if you are really passionate about something, and you really want to do it, you realise you are going to have to sacrifice a lot to make it happen. Arrogant people with no ability to back it up get nowhere because people see through them eventually.

(I actually am going to enter fictionFEST, looking forward to it.)
 
The best way to inspire someone is to produce great work to which they might aspire. Don't talk about doing it; go out there and do it.
 
Mark Harris said:
Thanks Dave, that's what I was getting at. And judging by this guy's insanely bad screenwriting above, he could use the practice. Here you go dude, inspire us:

http://www.dvxuser.com/V6/forumdisplay.php?215-FictionFEST
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lol. Damn Critics!

The best way to inspire someone is to produce great work to which they might aspire. Don't talk about doing it; go out there and do it.
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Agreed... Although methinks pep talks and encouragement are like fuel in ye olde "Just do it" fuel tank!
 
Wilbur Eddings said:
Whoaa.. I have absolutely no desire is to promote arrogance!

Maybe I should clarify:

Arrogance is rooted in insecurity.
Confidence is rooted in self belief.

Arrogance achieves it's objectives at the expense of others - I certainly hope that my post has not carried that kind of message across!
Arrogance is also the assumption that you know more than others - Another message I hope I am not conveying!

Phew. Tough Crowd! Ha Ha.

How does one master your craft without stepping out and confidently pursuing the highest level of excellence?
To master anything takes a lot of sacrifice. Sacrifice takes tenacity - Tons of it!

Strangely enough, one may start out arrogant on your journey to success, but the journey itself has a way of humbling the toughest heart!
Click to expand...

I don't think you need confidence to be tenacious, just a commitment to developing your craft. If you keep your mind on improving your skills and practicing them whenever you get the chance that should get you to a point where you can have real confidence in what you're doing. I think the beginner should take a more humble approach, rather than expecting everything they do to be awesome right from the get go. That's just setting yourself up for disappointment. Being hopeful and positive is always good. Having delusions of grandeur is not.
 
J.R. Hudson said:
Wilbur ? May we see some of your work ?
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My sincerest apologies but unfortunately not.
I prefer to keep my identity a secret as my last movie really got nailed by critics.
I really enjoy these forums and would like to hang out here for as long as I can without exposing myself to the nasties.
I need to be as positive and focused as possible while I work on this current project.

I hope you can understand.

Wilbur Smith + David Eddings = Wilbur Eddings. (My two fav. writers)

P.S.
OMG! 23,600 posts! That deserves some kind of award or something no?
 
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Batutta said:
I don't think you need confidence to be tenacious, just a commitment to developing your craft. If you keep your mind on improving your skills and practicing them whenever you get the chance that should get you to a point where you can have real confidence in what you're doing. I think the beginner should take a more humble approach, rather than expecting everything they do to be awesome right from the get go. That's just setting yourself up for disappointment. Being hopeful and positive is always good. Having delusions of grandeur is not.
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I see your point and respect your view.

Humility and servant hood are very important keys to promotion in any field.
 
Batutta said:
What you are describing sounds more like arrogance than confidence. True confidence comes from mastery of your craft. It is not put on like a mask. It is earned through hard work and dedication.
Click to expand...
Arrogance gets no thumbs-up in my book. Confidence, faith, and belief in ones' capabilities certainly does. I don't think Wilbur's talking about arrogance. He's talking about enough courage and trust in your own capabilities to take the leap and go and do the things that everyone else is scared to.

Decades ago I read or heard some guru who said "if you're not the person you wish you were, why not just try acting as if you were? Whenever you're in a situation, think how the person you wish you were would respond, and try that. Sooner or later, you'll find out that will turn you into the person you wish you were."

Now, with that said, don't be stupid -- a newbie thinking he can pick up a camcorder and make a Robert Rodriguez blockbuster is going to get a whole lot of experience, not a lot of it positive. So do what Rodriguez did -- start making shorts, and make so many that you start winning awards at major festivals, and by that time you will have come a long way towards mastering your craft, because you will indeed have earned it through hard work and dedication. And then you'll be ready. And you will have become the person you wished you were in the first place.
 
Great thread guys!

I personally feel there's light years of difference between confidence and arrogance and would submit the vast majority of people can spot the difference very quickly.

So Wilber, has Mark agreed to play the lead, or have you hacked his webcam? Great opening scene btw.

Now if someone else can also hack it, that makes two, and his entries are used up. Nice way to neuter the competition. Oh wait, being a star doesn't count ???
 
True confidence comes from mastery of your craft.
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Embarking on any endeavor requires a certain degree of confidence. Confidence requires both competence and courage. The less competence, the more courage.

If you wait to "master your craft" you'll never do s*%t.

The vast majority of humanity allow fear of ridicule to trump desire to excel.

Our only hope is that the aliens who planted us here as a future food group didn't get it quite perfect.

my .02c
 
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