Building Your Own Industry with the Three C's

Back in April, I was asked to host a panel discussion at the Atlanta Film Festival Creative Conference alongside my friends and podcast co-hosts Janlatae' Mullins and Harim Leon. We used the opportunity to talk to folks about how to go about a career in the film industry that reflects the collaborative spirit of filmmaking with intention and purpose alongside like-minded creatives who support each other throughout the journey. Essentially building your own industry within the industry that revolves around the types of stories and experiences that resonate the most with you. To make it happen, you should ask yourself an important question:

What do you hope to get out of a life as a filmmaker? To win the Grand Jury Prize at Sundance? To become a rich and famous movie director? To thank your mom on stage with an Oscar in your hands? All justifiably ambitious goals, but ultimately not great NorthStars for achieving consistent gratification on a long journey full of inevitable ups and downs. Any of those achievements may, on their surface, seem like an admirable desire within an industry that venerates superficial signals of "success." But what all too often goes unrecognized is the tremendous amount of work, focus and collaboration that goes into every individual project on the path to any kind of public recognition of achievement. The media rarely focuses its attention on the team behind a film or prestige TV series and the romanticized image of the uniquely talented visionary auteur filmmaker creates a fairy tale of directing as a solitary endeavor worthy of idolizing in the wake of critical or box office success.

As a wide-eyed film student at Hofstra University so many years ago, I drank the Kool-Aid of imagining myself as the ingenue filmmaker with immeasurable talent that would take the indie film festival circuit by storm with my visionary films, spellbinding audiences around the world. Eventually the big studios would court me with unholy sums of money to direct their next tentpole summer blockbuster, which I would of course turn down in favor of an Oscar baiting historical drama and be on my way to an iconic career taking the baton from Spike Lee.

Spoiler alert! That's not exactly how it went down. I did have the opportunity to work alongside Spike Lee as well as other filmmaking heroes of mine like Ava DuVernay and Oprah Winfrey, and I have had several of my short films win awards on the film festival circuit, but the big dream of making it to Sundance and getting "discovered" by Hollywood hasn't come true. Not because I'm not talented or creative or ambitious enough, but that path simply hasn't revealed itself to be my reality. And it will never be the reality for the vast majority of people leaving film school with lofty dreams of one day being canonized with a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame. Truth be told, you have a better chance of winning the lottery.

The reality that has revealed itself for me has proven to be just as, if not more rewarding. The turns have been unexpected, but I've had the opportunity to build a life for myself as a Director that is satisfying in a way that I couldn't have imagined in my younger years dreaming of red carpets and award ceremonies. I've built my own version of the industry within the industry that I curate with intention, gratitude and compassion for the people I choose to make a part of it. And I enjoy a very comfortable and dynamic lifestyle that I think a lot of people would be very grateful to experience.

So what are the Three C's of building your own industry?

This is the foundational act of developing your skills and unique voice through intentional, artistic practice.

In pursuing a career as a Director/Filmmaker, I believe it's important to approach it similarly to the way we think of careers as a Doctor or a Lawyer: a practice. Think of yourself as a practicing Director. Every effort you make in pursuit of filmmaking knowledge and experience is a part of your practice and developing your craft. Your job is to learn and grow and try and fail as a Director in preparation for adding your own unique voice and know-how to projects in collaboration with other creative people who are practicing their respective crafts be it Production Designers, Gaffers, Script Supervisors, Cinematographers or Actors. As you develop those creative relationships with other craftspeople, it leads to the 2nd of the Three C's...

The art of cultivating your tribe of collaborators and supporters.

As a Director, you will come to rely on your community to help you get projects off the ground and create something together that will be greater than the sum of its parts. And the thing I'm referring to isn't a film or a show; it's an experience. You and your tribe with every new project will unite your individual strengths and knowledge to create moments of pure genesis together that define those projects and turn into memories that you'll share long after that project wraps and sets off on its own journey hopefully to be viewed by audiences who weren't there to share in the experience of making it.

That intentional cultivating of shared experiences with other filmmakers who share the same passion and sensibilities has become the life blood of my directing career. It even extends to the relationships I foster with commercial clients who hire me to bring their brand's messaging to life. This was an especially crucial lesson in building a sustainable career that would allow me to make a living as a Director. I'm certain that making sure the client enjoys and feels included in the experience of creating on set has been a major reason for repeat work, just as important as whatever talent and hard work I bring to the project. There are plenty of talented, hard-working Directors, but what makes you stand out is what it's like to work with you. That's your chance to bring people into your community and build connections that will last beyond any one project.

Once you've developed your craft to the point where you can move on set with confidence alongside the tribe of like-minded creative collaborators you've built, it's time to incorporate the third and final C into your process to fully carve out a long-lasting and gratifying career path.

Creating your own grassroots platforms for sharing and exhibiting your work while generating meaningful and continuous conversation within the larger community.

Thinking about what you want to say through your work to the larger world of supporters and collaborators in your carefully curated orbit is essential to cultivating and expanding your career and opening doors to new opportunities and experiences. What are you about? What is it that your body of work says about your worldview? How can your work create meaningful connections with the people that help you craft it and those who ultimately consume it?

Whether you're making a narrative film, a documentary, or even a commercial, it's an opportunity to research and gain valuable knowledge about a subject that you care about. That research doesn't have to be done in a vacuum. As you're preparing the film, look for and talk to people outside the film industry with experience and knowledge in the subject matter. Include them in the process and allow them to connect you with other people who may be able to give you even more insight that will add depth to your story. This also brings them into your community and broadens the reach of the work you create. Organizations doing work related to your subject matter may even have wealthy donors who could be interested in supporting a project that furthers the organizations cause. Conversations will be an inevitable part of the process of making the film alongside your collaborators strengthening your bonds and building meaningful memories around bringing the subject matter to life through your shared artistic efforts.

Once the film is complete, invite the members of the organizations you consulted with to a private screening with their names in the credits giving them an even deeper sense of ownership in the project and creating meaningful conversations around your work. Inspire them to spread the word among their network to grow your reach even more and expand your community of supporters as you move on to the next project and more conversations.

Despite what the Hollywood Dream tries to sell you, there's no one way to build a successful career as a filmmaker. But the first and most important step is to define what "success" looks like to you.

For me, always working to develop my craft so that I can contribute at the highest level possible in my role, growing and cultivating a strong, active community of collaborators and supporters, and engaging that community in meaningful conversations around the work has led to the kind of life and career that I couldn't have even imagined. It's a life full of friends and acquaintances and experiences that make each day new and exciting and meaningful. What good is a red carpet if you're on it by yourself? 😉