I was recently talking to a friend of mine who has been on the verge of making his first film for about 7 years now.  The other day we were out for beers and we had a conversation that went something like this:

Me: Just do it bro, get your first bad movie out of your system already, S%$T or get off the pot.

Friend: No I want to do it right, I need the right light, this is the wrong time of year, I am not just going to throw it together.

Me: A bad movie is better than no movie at all, think about that.

Friend: Worry about yourself, Dom, you don’t understand what I am trying to do!

Me: I understand what you are trying to do, you want to make a perfect movie and you have stopped yourself from doing anything until you can do that.

As I am particularly capable of doing, I managed to offend my friend.  He was offended because I suggested that his first movie might be bad.  Even worse, my husband was annoyed with me for ruining our beer night out.   Lucky for me, my friend and I have been buds for a long time and I have since been forgiven.   When I was talking to my friend though I was referring to something a lot of people don’t know about most of the world’s greatest Directors:  Most, if not all, have made a lot of bad first movies.

We live in a culture that believes in  young genius.  Often when famous artists are interviewed they talk about a childhood chock full of making music or making films or whatever.  Here is a question:  When have you ever met a healthy kid that does nothing but play music, make films or draw?  I have met kids that love to draw, or love to bang on drums etc, but they also have other interests.  Sure I have always liked to play with video cameras and photos.  But if I said that film-making has been my passion since I was five years old  that would be fiction. I would be feeding into this culture’s  “youth genius” obsession.  I wonder how many successful artists are doing just this.

Instead of child genius I believe that great filmmakers, artists, etc of course begin with talent but far more important than talent these individuals possess drive and courage.  In other words, they have the courage and strength to make a whole bunch of bad movies.  Like anything else in life, if you want to get good at film-making you will need to put in a ton of hard work, have a strong belief in what you are doing and cultivate tenacity.   Allowing yourself to take a risk and create something that might not work out is really scary.  One of the big reasons it is scary is because of the fear of finding out that you are not as smart, talented or gifted as you once believed yourself to be.

Here is my take on it.  We are all smart, talented and gifted in our own messed up unique way.  And if you don’t at least make one bad movie, song, poem or whatever, you are ripping us all off.  You are ripping us off because you have a unique take on life and that viewpoint and your talent deserves to be nurtured.  The only way you are going to grow is to fail.  So get out there and do it.

Make your first bad movie, and then dust yourself off and make another one.   You will only get better and here’s another secret it is actually impossible to fail because that first bad movie will give back to you for the rest of your life in ways that you never imagined.