Advice From The Pros

From the mouth of one of the big directors at this time, James Gunn, comes this brilliant snippet of advice to all aspiring directors out there. I’d like to send out thanks not only to James Gunn himself for taking the time to write to his fans about this but also my friend Ben, who took the time to link me to this:

Remember that it takes ten years or so to become a doctor. Entertainment is a far more competitive field than medicine – and, if you’re really focused on mastering your craft, it can be just as complex. So expect it to take at least ten years of hard work at the expense of a regular life to simply be competent and perhaps begin to make a living at it. And, even then, sadly, only an extremely small percentage of people are able to do so.
If you find that too daunting, consider working in another field. If you don’t find it daunting at all, consider therapy. Considering your sense of reality, you’ve got bigger problems than your career goals.
However, if you find that daunting, but still have the need or desire to continue, well, that’s at least one place to start. I wish you not only luck, but strength, perseverance, heart, and talent.
And, before you start, there are of course lots of exceptions to the ten year rule (or, as Malcom Gladwell talks about in his book Outliers, the 10,000-hours-of-work rule). But that also takes a great amount of luck, something we don’t have much control over other than putting ourselves out there as much as possible.