6. Learn the importance of the niche. Be the best in the world at a really narrow brand. Read my book “One Big Thing.” It will transform your perception, focus, and identity in the industry.
7. Consider starting as an assistant. When I left college, I wanted to direct, so it never occurred to me to get an office job, or work as an assistant. But recently, a former assistant of mine eventually moved to Disney, and now has taken a job as a financial manager for Marvel and is leaving this week to work on the next Spiderman movie. Another assistant of mine ended up taking the Director’s Guild assistant director’s test, and graduated to work on “The Office” and is now an A.D. on network TV dramas. Being an assistant allows you to develop relationships, and learn how the business is done from the inside. Being an assistant isn’t for everyone, but I’d encourage you to consider it.
8. Being a Christian isn’t the problem in Hollywood. Being lousy is. In this post I talk about why Hollywood isn’t anti-Christian. What Hollywood happens to be is anti-lousy. Excellence matters.
9. C.S. Lewis’ stepson, Douglas Gresham had it right: We don’t need more Christian movies, we need more Christians making good movies.
10. Learn the power of networking, because it’s far more than simply shameless self-promotion. The truth is, people just like to work with people they know. Work is always better when you’re doing it with friends. In my experience, most people would turn down a better candidate to work with someone they know and respect.
This article about what they don’t teach you in film school originally appeared here, and is used by the author’s kind permission.
