Last night I sat in a theater at the TIFF Bell Lightbox and listened to 4 directors talk about making their first feature films. They all come from different backgrounds and situations. They all had different stories that they wanted to tell. And they all had things happen for them in different ways that lead to the rolling of cameras.
Note: Thanks to Grolsch Film Works for the invitation to the event. It was a great night. Also, the beer and appetizers at the cocktail reception were exceptional.
But the 1 thing that they had in common is the passion to make their movies happen.
It’s that passion that we could all take inspiration from, not just in our professional lives (like the 9 to 5 stuff) but in our hobbies and side projects and social lives.
Now, it needs to be said that none of their stories were without waiting and struggle and manufactured opportunity. These weren’t stories of destiny or miracles like we see… well, like we see in the movies. All 4 film makers worked hard, waited, were told no, waited more and when their opportunity presented itself, they struck while the iron was hot.
That is the important and inspiring part to me. The persistence it took to see their plans come to fruition is something that we can all take to heart. Whether you want to blog more, make music, find your dream job, run a Tough Mudder or make movies – you can not afford to let yourself stop believing that you can make it happen. It might not always be easy and it might not always happen the way you think it should or desperately want it to – but that doesn’t mean that it won’t or can’t happen.
Lately I’ve seen variations of the quote, “Find a job that you love and you’ll never work a day in your life”. I don’t like that. I’ve had jobs that I liked a lot. And believe you me, I worked hard to do them right and do them well and be the best that I could be. I knew that it was hard work, sometimes I made mistakes, I learned a lot of things and I kept pushing.
The beautiful thing about doing the thing you love isn’t that it doesn’t feel like work – it’s that it feels like work worth doing!
And we should all be so lucky to find something, even if it’s not what pays the bills, that we love doing.
Keep your head up and your eyes open my friends, those great opportunities can come. Find your opening and push as hard as you can to make it happen.
I believe in you. You’re awesome!
If you want to see the panel and hear from directors, Rola Nashef, J Blakeson, Larysa Kondracki and Barry Jenkins (left to write in chairs) at the Grolsch Film Works Discovery Sessions: Behind The Lens – check it out here. (click the image to watch the video)
