How Can I Become a Director?

I am not a writer or director, but these are my opinions as a filmmaker. If you want to direct, you should reach out to established directors, and ask them all your questions.

So many young people wanting to get into the film business want to be a director and I can see why. It is not only one of the best jobs on a movie, it is also one of the best jobs on the planet.

I believe in Joseph Campbell's idea that "the soul needs story" in order to process the pangs and ills of life, and to find some way to strive forward, even in the face and conceit of our inevitable death. Stories have been told since people were able to communicate and the myths and stories of our ancient ancestors are within all of us. As well, the same basic stories transcend all cultures, and therefore offer a common language for people of the Earth.

Before writing, stories were told orally and passed down from generation to generation that way. And when the printing press was invented, it became easier to tell the same story to an even wider audience. Nowadays, movies offer the means to communicate stories to the greatest number of people. Generally, people go to the movies more than they read novels; even those who cannot read, can watch a movie.

So directing a movie, or telling a story through a movie, is the ultimate contemporary medium for reaching and effecting the souls of human beings.

Then there is the actual job of directing a movie, which is also fantastic. It is definitely a lot of work, but you have people to help you all along the way. Everyone works for you and puts their trust in you, as the storyteller. So once you have communicated what you want out of the script that everyone has read, it is up to the department heads to serve as implementors of your vision. They will ask your opinion about everything, and although they will offer their professional opinion about what choices they think would be best, in the end they will bow to your decision (in most cases).

I will never forget, during the wardrobe and make up tests for Bird Cage, when we were filming on a stage in New York, and Mike Nichols starts talking a little bit about his vision for the story. The little set got a little quieter until it was silent, and all the department heads drifted over to Mike forming a circle around him, listening for an intense minute. There was a sense, that this was one of the moments when he would disclose his vision. When he was done speaking, it seemed to me that everyone drifted away from the circle considering what the director had said and what they needed to, in turn, do in order to bring his vision to the movie.

And a director in most cases has a personal assistant who takes care of all the mundane business of the director's personal life. For the months that you are making the movie, you don't have to cook meals, do dishes, laundry, diapers etc. All that is a distraction from your focus--directing. Millions of dollars are being spent making your movie, your story.

There are of course struggles and there is never enough money to give the director everything that he or she would like, but hey, unless making money is your main goal in life, directing is a pretty kick-ass job. And if you are good, you can do it until your death.

So how do you get in? Well, it definitely isn't easy--for most people. My kids, as children of an industry person, would have it easier, but your family connections will only get you so far. The directors who stand the test of time, and keep making movies that people want to go see, are the directors who are truly great story tellers, and understand what it takes to capture the audience, and can implement their story through the medium of a movie. They know how the DP, Designer and everyone on the crew, can help make their story as full and rich as it can be. A good director will know that a good dolly grip can give his shot the emotion needed to accent an actor's particular performance.

You have to ask yourself if you are really one of these people. Do you like to tell stories? Do people listen to your stories? Or do they start to drift off and talk about something else. Or interrupt with some of their own ideas. You need to be able to capture your audience and hold them through to the end, and actually move them emotionally. When I sit with Amos Poe and he starts into a story, I know I won't be checking my email for a while, because he's got me, and I know that I am not only fascinated by the threads he is weaving, but that in the end he will deliver a complete story in the tradition of story telling.

Most storytellers want and need to tell stories. Not only do they enjoy delivering to the audience, but I believe, they need it for themselves. And of course, practice makes perfect, so if they are always telling their stories, they get better at it.

If you say you want to direct, then I ask do you write, and most of the young people I talk to who want to direct, say, "Yes, I write screenplays." And I say good, because if you want to direct, the best way is to write your own screenplay. Then you own it and nobody can take it away from you.

If you don't know the story of how Sylvester Stallone wrote, sold and starred in the original Rocky, then you MUST investigate that story and see how he did it. But that's a little off-topic.

If you are going to write a screenplay, I think it's best to self educate, which means you must read some of the books, especially Joseph Campbell's "The Hero with a Thousand Faces" and the coverage of it as it pertains to moviemaking by Chris Volger. This will teach you the basic framework for most movies, and how they are based on the ancient myths that are within all of us. I also suggest reading as many screenplays as you can, especially your favorite movies. If you will be a screenwriter, you will first need to be a little brainwashed so that you think of stories in the format of a movie script. The craft of writing a screenplay is a particular style and it does take getting used to if you are unfamiliar with it. You must become familiar with the standard format. I also recommend John Sayles' "Thinking in Pictures" which talks about how a screenplay should read like a series of images. Your writing does not have to be elaborate and should not be flowery in any way, but should convey to the reader a series of images (and people speaking dialogue), so that it is almost as if you are watching a movie, when you read the script.

A director will always be learning the craft of how to turn those script pages onto film, but before you do it your first time, you need to know as much as possible about how to do it. You can make short films, and you can study movies. You can compare the script from The Shawshank Redemption to the movie and see how it translates, but do this for your favorite movies. You should read Sidney Lumet's book and I'm sure there are others that I am not aware of because I never really did that. And you should become familiar with every element that makes a good movie. How does camera movement effect the emotions--dolly shots, crane shots, helicopter shots. How do other directors use color, or set design to help tell the stories, or costumes, or Make up or Background Actors. Consider what makes a great performance great and a lousy one lousy. How does lighting affect your emotions.

Read about drama and read about acting theory, Stanislavsky, Strassberg, Meisner. You have to know what the masters think. Educate yourself on what the great directors say about how they work. You may think you were born to be a director, but you still need to know everything you can, if you are going to go the distance. There is nothing casual about it. Don't think these great directors sit around. They work hard and don't think about much else.

So who's going to give you money to make your first movie? Why should they? You can turn to your family but unless they are completely wealthy, they don't have the money that it would take, and please don't subject them to putting their lives on the line in order to help you succeed. Not fair to them, and the guilt you may end up with, if the film falls short, could have you crawling into a hole for the rest of your career. The best thing would be if you could write a script that was so perfect, that everyone wants to see this thing turn into a movie. You will need actors of merit to play the leads, if you want to get money, because basically it will come down to money. Can the investors make their money back, at least? The investor's first question will be, "who's in it?". And when you have finished making the movie and you want to sell it, the first question will be: "Who's in it?" And when people go to see the movie, their first question will be: "Who's in it?"

You can get a great actor if you have a great script, because that's really what they want after all the fame and money has been won. They realize, if they are real actors, that they want to be in movies that are great stories and that touch people deeply. Fame is, I think, the biggest negative to being a great actor. As much as people think they want to be famous, I can't imagine that it isn't one of the worst ways to have to live your life. Maybe some people need that kind of attention, but it has killed so many great people, I have to think it is completely over-rated. Directors can be famous, without being recognized on the street. You can be reading a book about how you are the greatest director in the world, while sitting in the middle of Grand Central Station, and nobody, maybe a few people, will recognize you. And those few people probably won't harass you or call you out. Worst case, they gush and blush and thank you for being so great.

So if you want to be a director, I would say, start writing your screenplay, and when you get writer's block, study what it takes to be a great director until you get un-blocked. I don't think you need to go to film school. Most of the professors there will tell you about things that they read in books, and film school is not necessarily a career path to becoming a director. It can work for some, but it's not like going to med school, where, when you come out, you'll do your internship, residency and then be a doctor. It can be a negative, because it could offer a false sense of security. And film school costs a lot of time and money that would be better spent on developing your first feature.

Debbie Harry says "Dreaming is free", and so is writing. Now, get to work.


Ged