Broken Dreams

In this route a producer wants to get a film made. He finds a script, and attaches the most marketable actors he can get hold of. He then needs a director – specifically, a director who can make the movie the biggest success possible. If, in the producer’s opinion, you are the best director for this film, you stand a reasonable chance of landing the gig, but even then there are always tangential complications and it is far from guaranteed. On the other hand, if the folks who are paying for the movie are convinced that you are the best director for the film, your chances are very good indeed. Again, this decision will be made almost exclusively on the basis of what you have directed in the past. Do not kid yourself that you are going to talk your way into being hired to direct when you don’t have a reel. That is not how it works.

– The only way to be in a position where producers and film investors actively pursue you to direct their film is to have made interesting and/or successful films in the past. The only way to do that is to start off as an independent filmmaker. There is no other way, and all the networking and film degrees in the world will not compensate for a poor reel.