
This is how you find the people who want to go into this field for the passion of the work at hand rather than for the money it promises...
Let me explain.
I am at work and I mention to Michele that I have decided to go back to school in Filmmaking. Mind you, she is, what, 20, but she has three friends in the field, and goes on to tell me, basically, that you have very little chances of getting anywhere if you don't know someone in the industry. As in, you need to be on the union in order to work on a shoot, but you need to have been to movie shoots in order to be on the union, and all that bull. Problem is, that is for big, huge ass American (or the like) productions. The ones that have production companies, like Paramount Pictures, or the like, backing them, or, in Canada, the government funding them.
Here's the hitch... I am NOT interested in said huge productions, right now. All I want, is to produce/direct movies, I don't care about budget, I don't care about means, I don't care who the players are. I just need to make movies. It is a need, just like breating, eating, sleeping, and so forth. It's like the way I write. I write because something BEGS to be written, not to please others, if it does, fine, but because I have an idea, and it NEEDS to take physical form, even if said form is only the written word on paper, or on a computer screen, for that matter. I want to start off making indie films, it's easier to start that way, and a lot of people actually start out that way. I want to start small, not start big, unlike most people who try to get into this business. This is what I WANT, I don't care if I make the same salary I am making now, as long as I shoot movies. I don't care if I have to do half of the behind-the-scenes work, as long as I make movies. That, my friends, is passion, and dedication. I WANT to start small, and I don't care about fucking Hollywood, because, well, I will probably never make it there, but if I do, it'll be because I am a kick arse filmmaker, not because I had the right connections and bowed down in worship in front of any big names. Being able to say that, and to believe it, only proves that I have what it takes, because, well, I will live for it, not for the money or glamour behind it, but for the gratification of being an artist and of getting the job done, and done with love.