This from Alex Barrett, one of the very fine writers over on Shooting People.
You know, all this reminds of something that Guillermo del Toro said in his q/a at the BFI after the preview of Pan’s Labyrinth. As is always the case with these things, someone asked him if he had any advice for up-and-coming filmmakers…
His reply, quoted in full:
I have two pieces of advice – one will finally kick me out of the NFT, while the other one sounds more sane. The first thing is never give up on what you believe in. It sounds like saccharine crap but I actually think that if you’re going to give up down the line, when it gets hard, or your personal life gets difficult, or you lose your family life, or no one’s supporting you, then just give up now. If you don’t give up, don’t give up ever. If the critics hate you, and there’s no audience and they don’t give you money and your father thinks you’re a moron, don’t give up. That’s one piece of advice. There’s no such thing as “Well, I lasted 10 good years.” Fuck you. When you can say, “I lasted all my life and still I couldn’t do it”, then you get respect. The rest is bullshit.
The other thing, which is absolutely horrible, is that I must tell you that if you think it’s hard at the beginning, it never gets better. I say making movies is like eating a sandwich of shit. Sometimes you get more bread, sometimes less bread, but you always get shit. This is the final piece of advice.
