Should I listen to other people when they say don't direct my first feature film?

Basically I am trying to break into the movie directing business and started working on other people's movies, usually as either an editor or a production sound mixer, and made a couple of short films of my own, along with a 3rd and hopefully 4th on the way.

After that I was going to direct my first feature film but everyone is discouraging me out of it, saying that I am crazy for risking so much money on it, when I haven't hardly had any experience working on professional studio industry or sets, since I have not lived in L.A., Vancouver, etc.

But people are really telling me it's a bad idea and that I need to learn to crawl before I can run. One person is actually begging me not to, and I feel that it's really me against the world, and it's very discouraging. I talked about it before in this previous thread:

https://www.enotalone.com/forum/showthread.php?t=526498

Back now I feel that everyone is trying to stop me cause they care, but not sure if I should listen or not. One said that I am not following my dreams, but rather, following my delusions and another one also said I am delusional. But what do you think?

Everyone has different levels of being risk averse. I’d try to get informational interviews with people with experience in the business and see what they think of your plan. Good luck!

Well they think it's bad too, but at the same time, I want to go for it sometime instead of constantly putting it off, until people finally say okay, if they ever will.

So a year ago you were offered the opportunity to co-direct a film for experience. How did that go?

I know nothing about the movie industry but I do know about taking a chance when I want to do something out of the ordinary and bigger than me. I advocate for going for it, based on your own research and odds of success and how you will feel if you fail and what you would do if you did fail. Also, listening to others may make you not take the chance and how would you feel if you let them persuade you to not go for your goal? How much would you kick yourself later if you didnt take a chance?

Well I didn't take it cause I was told by other people not to. Basically the director said he would allow me to direct one sequence of the movie, if I gave him, I think it was $60,000 of my budget, to his movie and he would allow me to direct one sequence, for the experience. But I felt it was a rip off, and my money would probably be put to better use if I used it on my own projects that I could control more, and people told me it was a rip off and not to take it. The director said that my co-director credit would me more prowess in L.A. compared to if I didn't take the opportunity.

But I didn't want to take that risk, cause I don't know that person, and how do I know that it wouldn't have been a rip off or not. One guy I asked who had more experience than me said that a co-director credit doesn't mean crap a lot of the time, and it's not worth $60,000.

I am glad that you didn't take that big of a risk. Putting that much money into someone else's hands is rarely wise.

You have ASD, or you believe you do, right? I remember a thread from a while ago on this topic

People with ASD can be very good at what they do when they are passionate about something. What do these people think about your work? Do people usually encourage you vehemently to continue it?

On the other hand, people with ASD often aren't the best at things like long-term project coordination, organisation, networking with the kinds of people who will help them get ahead, self-representation, recognising where they have gone wrong and could improve without the direct input of others...

I think those are things you should consider

Why do you think people are discouraging you? Do they have good reasons?

Is this project of yours going to make or break you?

Can you afford to invest $60K with the chance that you might lose it all?

I would say the project would make or break me, which got me worried but I was told by other directors that that's normal and everyone's first feature is going to make or break them most likely.

As for why others are discouraging me, they are worried it will be a mistake and all be crap and are just trying to help of course, and that makes me worried that maybe I am making a mistake.

I would say the project would make or break me

What are your options if it doesn't work out?

Not sure really. It's hard to consider options. Just go do something else for a living maybe, in another field of filmmaking such as an editor or production sound mixer, since I have done that for other people more so. But I feel it's normal for filmmakers to throw everything into the pot, cause even when you listen to real life successful directors, they all say how they gambled their savings on their first feature, and it seems quite common actually.

Not sure really. It's hard to consider options. Just go do something else for a living maybe, in another field of filmmaking such as an editor or production sound mixer, since I have done that for other people more so. But I feel it's normal for filmmakers to throw everything into the pot, cause even when you listen to real life successful directors, they all say how they gambled their savings on their first feature, and it seems quite common actually.

Yeah but are you a 'normal person' or do you have impairments which make certain aspects of life harder for you than it would be for them? If it's hard for them, could it possibly be even more difficult and risky for you?

Yes, and for every successful director who gambled and won there are hundreds who gambled and lost.

As long as you can afford to lose all your money and have a set backup plan, then I say no one can decide but you.

If you can afford to lose the outlay, then shoot. If not, then why not wait and work until you have a better cushion? You'll be just as capable of filming in the future, if not more so, when you're not risking every dime to your name.

With so many people advising you strongly not to do it, I really have to believe that they know what they are talking about. chi

Do you feel qualified to do it? Why do you feel qualified and ready? Would more experience give you a higher chance of success?

Can you invest let's say 20K? Do not gamble all your savings. The first times you always fail so it's better not to go "all or nothing" if it is possible.

I could invest 20 K, it's just the cheaper the movie, the more cheaper it will come across and hardly anyone makes a feature for 20K, successfully. I suppose more experience would give a higher chance of success, but I've failed to find a lot of experience. I've been on sets before over the years, but not the best ones to learn from per say. I've made two of my own short films, but I made them as cheap as possible, and the quality suffered. So not sure how I would do if I forked more money over for better quality, but I hope I would do better.

Why not get paid to direct rather than pay to direct? Could you take small work, like direct an episode in a series?

What about a short?

I'm sure you know the story about the guy who produced and directed a short (I think it's something like 5 minutes) that got picked up by a major film director and turned into a hit horror film starring Jessica Chastain. I think the original short cost the director something like $10K US. Plus, shorts are Academy Award eligible.

How can you direct if you have anxiety about talking to people? You do know that you have to have actors, other technical professionals, etc, to make a movie? your idea was to get into film editing etc. Have you actually done that successfully? If you haven't gotten a job and held it as a film editor or some other role to gain experience with actually filming, i am sorry, but you are just some kid fooling with their camcorder. you can use your camera and make something and put it on youtube for cheap. But as far as an actual feature film that is in the theaters -- if you cannot talk to anyone - you could be a screen writer - but it would have to be brilliant and get in front of the right person (but can you take criticism?). The film industry really isn't for people who can't deal with other people unless you can film everything yourself, and start in it yourself. And then you are going to have to have someone see it who likes it and will back it.

I agree - start with a short subject. If you can handle that, go bigger. But if you have this plan to make a movie and haven't taken the first step, its like me saying i am going to be a stand up comedian and never write down ideas for material or actually go to open mike nights and just expect it to happen

Well I've directed a couple of shorts of my own with two more on the way right now. But every director I know spends money on their first feature and it seems normal. As for directing an episode of a series, I could apply for a job like that, but I think they pick their own directors and don't usually look at applications from people they don't know. I could apply, but if I don't get any, should that stop me from making the feature?

How do you propose to market your film for distribution? What connections do you have to get your film in front of the right people?

And is the subject matter and plot something unique and current?

The distribution thing I haven't figured out yet, but still have that as a concern yes. I think the plot is unique enough. I don't know about current as it doesn't really have anything to do with mirroring any current events or anything.

Well I'm finally free from helping other people on their movie projects, and now close to getting the feature film going but I am really scared, this may be some huge mistake, and it's really eating me up and I've lost lots of sleep over it for the past few weeks, and sweating all the time like crazy. But if I don't do it, then I regret that too. How do other people deal with making huge go big or go home decisions, like this?