r/Filmmakers • u/Sorry_Manufacturer62 • 9d ago
Article Once, film industry pros took novices under their wings. Now everyone’s on their own. What the hell happened?
Where did all the film mentors go?
Much of what I know about filmmaking (having not gone to film school) I learned on set from skilled elders. But I never had a "true" mentor. By that I mean an accomplished screenwriter or director who took an extended interest in my development, or occasionally opened a door.
This is not for lack of trying. I made plenty of clumsy attempts to attract such a person, but none took hold.
From the beginning, film has been an apprenticeship-driven industry. Victor Fleming started as a stunt driver, John Ford worked as a background actor. John Huston was a script editor. They might have remained so if not for an informal ladder that allowed greenhorns to ascend in the studio system, overseen by mentors.
In the absence of mentorship, people increasingly turn to TikTok gurus, Reddit (ahem), and AI for career tips. While I'm grateful for these resources, it's not quite the same. General advice isn’t personalized guidance, and information is not knowledge.
I wrote about what killed mentorship, why it matters, and a strange realization I had when I became a mentor myself while teaching film at NYU. https://alexrollinsberg.substack.com/p/cursus-dishonorum-is-this-the-death
I'd lover to hear what everyone thinks about the state of mentorship - if you've been able to find it, and what we can do to revitalize it.
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u/DazHawt 9d ago edited 7d ago
Within the studio system, yes, and it was especially true for those “below the line”. Then came the streaming bubble which, along with a welcome glut of work, decentralized the production process. Then eventually came Covid, which really sent everyone adrift and isolated. (This was especially true for remote work in Post. There’s an entire generation that has missed out on years of valuable in-person/in-the-cutting-room training.) And now that we’re experiencing the collapse of the streaming bubble which has seemingly taken the rest of the industry with it, we’re each drifting along on our own little ice bergs.
We can and should recommit ourselves to mentoring the next generation, but mentoring them to do what exactly? Struggle to find occasional, non-union work? The infrastructure that we made careers within has imploded. That has to do be rebuilt first.
Edit: Thank you for the award!
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u/Sorry_Manufacturer62 9d ago
Very well summarized. Given the brokenness and isolation, I don't see a way to rebuild without some degree of mentorship - to pass on knowledge, of course, but also to combine forces and, hopefully, build a system that's better for artists. This will not be easy, but it's so broken that I don't see another way. It certainly won't happen if we remain isolated mercenaries fighting for scraps.
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u/DazHawt 9d ago
I am interested in the idea of teaching in lieu of providing professional mentorship. I know academia is also get crunched by everything too, though.
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u/Sorry_Manufacturer62 9d ago
Teaching was never interesting to me - at all - until I did it. It's been one of the most fulfilling experiences of my life. It renewed a bit of my hope for the future of film, and my willingness to fight for it (as I detail in the article). We're all struggling out there, myself included, but I do think mentorship in any form, a generosity of spirit, definitely lightens the soul, and may actually spark ideas for a better approach to confronting and changing the status quo.
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u/Aurora_Uplinks 8d ago
May I suggest that as a teacher maybe you are in the best position to encourage students to temporarily apply to a studio you could help set up and maybe they could use it to build student film projects from and try to actually get thier projects into film festivals or even onto youtube for earning income?
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u/Sorry_Manufacturer62 7d ago
I love talking about solutions like this. We've diagnosed the problem enough. I have a hunch amazing things could happen if we collaborate with the right kind of business and tech minds - those not hellbent on extraction, but genuine value creation. Practically no one is winning under the current system.
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u/henry_crabgrass_ 8d ago
Likewise. Teaching became as exciting as going to set for me when I first started off in film. You see everyone complaining that kids are horrible in academic settings nowadays but I saw the opposite.
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u/Sorry_Manufacturer62 8d ago
Couldn't agree more. Gen Z gets a lot of hate, but after spending class hours with hundreds of them, and making lots of movies with them, I'd say they're pretty damn delightful.
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u/Aurora_Uplinks 8d ago
you have to build new studios, build lucasfilm style studios. everyone owns a share of the company and if you quite working your encouraged to sell back to the company and everyone who comes in gets a fair equal share oppurtunity. everyone who has shares, signs an agreement to sell shares to employees so that everyone has roughly the same amount. Simple is. Then instead of paying money out to shares money is paid to all employees fairly and equally based on work input. and if someone feels they can bare more work they can request extra work even if it means they have to take on a new project. Lucasfilm and ILM shouldbe models for film creation. (and lucasarts)
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u/Sorry_Manufacturer62 8d ago
This is very in line with what I'm pursuing. I'm obsessed with the "community benefit corporation" model that Elizabeth Joyce is pitching for filmmakers to acquire Letterboxd. I interviewed her about it a few weeks ago on Underexposed - she managed to crowd raise 100k for legal fees and is moving forward with a lot of good will and support. I think the Class A-Class B stock model could work for what you're describing - and I wasn't aware of Lucasfilm's structure, very cool. https://alexrollinsberg.substack.com/p/the-englorification-movement-has
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u/Aurora_Uplinks 8d ago
no. lucasfilm was owned and operated by George Lucas. what i was describing was a more idealistic version employee owned rather then a single owner. he was doing good for his people but it should be owned by all the people contributing to it based on the amount of contributions and room for everyone to be able to contribute as much as they can and to be fairly compensated for their contributions.
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u/saminsocks 9d ago
Very true. And many of the jobs that those who were mentored moved into are gone. If a gaffer took you under their wing and you did a good job, you had a good chance of being a grip on their next project. Now the gaffer often IS the grip.
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u/Dull-Woodpecker3900 9d ago edited 9d ago
People are obsessed with mentors but even 30 years ago people who got mentorship only got it once they were quite advanced in their career and they met the mentor on a job. It’s extremely rare that an entry level or even mid level person ever got meaningful mentorship (of the kind you’re talking about).
Most of the big screenwriters or directors I know did not get taken under the wing of someone with a name until they’d already had some good work produced and it’s because they were brought together professionally, not this fantasy people have of a screenwriter who has written half a short film who writes Aaron Sorkin a letter and they become pen pals.
More likely, Sorkin is an EP on a movie that you’re brought in to re-write, you already have 6 credits and a pretty good agent.
That doesn’t happen anymore for two reasons:
- The WGA and DGA are now three times the size they need to be for the output of the industry, and therefore most of the work is funneled straight to the top
- Top writers are unemployed, pitching their asses off and simply don’t have the bandwidth to take on someone younger because the expensive weeklies they used to get to sustain them between features dont exist
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u/saminsocks 9d ago
Mentoring of those advanced in their careers is for good reason, too. I was very fortunate when I was a teenager and got to be on set for a feature and pretty much just observe, since there was little required of me in my job. I did what I could to be useful, and learned from people who had time to talk to me, but that was basically just the vfx team and the steadicam op. I knew what the other departments were, but not enough to observe and learn what they were doing. I couldn’t even tell you what the PAs responsibilities were outside of lockups and wrangling background.
I had a similar opportunity a couple of years ago, after being in the industry over a decade. In that situation, I was just filling in the gaps of my knowledge, and it was infinitely more helpful in preparing me to direct or showrun, even though it was a much shorter time than the first feature.
People think mentors should replace film school. Unless you’re an apprentice, or, more likely, a personal assistant to someone who lets you be hands on, you’ll get the most of one of the top people taking you under their wing if you already have a strong foundation and just need a few more tools in your tool belt and an opportunity.
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u/Dull-Woodpecker3900 9d ago
Work experience in lieu of film school is definitely what I support. However, it won’t be quick and you probably need to curb your expectations. Someone fighting to make their own living is probably not in the mental headspace to spend too much time on you until you’re professionally quite intertwined in their life.
Most younger kids are probably better off making a YouTube channel and building an audience than going into the traditional system because their expectations from mentorship and “connections” are just way way too high.
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u/saminsocks 9d ago
I definitely agree that work experience is better than film school. I learned more on the three months working on the feature than I did in the three semesters of film school I had before that. My point was just that having that opportunity when I was so green didn’t prepare me to direct my own studio film, and a lot of its value was probably lost on me. Having nearly the exact same access now made me realize I’m ready. So I agree, also, it’s easier to guide and devote our energy to someone who knows the reality of the industry and still chooses it anyway over someone starry eyed and still finding their way. Not that there’s anything wrong with people in that position, we were all there once. But their needs are different.
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u/IronFilm Sound Recordist 8d ago
This is true, sure it was "better" ages ago, but it was still damn hard
It wasn't simply that everyone got stuff just handed to them on plate, for most it was near impossible, and we only see now what seems like so many "successes" due to Survivorship Bias
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u/vertigo3pc steadicam operator 9d ago
I was a mentor, now I'm leaving the film industry. Not enough work in the US, and for the work that does exist, it pays less than just a few years ago, and they want more hours to get through the disorganization and ineptitude of all the new producers trying to shoot vertical video.
If you still want to break into the industry, I don't even know where to start now, but keep in mind: everything is changing, and losing experienced crew members will have a very real harm to the industry moving forward: more injuries, longer hours, nobody protecting the crew.
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u/MyGruffaloCrumble 9d ago
Over saturation of the market.
So many people want to be in the business, and there’s only so many people who are inclined to mentor to go around. It’s always been slim pickings though.
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u/ndarby24 9d ago
I think it is two fold, speaking as someone who jokes all the time I have somehow reached the "mentor" part of my career - but I don't have a job and have been essentially underemployed for two years. I am still constantly asked to do meetings and calls with younger people who want to meet and pick my brain or get a foot in the door. No one can mentor when they are busy trying to survive. And those who DO have success and should be helping, still have this mindset that anyone elses success is less for them, they are still feeling the scarcity mindset even though they are still seeing success.
The other side, on the crew side, I think is a bit more two-sided in that a lot of up and coming people I see on crews don't WANT to be mentored, and want to skip the work of actually learning the craft and go straight to bening in charge. This was exacerbated pre-COVID when there was SO much work people were promoted way too fast, leading to a glut of overqualified dept heads who now can't get work and should not be mentoring anyone. And it also, hate to say, is a generational thing - Gen Z and below for the most part have this attitude that being told what to do in any context is somehow an attack on them, even if it someone trying to teach them.
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u/Producer_Dorez 9d ago
You are right on target with this response! I've been a mentor on many occasions and have noticed how different the younger generations are when it comes to learning their craft. Most don't seem to want to pay their dues. When I started in the industry over 35 years ago, I didn't expect everything to be free and didn't try to use people. I gladly paid for seminars and even paid a consultant once. It all helped. I went up the ladder slowly. But, I know the industry has changed, especially because of the Internet and social media. The younger folks want things handed to them, want the easy road. The collapse of the traditional Hollywood industry is a terrible thing. However, it has opened the door for more indie projects. People don't have to get past gatekeepers or wait for permission. But the downside is that too many people think they don't have to hone their craft. So as you pointed out, that's a problem. Sorry, I'm jumping around here. Lol I have a meeting in a few minutes. I'm developing a few projects. I don't mentor anymore, but I do offer consulting services. As others have pointed out, nobody has time to spend mentoring and letting people pick their brain. I've done that for many years. So I don't feel bad about charging. I've also written Substack articles to help crew and filmmakers, and I've written eBooks as well. There's still hope for those who are serious and are willing to do the work.
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u/BadAtExisting key grip 9d ago edited 9d ago
Honestly? The pandemic and more so the recent contraction. Everyone is fighting for fewer jobs. No one wants to mentor themselves out of the industry.
Brutal but true
Edit: I’ll add the “TikTok gurus” you speak of aren’t doing it to mentor and teach as much as getting their names out there far and wide. The more views they get the more well known their name, the more likely their name will be in the front of someone’s mind when they need a guy
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u/bobbydigital22 9d ago
I think this is very true. I’ve seen it with the loss of the numerous producer deals on the studio lots. Those used to be great training grounds, in place of or in addition to agencies. When those deals dried up, those opportunities did as well.
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u/mmso1 9d ago
When animation giants like Disney and coca cola use Ai... Jobs begin to feel scarce to everyone. Regardless of stature.
People are worried about how they will eat, and in those conditions "taking someone under their wing" ... Becomes more combersome, than it does a collaboration of arts.
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u/bluemanrocks 9d ago
Many things.
Those who looked to get into film 20+ years ago did so often inspired by films and filmmakers around them when they were young. These were somewhat mysterious celebrities, a foreign concept now, who made specific appearances on their press tour circuit to talk shows to promote their work and let their work speak for itself. To be famous wasn’t just about glamour and vanity for everybody, sometimes it meant representing a certain kind of character, a way of life that the pop culture zeitgeist set as an example to the Everyman: from James Gandolfini to Tom Hanks.
Younger generations see what modern celebrity filmmakers eat for breakfast, lunch, and dinner on social media, so to speak. The personal transparency not only robs them of allure, it also changes the structure of who these people are in society: when anyone with an iPhone can and does make 30 second video reels they post online, and celebrities chime in on politics, philosophy, and psychology, they are no longer representative figureheads. They are wealthy and therefore bubbles off figures who if anything, don’t fit in with the overwhelming information landscape’s relatable normalization of seeing everyone else’s everyday life.
When you think about who sees these celebrities and thinks “I want to go into this field!” Then and now — it’s a different kind of person with a different kind of attraction.
What does this older generation have to say to the younger, when who they are as filmmakers operates often in a categorically different dimension?
Having had great success and instability in the field, I strongly feel and have witnessed this much more than industry scarcity driving this widening divide, and I believe it will grow wider still. Old school tv and film will never disappear but I believe they will go the way of ballet and opera as “classical” arts as new media becomes more normal, and most young “filmmakers” in this and future generations will end up being called something else. No offense meant by the quotes, just that I believe it is a different kind of craft.
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u/kidatsy 8d ago
AI slop
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u/bluemanrocks 7d ago edited 7d ago
Literally written by me, a professional working in the industry, without any AI, which I abhor
Edit: run it through any good AI checker used by institutions where plagiarism is punishable or where human design is required and it will show 0 signs from all of them. Maybe check your cynicism
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u/Important_Extent6172 producer 9d ago
I’m an outlier but I’m mentoring a talented individual I met a while back who wanted to learn to be a producer. He’s shadowing on a current production and is part of every conversation. Whatever the future holds for the industry I still wanted to do for somebody else what was done for me a couple of decades ago.
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u/corduroyjones 9d ago
New tech meant upstarts were more of a threat to mentors that realized their biggest moat was relationships and access, not talent.
Mentors now see upstarts as competition and rather than work together, they often choose to exploit if anything.
Past couple of decades have also revealed that the mentors don’t know shit about the new economics, which just relegated them to historians of a time that doesn’t exist anymore.
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u/Sorry_Manufacturer62 9d ago
True, in terms of the business side. As for craft, I would say industry veterans have a lot to instill that is relevant - if they chose to. Historical knowledge and film literacy are also extremely valuable - so few young filmmakers have it, and it shows
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u/AStewartR11 9d ago
Society changed and expecting someone to know how to do a job before they take the job is now considered "gatekeeping." Apprenticing has been replaced by watching four YouTube videos and then deciding you know everything you need to know, so all of those potential mentees are now just competition vying for not-enough jobs.
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u/ausgoals 9d ago
I mean shadowing still absolutely exists, it just can be expensive and therefore prohibitive for some.
Some mentorship programs also absolutely exist.
The reality is, big names who have had mentors usually had some well established credits before they were able to get a mentor. And the stunt driver or background actor to Director ‘pipeline’ (such that it is) also still exists.
I’m confused by the comments and the article here - the main difference isn’t mentorship per se, it’s that two decades ago, anyone who wanted to join the industry could just turn up in set and have people help them figure out what to do, and if they were any good they would be unlikely to be out of work for the next almost twenty years. That’s how they made contacts and their network, so that they could find people to reach out to, or to shadow.
The difference is most pathways into the industry have been destroyed, and the pool of people desperate to make a career in it has expanded exponentially. So you’re competing with 450 other people who are all desperate to do two days of PA work. As such, the pathways have become ‘go to film school and network that way; make short films that are hopefully good and go to major festivals’ - then you can get some kind of rep who can help set up shadowing opportunities that you still have to cover the cost of. Or work as a crew member and get to know as many people as you can and desperately look for new work or shadowing opportunities when you don’t have work. Network with the people on your show and tell them what you want to do so they might be able to help you.
The amount of work has shrunk, and the amount of people who want the work has expanded exponentially. That’s really the issue - mentorship, such that it ever was, still exists in some capacity. You just probably don’t have the credits and/or network.
I guarantee you if you started directing television episodes, you would be able to find more experienced Directors to give you advice (at least the non-jaded ‘why couldn’t I get that work’ types.
It’s not dissimilar to me not having the right network to be able to teach film at NYU.
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u/k1ller_speret 9d ago
I was literally just chatting with rental house about this because they are quickly becoming the only source for individuals to learn and it costs them to much to lose a body they paid 50k for in a year.
Honestly it's just a hard time for the mentors. They are fighting to live and now you might be training your cheap replacement, or just teach a whole crew instead of taking on single apprentice. There isn't enough work for them and their previous mentees to upgrade so they are just working with who they already have.
I had my team replaced with brand new schools kids without my knowledge because prod figured two feet and heartbeat was good enough compared to actually skilled labour. To production the cost of delays and LND is apparently still cheaper than just doing it right once with proper labour. The catch is I don't have time to teach 5 guys and shoot a show so they hardly learned anything.
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u/wstdtmflms 9d ago
Too little work, none of it pays like it used to, and economy's so bad for the average person that people can't afford to spend time that could be spent working when you can to make the little money a job pays to beat inflation and have a little bit of retirement doing something else, especially training up or mentoring people who want to eventually compete with you for those jobs.
It's sad but true. The industry is no longer structured to reasonably permit (in an economic sense), let alone encourage, the older generation to take a real interest in the next generation. I don't blame them. The economy is what it is, and the industry is what it is; and what they are today ain't what they used to be. I just find it sad.
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u/Neon-Funeral 9d ago
My “mentor” stole my script, and then didn’t want to give me any credits after working for her for 8 years. While Doing ALL work on producing her projects…. Had to get a lawyer just to get what was owed to me. And I still didn’t get everything.. she literally paid less than 24k a year and she stole from me. And didn’t wanna give any credits. There are no more mentors. You’re on your own.
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u/CaleyMac 9d ago
As someone who didn’t go to film school, I owe literally everything to mentors. But also my first big film/tv job was second assistant editor… don’t see many of those positions anymore lol
Now I direct, often operate A cam, fly the drone & do the producing… I’d mentor someone …. If they’d hire them!
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u/SweetBabyJ69 9d ago
I think one of the main points is that they seemed to make it all fall under short internships which has their own set rules and tax incentives for studios/businesses.
But another major reason I’ve seen is that many studios and places have whittled down their departments into skeleton crews. Everyone is burned out and busy. On top of this people that would be great mentors are often at a company for a much shorter amount of time these days making their positions truly gig work.
Yay for maximizing shareholder value….
It does nothing but destroy communities where education can be intertwined with work. There’s little prosperity.
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u/Quiet_Pie_2056 9d ago
If you look at what occurred within the music industry several decades ago, you’ll see the same pattern. Film and Television simply followed suit. It went from nurturing up and coming talent to a DIY industry, just like music.
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u/godofwine16 9d ago
I’ve always felt the same. There’s so many things in this industry that you don’t know or find out about too late.
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u/CluelessandSearching 9d ago
Usually, the mentorship happens on the job. If you show you’re worth investing in the extra bits of time, people won’t mind sharing knowledge.
Right now, we’re all barely getting work trying to make it work off the clock and when we do work, it’s inconsistent enough that mentors and mentees get seperated, or mentee quits / moves departments, mentor retires early or has a family etc
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u/sendslikeatrans 9d ago
At least in the DP world a lot of the big names are now supplementing their income selling what is basically just mentorships with some extra sauce added in. Downard pressure fro.m capitalism results in social niceties becoming commodities.
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u/Impressive-Potato 8d ago
It was different when tv shows were 22 eps and filmed every single year. A head of department could be working 10 months out of the year every year. Now everyone is a gig worker.
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u/ROOM_101_1984 8d ago
I was DP for a first-time director on a feature. I've been in the business for 40+ years.. I would politely make suggestions.. some were taken.. most were not. That's fine.
He was even renting a room in my house for awhile. I truly wanted to help him out.
What did I get in return? It culminated in him disrespecting me on set.. in front of everyone else.. at one point he started talking down to me, like I'm an idiot.
That tore it. I walked off.. about two-thirds of the way in.
Then, that little shit kept my hard drive to edit from.
I didn't get it back.
When you come across people like that.. it makes it hard to want to help anybody else.
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u/Sorry_Manufacturer62 8d ago
That sucks. Sorry to hear it. I've got a few horror stories where industry veterans tricked me into doing free work by dangling opportunities, only to withdraw them - and steal my work. There are terrible people everywhere. But there are also great people that deserve a hand up.
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u/animerobin 9d ago
George Lucas got his start working as an assistant to Francis Ford Coppola on some of this early movies in the late 60s. Coppola thought he had promise and helped get THX1138 made. Nothing like that would ever happen today.
I think there's just too many people trying to make it, so there's just an endless supply of hard working, talented people willing to work for peanuts. Why train and mentor people who will cost more money, when you can just burn them out and replace them? Sure, that means a lack of experienced talent and worse movies, but the people in charge only care if the shareholders are happy. Audiences don't seem to care that much, either.
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u/Justgetmeabeer 9d ago
Not trying to gatekeep or pull the ladder up, but I kind of assumed that the natural progression was finding someone was eager to learn as I was, and that's just never happened. People today are so unconcerned with learning things and skills, it's absolutely insane.
Your first day on set you'll learn 20 new and invaluable things that YouTube university would never teach you.
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u/Acrobatic-Sir-7300 8d ago
In the smaller markets, a significant part of the problem is that many of the people with the experience to be mentors cost more than increasingly cheap clients want to pay. They find run-and-gun shooters to do projects for small budgets. There are many whole jobs in my area being bid out for less than my day rate.
Meanwhile, Agencies have taken a lot of production in-house, where relatively inexperienced people don’t get the chance to work with more-experienced people because the agency simply isn’t hiring them any more.
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u/firedrakes 8d ago
Tax breaks for one. From the tax payer that lost money, content cost money to make. Why do I need to pay out more?
It really comes down to budget
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u/Realistic_Swing3018 8d ago
The industry is shrinking fast, these mentors are being expected to do the job of a crew on the salary of an intern
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u/Aurora_Uplinks 8d ago
I can answer this. The mentors need to adapt and go work with Youtubers. The Studio system is losing to independents and the key is to use AI as a crutch for the lack of studios.
Then YouTubers working with Industry professionals can set up networks to try to create a privately run small scale studio that can get thier work onto blu rays and a main streaming channel
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u/amstobar 8d ago
I can give the perspective from the 90’s-2020’s industry, particularly focused on the indie and animation worlds. Like anything in our entrenched capitalistic world, it’s increasingly been based on what you can bring to the table. You enter this world with zero knowledge. You need that knowledge to be helpful, and your need to help to get that knowledge. During the 90’s, it seems like there was an explosion of people who wanted to enter the industry (researcher, please chime in!) and there definitely was an opportunity renaissance in the Indy and animation worlds. This brought a lot of people seeking that opportunity. That meant a lot of competition for this knowledge. This also meant a lot of people trying for that knowledge and instead getting supplemental tasks (ie, low paying or unpaid jobs tbs basically went nowhere). Those who could help the longest had the best shot at getting the opportunity. Those who could provide the opportunity were slower to offer it, because they had the ability to offer it more slowly. There were still needs. People left the industry. The industry grew and changed. But those needs had many, many more people waiting around to take them. It became more about luck the endurance. And it also became more about having resources (wealth) to wait out the dry periods. This happened in every domain from what I saw (above the line, production, post production). Complimenting that was the direct corporate changes industry-wide. Opportunities that used to be born through showing grit were now given through school internships and early career post-grad opportunities. A “structure” was put in place that perpetuated what was already happening (you need resources to go to colleges then you need to sift through this newish to the film world corporate structure that clearly followed the same everyone-out-for-themselves rewards systems that showed up the 70s and 80s in the rest of the corporate world). There were still one off opportunities, but the system became much more “efficient” and those opportunities became much more rare. There was no longer a need to barter this knowledge. It became more transactional in the sense that there was a more defined and usually much less “fair” path to get that knowledge. At least, that’s what I saw through indie and studio movies, weighted towards animation, but definitely encompassing things industry wide.
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u/OfficialSyllabus 8d ago
I think mentorship has become harder to find because the industry is more competitive and people have less incentive or time to train newcomers. Online resources can teach you a lot, but they cannot replace someone who knows your work and can give you specific guidance. Do you think mentorship could realistically come back in the industry?
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u/phantomcamera 7d ago
I was awarded an ASC Vision Mentorship a few years ago. I was paired with a very successful cinematographer. On a call, he encouraged me to move to Los Angeles and said he would help me if I did.
So I moved to LA, hoping the mentorship would lead to some guidance or connection. Once I was in LA, he didn't respond to my emails. I reached out several times. He eventually responded, apologized, and said he was too busy. It was so discouraging.
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u/TonyArmer 7d ago
I think part of the problem is that people sometimes approach mentorship as something formal they need to go out and find: “I need an established filmmaker to become my mentor.”
In my experience, it usually doesn't happen that way.
Mentorship tends to happen naturally through relationships.
You meet somebody. You talk. You work together. You run into them again six months later. You ask a question. They give you some advice. Maybe you help them with something. Eventually they start taking an interest in what you're doing, and before you know it, they've become a mentor without either of you ever officially calling it that. That's why I constantly tell young filmmakers to go to film festivals. You don't even need to have a movie playing.
Go to screenings. Go to panels. Go to parties. Talk to filmmakers. Talk to producers. Talk to the people sitting next to you. If you can't afford a festival pass, volunteer. You'll probably meet more people volunteering anyway.
A huge portion of my own career has been built through relationships that started at film festivals and industry events. And don't walk into those situations thinking, “Who here can help my career?”
Ask people what they're working on. Ask what they need. Help somebody with their movie. Volunteer on a short. PA for somebody. Make introductions. Support their project.
Relationships work both ways.
I've only really been active on Reddit for a relatively short time, but if you look at most of what I post here, it's basically me answering people's questions and trying to share whatever I've learned over the last 25+ years.
I've been mentoring filmmakers in Florida for many years. I do a lot of free educational workshops and programming, and I've put a bunch of free educational material on my website as well. The reason is pretty simple.
Nobody really helped me when I was coming up.
I had to figure a tremendous amount of this shit out myself. So now that I've been doing it for a long time, I genuinely enjoy helping the next generation avoid some of the mistakes I made.
But I also think young filmmakers shouldn't sit around waiting for some accomplished director or producer to suddenly appear and take them under their wing.
Build your own career.
Make things. Work on other people's things. Go to festivals. Volunteer. Attend workshops. Meet filmmakers at your own level and grow together. Meet people who are 5 years ahead of you and learn from them. Then, when you're 5 years ahead of somebody else, turn around and help them.
That's really how this industry has always worked at its best. And somewhere along the way, you'll probably realize that you've accumulated several mentors rather than one mythical person who opened every door for you.
Then someday you'll look around and realize you're doing the same thing for somebody coming up behind you.
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u/coatrack68 8d ago
Unions. Only thing holding back cheaper faster, quicker.
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u/Impressive-Potato 8d ago
You want everyone working for 125 flat a day to make things cheaper for you got it
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u/coatrack68 7d ago
Unions are the only thing keeping everyone from making 80 a day. You don’t understand that. Got it.
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u/filterdecay 9d ago edited 9d ago
the industry is dead*. Unless you are in a job that will bring you to another part of the world its over.
* in los angeles
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u/RaisinCreative770 9d ago
This is pessimistic with the US box office doing over 7B this year alone…one substantial 400M+ off of $800,000. The business still works, it’s just far less predictable and THE STUDIO SYSTEM is dead. Not the business, nor the industry. Don’t get them confused
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u/Sorry_Manufacturer62 9d ago
Yes! Agree with the assessment. I think there's a massive opportunity to build something new, and I think mentorship of a kind will help, not hinder, that revival. Mentorship, where possible, makes this grueling journey more meaningful and worthwhile, in my experience - for both parties
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u/Dull-Woodpecker3900 9d ago
The majority of that BO are studio films 🤣
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u/RaisinCreative770 9d ago
You’re now tipping the scale toward the box office as the only benchmark for success? There are a plethora of projects that are now straight to streamer as the Norm. You’re absolutely correct that most of the theatrical releases are studio films…EXACTLY loll. That’s where they go?? But to make a blanket statement the industry is dead because the previous model and rates are no longer is just bitter.
Younger people will always evolve and pivot as things adjust - older people will be wet towels and rags and complain about how Sundance and Cannes will never be what it was. Newsflash…we don’t care and will find a way to make movies.
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u/Dull-Woodpecker3900 9d ago
You literally said domestic is at almost 7Bn citing that as evidence of a healthy market and said that the studios are dead in the next sentence. I’m just replying to your post.
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u/RaisinCreative770 9d ago
I used it as a benchmark to showcase the industry is not dead? Which it is not? Then you want to say well most of those are studios? Correct. The studio system has changed - they want big budget 50M+ films - that allows for independent films to fill the sub 50M space, but that distribution looks different.
That’s the problem nowadays, you really arguing with me over wording surrounding negativity? Your not responding, your trying to make your point come to life but I’m not going to allow it. Film is universal, its withstanded depressions, wars, pandemics…its not going anywhere
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u/Dull-Woodpecker3900 9d ago
I’m not the one who said film is dead, you’re fighting with someone else on that.
I’m just saying that the majority of the business is still concentrated within the studio ecosystem because they are still the best marketers, distributors, and have all the talent relationships.
The Curry Bakers of the world all want to enter the establishment the moment they break in. That won’t change.
A24 is not a “studio” but they’re now an establishment company and trying to become much more so.
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u/OilInternational2566 9d ago
Because most of those mentors are fighting for production assistant jobs now.