10 Worst Mistakes Film Directors Make

Are you power hungry?  Do you like telling people what to do?  How about imposing your ideas of the world?  Basically… do you want to be a film director?  

If you said yes to the above, congratulations!  Either get that camera rolling, or go check yourself into the loony bin.  But if you ARE so crazy, how will you know that your film is in trouble?  Well, if you say any of the following at any point - then you probably are:

10.  “I DIDN’T READ THE SCRIPT.”  Remember that clump of paper?  Yeah, the one that has the story and all the character’s dialogue on it?  If you want to make a movie about pain and loneliness, and you forgot the script was about a wacky talking chipmunk, then you’re in trouble.

9.  “MY PRODUCER MADE ME CAST HIS GIRLFIREND.”  Ah, so the guy who has the money to make your film IS in charge, not you.  Most likely his GF is a terrible actress, and there’s nothing you can do about it.  Talk about letting your balls get chopped off.

8.   “WHERE’S MY DOUBLE GRANDE HAZELNUT LATTE?”  If you’re more worried about your coffee than your film, then either you’re already a success, or you’re never going to make a good film.

7.  “MAYBE SHE SHOULD TAKE OFF HER CLOTHES.”  You’ve lost faith in the movie, and now you’re calling for nudity that was never in the script, but will certainly be eye catching.  Good luck as you start your porn career!

6.  “WE SPENT A LOT OF MONEY, SO IT MUST BE GOOD.”  Don’t be fooled that since your film costs a lot of money, that it will turn out to be good.  There are a lot of great movies that were made on a shoestring budget.  An expensive piece of crap is still crap.

5.  “WE’RE GOING TO SHOOT THE ENTIRE FILM IN ONE SHOT.”  A telling sign that you don’t know what you’re doing is to force style that doesn’t belong.  Fine, if the point of the film is some sort of technical achievement, but usually it means you are clueless about the meaning of what you’re making.

4.  “GIMME THE CAMERA.”  You have to trust your cinematographer.  Would you step in front of the camera and kick an actor out? Well, maybe you would, but that’s for another blog.  Work WITH your cinematographer, not against – you’ll see better results.

3.  “I DON’T CARE.”  You HAVE to care.  You’re the director.  If you care about the film you are making, you have to care about all the elements.  An actor in crisis?  Talk to them.  Your crew needs an extra hand?  Help them.  Care about everyone and they will care about you and helping get your film made.

2.  “THIS IS JUST THE BEGINNING.”  Actually, it may be the last film you ever make.  So put everything into it – if you think it’s just a stepping-stone, then you’re making the film for all the wrong reasons.

1. “I AM THE DIRECTOR!”  If you utter these words, you are probably in deep shit.  You should never have to tell anyone that you are the director – everyone should KNOW it.  So if you’ve lost this much control, then pack it up.  Go home.  Go back to dreaming.