Directing Can Be About More Than the Movie

By Zack on January 25, 2010

A lot of the director's who appear on the Director's Cut discuss the role of relationships in their career. Hollywood can be a bit of a game, and there are certain rules that a directors have to play by if they want to be successful. Point in case is documentary director Errol Morris. Morris is the critically acclaimed and award winning director of documentaries such as The Fog of War and Standard Operating Procedure. But early in his career, even a talent like Morris had to play the game. In 1988 this letter from Miramax head Harvey Weinstein - who produced Morris' 1988 film The Thin Blue Line - Morris is chided for being, of all things, boring:

Heard your NPR interview and you were boring. You couldn't have dragged me to see THE THIN BLUE LINE if my life depended on it.

It's time you start being a performer and understand the media.

[...]

Speak in short one sentence answers and don't go on with all the legalese. Talk about the movie as a movie and the effect it will have on the audience from an emotional point of view.

If you continue to be boring, I will hire an actor in New York to pretend that he's Errol Morris. If you have any casting suggestions, I'd appreciate that.

Keep it short and keep selling it because that's what's going to work for you, your career and the film.

So just remember, as you embark on your career in film, even greats like Errol Morris have to deal with producers. There's always going to be somebody standing around to give you their 2 cents, whether you want it or not.