Never stop learning. What worked ten years ago – or even five years ago – may not be true today. It’ll be difficult to be successful when you are still operating in outdated concepts and ideals.
I love Hans Zimmer’s quote “if someone tells you a rule, break it.” When it comes to the creative world, there is no right or wrong, only what is popular or standard at the moment. The people who become infamously successful are the people who break the rules and discover a new standard that everyone else creates a new rule from. Be a rule maker, not so much a rule follower.
As a disclaimer, there are some truths that never change, like the old adage “you have to know the rule before you can break it.” Again, why education is so important. Learn why things are “standard” before creating your own standards. The idea is to improve and not just waste time recreating.
Always ask WHY. My incessant questioning has very often been misunderstood or seen as defiant or presumptuous, but keep asking “why” anyway. The people who understand “why” something is the way it is will always be at the head of the line. They will always be a step ahead of the people who simply know “how” to do something or only know “what” to do. Knowing “why” sets you apart.
With the influx of affordable technology (especially in filmmaking), having limited resources is no longer a barrier to being able to create technically high-caliber films or products. Now, most everything needed for a talented person to be successful is free or affordable including drive, work ethic and education (by education, I don’t mean film school, I mean any method that facilitates learning whether that be through experience, observation, workshops, panels, reading, articles, videos, self-analysis, etc). What this means is that people are running out of excuses as to why they don’t try.
