Redefining Success In Your Filmmaking Process w/ Rob Hardy

If you’re like me, at some point in your life you’ve probably aspired to making it big and breaking into Hollywood as a director, producer, DP, editor, etc. But where did this idea of success come from?

Rob Hardy was an indie filmmaker working 18 hours days on projects he wasn’t passionate about, with people he didn’t click with, burning himself trying to achieve that goal. He was at the point of asking himself if he even wanted to be a filmmaker before realizing that there were many paths to a successful film career, most of which don’t lead to Hollywood.

Rob now runs The Filmmaker’s Process, a blog and growing community of indie filmmakers where he guides readers on how to redefine success for themselves, according to their own circumstances, talents, and values. He's also passionate about building a worldwide directory of film professionals to make it easier to connect with partners for our creative projects.

Few if any of us will realize the dream of consistently working on Hollywood films, but that doesn’t mean that we can’t create fulfilling and successful film careers on our own. It just means we need to think hard about what success means to us and take one small step at a time to get us there.

What is your definition of success for yourself? Have you ever felt yourself burning out chasing an ideal of success that someone else had defined for you? Leave a comment below and let us know!

In This Episode:

- How to set your expectations and success metrics to avoid burning yourself out and getting discouraged in the film industry
- Rob’s method for taking one small step at a time towards success by filming “micro-shorts”
- How working towards success is like building a house
- Why we need to stop talking about the myth of “overnight success”

Quotes:

“We have a culture, particularly in the west and in the world of filmmaking that gives us definitions of success that aren’t really useful, and in fact, they might be harmful if everybody chooses to go down that path” [3:42]

“I really do think a lot of the stress in our lives and a lot of the friction comes from doing things that aren’t in alignment with our values, and we all have different values... Spend some time being introspective, figure out what you actually care about in life, and use that as a guide for how to move forward. Don’t get mired in what everyone else is doing.” [32:51]

Links:

The Filmmakers Process
Kevin Kelly’s 1000 True Fans article  

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