Collaboration is Everything

Something I’ve learned in my brief experience producing short films is that collaboration truly is everything when it comes to filmmaking. There’s a reason Michael Keaton said “Filmmaking is the ultimate team sport”. That is why this is a PSA encouraging any aspiring filmmakers out there to focus on collaboration from both a networking standpoint and out of necessity.

As a young filmmaker, entertainer, editor, etc. it is paramount that you get out there and meet other creative individuals like yourself. Ideally you meet people your age or at the same stage in their careers. Not only will it give you a friend to commiserate with when the opportunities aren’t flooding in, but it will also give you a potential future collaborator. Money is always tight early on in our careers, so having a group of talented creatives who are willing to make content with you simply for a chance to gain experience is immensely helpful. I think an underrated aspect of early collaboration also is that the people you work with today are going to be the filmmakers of tomorrow. Building close personal/working relationships now on small budget projects will likely yield invitations to collaborate later down the road on large-scale projects.

While the networking perks of collaboration efforts are clear, with filmmaking it is simply a necessity. No one can write, direct, shoot, light, record sound, act, edit, and distribute a film all on their own (at least no one I’ve met yet). Filmmaking takes so many different talented individuals coming together and bringing their own specific skillsets to the table. You need a sound professional, you need a lighting professional, you need a cinematographer, you need a line producer, you need talent, you need a director, etc. Each role is important in its own right and must perform cohesively with the rest in order to yield a polished final product. That is why I would encourage all young creatives to try and meet individuals that fit into each of those roles. Become familiar with directors, become familiar with cinematographers, become familiar with producers. Meet people in all the different roles so that when the time comes to put together a project of your own, you aren’t relying on job boards to assemble your team.

Collaboration is everything. For that reason, always be kind and outgoing and meeting people.