The Next Steven Spielberg

Back when I was in film school in the 80s I wasn’t the only person who dreamed about being the next Steven Spielberg. Who knows how many filmmakers in the last two or three decades have desired the same? Writer/director M. Night Shyamalan (The Sixth Sense) knows that actually being called “The Next Steven Spielberg” can be quite a burden.

A couple of years ago when Entertainment Weekly listed their 25 Greatest Active Film Directors, Spielberg was at the top. Of course, such list are subjective, but some even have Spielberg pretty high when listing the greatest directors of all time.  From Jaws and Raiders of the Lost Ark to Schindler’s List and Saving Private Ryan the three time Oscar winner has had an amazing and diverse career. (Not bad for someone who was rejected by USC film school three times.)

Back in 1999, in an DGA Magazine article Andrew Levy asked Spielberg,  ”What advice do you have for young directors just starting out?”

Spielberg: I think directors first starting out should never give up on themselves. This business challenges your tenacity, and I think those who survive are those who have an abiding, even somewhat of a haughty, belief in themselves, and I think that’s extraordinarily healthy. That’s a real good value. You just have to keep slugging away. It does help if the director writes, because often a director who writes first can get the directorship, the stewardship of a film, after he sells one script. He can hold out to direct the second one. I’ve always found that to be an easier way to break into the business as a director. But it’s also just as important to work in every medium you possibly can, from television to commercials to music videos to documentaries to low-budget indie productions. As long as somebody will give you a camera, even if they don’t pay any money, and say, “Hey, I’m giving you a chance to tell me something about the way you see the world, and hopefully make me a few bucks while you’re doing it,” that’s an opportunity that must never be bypassed.

I remember years ago reading an article by Michael Wiese (of Michael Wiese Books) where he looked at someone’s resume who had worked on hundreds of commercials and he thought of the fantastic learning opportunities such experience would provide. While there are only a few hundred feature directing opportunities every year there and tens of thousands of smaller productions you can be working on around the world.

While you dream big it probably wouldn’t hurt to write out Spielberg’s phrase,”Work in every medium you possibly can” and stick it on your wall—because that’s how you get in your 10,000 hours. In fact, focus on getting in your hours writing and directing rather than on becoming the next Steven Spielberg. (Just for the record, though much was made at the time about Spielberg directing JAWS when he was only 26, by that time he had already been making films for about 15 years.) The truth is no one will be the next Steven Spielberg—just like there hasn’t been another Billy Wilder or Alfred Hitchcock.

P.S. Years ago I had the opportunity to work on Spielberg’s Survivors of the Shoah Visual History Project (now I believe known as the USC Shoah Foundation Institute.) I was the cameraman for two of the 52,000 interviews that have been gathered around the world of Holocaust Survivors. And though I’ve probably shot and produced around 500 interviews in my career those Shoah interviews are easily two of the most memorable. And I have a nice little plaque on my office to commemorate being a small part of that project.

Scott W. Smith