There used to be a T-shirt popular among people who worked on movies (probably still is) that read "What I really want to do is direct". Like the movie set memes that now populate social media, it reflected the reality that a lot of people who wrote, produced, acted or crewed films actually didn't want to be a small cog in the big mechanism of film creation. They wanted to run the thing.
As I writer and producer, I can't count the number of scripts that were dropped on my desk by actors, grips, stuntmen and extras, almost all of them hoping a sale would vault them out of the position they held into a credit closer to the beginning of the picture -- with virtually all of them silently hoping a script credit would get them one step closer to their true holy grail -- directing.
I've often thought that when the desire to direct arises in people with a regular crew job, it comes from working under a director who isn't that good at what they do. Like those scripts I mentioned, I also can't count the number of times I've seen a director struggling to make his or her day when everybody surrounding them knows exactly what the next shot should be.
That said, it's still rare when the desire to run the show comes from someone who's not only exceptional at their niche within the production community but is much sought after by the very best directors out there.
Courtney Hoffman was the Costumer on "Magic Mike", "The Hateful Eight" and "Baby Driver". A year ago, she availed herself at an opportunity offered by Production entity Refinery29 to create a short film as part of their "Shatterbox Anthology" effort to find emerging female directing talent.
She created a film entitled "The Good Time Girls" and shopped it around. The result impressed a lot of people, including Steven Spielberg, who just hired Ms. Hoffman to direct a feature called "Ruthless" for Amblin Entertainment.
Which seems to prove that if you really want to direct the best path to that goal is to just go out and direct something.
Maybe it's really that simple.
Enjoy Your Sunday.
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