If I could give one piece advice to an up and coming feature film director, it would be this:

Pick the project with the most surface area for luck.

Most filmmakers struggle to get ahead. They have a thousand ideas but none seem good enough.

The feature concept is too hard to finance.

The short they wrote doesn’t excite them.

The new micro-budget idea feels risky.

So they procrastinate. Not because they’re lazy, but because they’re unconvinced any project is worth the time.

Without clarity of outcome, motivation suffers.

The solution is to find the project with the most surface area for luck. AKA the one that will actually motivate you.

Every film idea offers potential side benefits. Pick the one that stacks the most advantages:

• A personal story that builds your brand
• Something shootable right now
• Potential for incredible collaborations
• Unique marketing and sales angle
• Bankable genre and clear festival appeal
• Taps into unique resources and locations
• Anything else valuable to you…

By thinking this way, you are no longer choosing at random. Understanding why you’re choosing a given project energizes you to actually see it through.

The odds of success just went up ten fold. 

And even if you “fail” outwardly, you still win… More directing experience. A better filmmaking network. Scenes for your reel.

That is the power of specificity.

If you’re ready to take the next step with your film, try this:

Write down every film concept you have – short, features, whatever else. Next to them, list out every possible benefit. Pick the one with the longest list, and get to work.

Your odds just multiplied.

For exclusive filmmaking articles every Sunday, sign up for my newsletter here!