Is it worthwhile for an aspiring writer with no experience or job prospects
to write and direct a short film if he thinks he has the right idea for an
entertaining, short, and cheap film, as well as knowing people who can shoot
it?
–A.A.
Absolutely. That’s what my very talented former assistant Rawson Thurber recently
did. He wrote and directed a funny short film called "Terry Tate: Office
Linebacker," which he later sold to Reebok and turned into a series of
commercials that debuted in the Superbowl. He now has a movie to direct at
Fox with Ben Stiller.
That’s a pretty extreme success story, but even if Rawson had followed a more
typical career trajectory, the short film would have served him well. He could
have gotten it into film festivals, hopefully attracting enough attention to
land him an agent, and possibly the opportunity to direct videos, commercials
or other projects. And since Rawson is also a writer, it was a good combination
with the comedy script he’d written.
Making a good short film is an incredible amount of work, but it’s absolutely
worthwhile if you have directing ambitions.