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How to Break-Through Your Fear & Shoot Your First Feature Film

Fear, the one thing that stops most indie filmmakers from moving forward and following their dreams. Fear of shooting their first feature film, writing that screenplay, making that short film or just taking the first few steps towards their goals.

Fear has been a strange bedfellow of mine throughout my career. It has slowed and outright stopped my progress. It has taken many years of failures to finally realize I have nothing to fear. As they say:

“We stopped checking for monsters under the bed when we realized they were inside of us.” – Anonymous

Breaking through the Fear

I finally decided to “feel the fear and do it anyway“. Directing a full-blown feature film always seemed like this huge, monstrous mountain I had to climb. It was like going to hike Mt. Everest when I never even climb a mountain before.

Then I figured out that a feature film didn’t have to be a “huge, monstrous mountain” and that many filmmakers started off shooting smaller films before climbing Mt. Everest. Chris Nolan shot The Following before he made Memento and then The Dark Knight Trilogy.

In that spirit, I ventured off into uncharted territory with the making of my first feature film This is Meg. Below is the story of how I got that film started.

In this podcast, I discuss what fear does to artists, writers and filmmakers and how you can break-through and make their first feature film. Enjoy.

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LINKS AND RESOURCES MENTIONED IN THIS EPISODE

• This is Meg
• IFH 075: What Does It Really Take to Make in Hollywood with Sebastian Twardosz
• Sebastian Twardosz – Email
• Bill and Ted’s Excellent Adventure
• Steven Spielberg’s 1941
• Robert Rodriguez Mexico Trilogy
• Rebel without a Crew: Or How a 23-Year-Old Filmmaker With $7,000 Became a Hollywood Player

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