YOU WILL MAKE MISTAKES. Okay, this is a tough one, but an important one, so let’s get through this. In the course of making a movie (and in life!) it is invevitable that you will make mistakes. Lots of them. Costly ones, stupid ones, all kinds. If you’re perfectionistic like me, this can be really stressful. I tend to think that a mistake is going to cost me, to ruin the production, to send my career up in flames. That is just not the case.

The truth is, mistakes happen for us to learn. We need to find the lesson in anything we deem a mistake, forgive ourselves, and anyone else involved. There are so many mistakes made in making a film. To quote the bard, “by indirection we find direction,” which simply means that our mistakes guide us back to the path that works.

Let me tell you something, if you or anyone else thinks they don’t make mistakes, or won’t, you or they are living in denial. You have an ego or self-esteem problem that doesn’t permit you to allow for your basic humanity. We are flawed human beings, on a path of growth and learning. We need to make mistakes, indeed welcome them, to evolve.

Any decision you make as a filmmaker can lead to a result you may consider a mistake – who you hire, who you cast, who you fire, what to cut, what to leave in, what music to use, how you mix it, who you approach for distribution, and when, and how, etc. etc. Do you get where I am going with this? As Chris Karas says, life is a journey into the unknown. If only we can let go into the mystery of that journey, then surely it will be one worth taking.

Ultimately there are no mistakes. “Mistakes” are just helpful (albeit sometimes painful and financially costly) pointers. They point away from paths that don’t work, and back toward paths that do. One mistake after another, finding our way. that’s what being a filmmaker is about. Don’t be afraid.