5 Tips for Aspiring Filmmakers

4 min read

Career Trends: March 25, 2023
Curated by the Knowledge Team of ICS Career GPS


A filmmaker is in charge of making, leading, and developing movie productions.

  • Excerpts taken from an article published on entrepreneur.com

Filmmaking is an art and a science. It is art because it requires your creative abilities and science because the story in your mind becomes a movie only after going through a whole lot of technicalities and procedures. Filmmaking is the process by which a motion picture is produced. It starts with an original concept or idea and progresses through a number of intricate and distinct stages.

What is the work of a filmmaker?

A filmmaker is in charge of making, leading, and developing movie productions. It is a career that allows an individual to use their leadership as well as creative thinking skills to spearhead and direct motion pictures or made-for-television/OTT films.

Filmmakers need to have multiple skills at their disposal. In fact, they need to be not just creative but also entrepreneurial.

If you’d like to break into the world of filmmaking, here are some tips for you:

1. Use what is available to you.

  • This tip applies to available material objects, your own knowledge/history, and your skills as a filmmaker.
  • For example, you may hear about a film competition starting tomorrow, but you might not have time to gather all of the resources you would ideally want for your project.
  • But, you might be able to use the surroundings to your advantage. By doing this, you can showcase your creativity to everyone who will watch your movie.

2. Study existing acclaimed media.

  • You should study acclaimed films so that you can learn the finer points of great movies.
  • Also, watching and studying these films with a critical eye will allow you to see just how much thought, effort and skill goes into creating a movie.
  • Additionally, you’ll want to read and listen to as many different media formats as you can.
  • Audiobooks, podcasts and paperback books contain a wealth of information that can be used by filmmakers and all creatives.

3. Cultivate an entrepreneurial drive.

  • As an aspiring filmmaker, you’re most likely focused on creating a great product.
  • You want to find the best shots, cast the best actors and create the movie you’ve always pictured in your head.
  • Those things are all absolutely important. However, you also need to be sure that you are treating your projects with an entrepreneurial spirit.
  • You should be attempting to make connections with all of the big names throughout the industry so that you can get your foot in the door.

4. Never stop learning.

  • Early in his career, the boxer Mike Tyson was known to watch hours and hours of film on his opponents before every match.
  • He quickly became one of the most skilled and powerful boxers of all time.
  • But Tyson knew that if he got comfortable and rested on his laurels, he would end up flat on his back.
  • Filmmaking is no different. If you get too comfortable with your skills and discontinue new learning, your projects will suffer.

5. Think like a business person.

  • As was stated in the introduction, filmmaking should be viewed as both a creative pursuit and an opportunity to make money.
  • Odds are, you’re going to need to convince a number of people to invest in your project.
  • In some cases, you might receive charitable investments, but for the vast majority of the time, the contributors are going to want a significant return on their investment.
  • For this reason, you need to learn business and negotiation skills.
  • You should devote some time to learning how to talk to investors and how to convince them to believe in your project.


Have you checked out yesterday’s blog yet?

7 Areas of Expertise in Interaction Design


(Disclaimer: The opinions expressed in the article mentioned above are those of the author(s). They do not purport to reflect the opinions or views of ICS Career GPS or its staff.)

Like this post? For more such helpful articles, click on the button below and subscribe FREE to our blog.


Download our mobile app, ICS Career GPS, a one-stop career guidance platform.

Leave a Reply