Spike Lee's Advice to Aspiring Filmmakers

[jpsned]

For all those who dissed this clip, it's not as dumb as it sounds. Many, many aspiring filmmakers get paralyzed by how to start. They have ambition and grandiose ideas, but they forget that you have to start with the simple grunt work of sitting down and writing. It's not magic, obviously. But it's also something that many creative people lose track of. The only difference between one of those people and Spike Lee is that Spike Lee chose to sit down and write.

[brettmichele]

This just served as another final reminder. Finishing my screenplays/novels now.

[dailysling]

Directing is about creating the vision from your mind with the actors and production available. The vision is first created by the writer and then (hopefully successfully) interpreted by the director. Spike knows that developing your vision starts with writing for most directors. He also knows that the logistics of production also dictate writing your own story helpful when starting out. After all, you can write with your production values in mind. You also would have the clearest vision

[akmediascope]

imagine having SPike Lee as an instructor-- I love NYU. I personally do not believe you can be a filmmaker without a good writer on your team.

[Ocean_Jack]

Spike is a master fillmmaker and teacher. I have learned so much from him.

[DirectorRanjeet]

this advice is so true. i write and direct, doing both has opened up doors for me. thanks Spike.

[NyFilmmaker]

Its wonderful to see people like Spike advise other people out there . Thanks, Spike!

[Mauichaka]

We got Spike's book signed by him to ! love Spike Lee !

[grhysman]

i tell ya a good way to help your writing is to dictate ya story and go back over it ...bad oratory shines thru to leave you with goodness.understanding and writing a good plot goes hand in hand with visual techniques that you have acquired thru experience and experimentation the combination of both equates to a bloody good film if one can keep to the vision that one started with

[mmRebel]

I have to do more research on script formatting and how to write far as format. Or do I just write stories ? I am looking forward to a storytelling class I have coming up soon.

[spidvid]

Very true, before you learn to direct, learn how to write! Or team up with a talented screenwriter, but work on a script of your own too. Become a double threat in the film industry!

[callmebigpapa]

All i gotta say is Summer of Sam is his GoodFellas, a stunning film

[dailysling]

@awesomefunn (cont.) of your own story. Start thinking of a simple movie you could create with what you have. Stephen Spielberg made a home movie set up into a film studio and made his own ww2 movies as a kid with ww2 relics he had which were fairly common to have at the time. A Producer wants someone with command of vision of a story because without that the movie would suck. Writing it to paper is the least expensive way to demonstrate you can wield your vision.

[SmokeyNinja]

@dasnico13 "you don't have to be a great writer to be a great filmmaker". you missed the point to what Mr. Lee was saying. He said if you write while making films it will make you that much better of a filmmaker. Allowing you to stand out. If you do both you have a better chance of having a film produced. Writing is essential in Filmmaking, unless your film have no audio or dialogue. Even if filmmaking is a visual medium, visuals still tell stories and stories are written first then put to film.

[darrylkimble]

Spike, I have a great series idea that could actually be used for a while with different subjects but all related and need your opinion because it is very challenging and we know how you like a challenge. ahoy can I present it to you and provide a more in depth discussion of those ideas.

[spd]

Spike is an American original. A Spike Lee Joint.

[lostsoul]

Imagine having to sit through his class

[kidrayfilms]

I absolutely agree Ms.Brittany Jones.. Most of my short films I'm working on have a mixture of people .. I just prefer many races in my movies :)

[Antoinethecool]

David check syd"s screen writing class

[foghornfilms]

Mainly because first time directors often are not given a chance so they have to prove their salt and that is done by writing a script for such a film.