Janusz Kamiński, Wally Pfister, and Phedon Papamichael: Long Term Career Management
In this video, master filmmakers discuss what to consider when making career choices. Using examples from their own experience, they offer sage advice on choosing the right projects, avoiding career dead ends and pigeonholes, and maintaining the ability to choose projects for the right reasons. Other topics include how to find and manage an agent, and how to make your talent stand out in the crowd.
00:30 – Maintaining the freedom to choose good projects and good collaborators
2:33 – Taking a step back to avoid getting pigeonholed; reinvention
4:40 – The conflict between projects you want to do and projects you need to do
7:15 – Understanding how people see your resume; taking risks
8:30 – JK: Behind the decision to shoot The Diving Bell & the Butterfly
9:45 – Sometimes your choices are driven by the realities of your life
10:37 – How to think about scripts; finding a balance
13:51 – Bringing cinematic visual language to a more commercial project
14:37 – WP: Behind the decision to shoot Moneyball
17:47 – The script is the essence
18:42 – DPs, comedy and visual style
19:47 – Advice on finding and working with an agent; what to expect
29:50 – Advice on joining the union; changes in the indy, nonunion world
31:58 – Advantages of a strong union
34:00 – Should I do television? Is there a stigma? What about commercials?
36:10 – Television as a launching pad for studio work
41:08 – Bring passion to whatever you do; find a way to go beyond what’s expected
42:15 – Breaking into commercial work; agencies, directors, creativity and control