A mentor is your free education path

Before you close out this email because you think its not relative to you, well think again. If you are just starting out or have been doing this a while, I promise this email applies to you.

For those who are quite new to the industry. I know you may think that you need a lot more figured out before you seek out a mentor. You may think you need some short films or even a feature film under your belt before you can seek out a mentor. That’s just not the case. However, the level of mentor you seek out should be aligned with where you are in your career.

If you are new to your career, find someone a decade ahead of you. If you’ve been making films for a while, find someone much further ahead. The right mentor will help you look at short term goals to accomplish the next step or will help you plan out long term career goals.

Waiting is wasting

I hate the word wait. I’ll wait until….

There’s always a reason not to do something now and waiting until something else is in place to make it right.

You need a mentor right now, not later. Every first feature faces similar challenges, budget issues, crew problems, distribution questions. A mentor has seen these problems before and knows how to avoid them. They have relationships with crew members, vendors, and distributors that took years to build. Most importantly, they can spot potential disasters before they happen. So waiting to find a mentor could mean missing out on valuable education and connections for your project.

A real mentor isn’t going to tell you HOW to do something based on how they did it. They may of course use their own learning experiences as examples for you, but they understand that you need to sometimes even make your own mistakes. They are more of information guidance than an actual guide on your path. You have to forge your own path, they may tell you what dangers to look out for and how to be prepared for them.

How do I find a mentor?

You can find them in two places, locally and digitally. Yeah I know that seems ridiculously obvious. There really are two. Some mentors are people you will be in close proximity with because they are doing the exact thing you want to be doing. Some mentors will be guiding you in areas that are related to what you are doing.

For example, if you want to be a director, find a mentor within a few hours of where you live. If that’s not possible you can still seek out a digital mentor, but proximity is powerful.

Either way, you will most likely reach out to them digitally.

I see too many filmmakers approach mentorship completely wrong. They send messages like "I want to learn from you" or "Can you be my mentor?" That's like asking someone to marry you on the first date. It doesn't work. I get messages like this. I only have so much time in my schedule, and I can just pull a mentee under me. It’s a relationship that is cultivated.

I’ll give an example of myself recently. I’m in development on a few projects, some small indie films and some big series. I reached out to a CEO of an investment firm that funds films and series. I asked some general questions about a project I am working on, but I wasn’t trying to pitch to them. Even though I would LOVE for their company to get behind one of the projects. However, my thought was, if I pitch, they say no, its hard to then be liked “can you teach me your ways?”. Instead of pitching, I sought their advice. Again, without saying, can I get your advice, because that just feels one off. The conversation first started on LinkedIn in a comments section, then moved to LinkedIn messaging, then email.

I created a conversation, after a couple email exchanges we were able to dive in deeper. Next they suggested setting up a video call because they “want to help me and see me succeed”. I have been able to ask all kinds of questions and learn so much about that high level of financing. That then becomes a financing mentor for me. Even if their company never funds one of my projects, I learn so much from them.

Do your research

Like my example above, I knew this person had a big firm. I knew just sending some random email probably wouldn’t work. So I started engaging them on LinkedIn, looking at the projects they have funded, looking at articles they had written, and knew this was someone I wanted to learn from. You should really “know” the person you seek out to be your mentor.

It’s not just knowing what films they made or worked on, thats the easy research. Look up interviews, read or watch many of them. At some point you’ll find little nuggets of how they really think about their craft or approach it. Those are the things you will connect too. See if they’ve written articles or blogs. See if they have their own website or been on a podcast. Learn about them and their process. This “hidden” information is what you use to establish that first contact with them.

It’s much better to leave a comment on someone’s social media that pulls a thought from an interview they did three years ago than to say “I love your movie X. Can I get your advice on my movie?”

When you show that you’ve looked back on their career, they know you are someone who is deeply interested in learning and exploring knowledge.

Why would anyone want to be a mentor!

Most established filmmakers remember how hard their first feature was. They remember who helped them. They're often willing to guide others, if approached thoughtfully. The key word there is "thoughtfully."

Maybe it’s not a filmmaker but someone who runs finance for films. It could be an executive in the film industry. No matter what, all those people went through struggles to get there, and they usually remember the handful of people who really helped them along the way. This is why they are usually willing to help others. However, don’t take that to mean they will help YOU. You have to find the right mentor like they find the right mentee.

Sometimes the best mentor relationships develop naturally through collaboration. I've found some of my best mentors by bringing them into projects where I knew I needed their expertise. It wasn't just about getting their help, it was about learning through doing. This can come from different ways. If you are a producer, bringing on a “bigger” producer to your project not only helps move your project forward but then also we find a “coach” too.

It goes in circles

The mentor-mentee relationship often becomes cyclical. As you gain experience, you start mentoring others while still learning from those ahead of you. It's how our industry grows stronger, through this continuous chain of shared knowledge.

Because someday, you'll be the one helping the next generation of filmmakers avoid the pitfalls you once faced. That's how our industry gets better - one relationship, one lesson, one film at a time.

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