How Idolizing Your Heroes Makes Filmmaking Feel Impossible
Your heroes aren’t superhuman and that’s good news for your creative journey.
Sponsored by Craftsman Films
What separates struggling indie producers from those building sustainable careers? According to producer Daren Smith (4 features, multiple theatrical releases, and a $10M fund in the works), it all comes down to one thing: trust.
In his new free book, The Producer’s Path: From Chasing Money to Creative Freedom, Daren breaks down the transformation every filmmaker must go through to earn trust—from investors, collaborators, and audiences—and how that trust becomes the foundation for lasting creative autonomy.
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Your Favorite Filmmaker Is Just a Person
When I watch 2001: A Space Odyssey it’s mind boggling that something of that magnitude could be created in 1968.
For many years, I held my favorite filmmakers in such high regard that they became these larger than life myths that created unfathomable films beyond my grasp.
The issue is that putting any human on a pedestal like this is dangerous and people become codependent and cannot hear any criticism of their work.
Not only that, it holds us back as creatives when we consider our favorite filmmakers to be these gods.
This all changed when I stumbled across a video of Virgil Abloh, the late founder of Off-White and artistic director of Louis Vuitton's menswear.
He emphasized the importance of reading autobiographies of creatives because it helps demystify the process and shows that the people we idolize were just regular individuals who figured things out over time.
One of his key ideas was that creativity isn’t about being a genius from day one — it’s about consistently working, experimenting, and not being afraid to start.
When you read biographies, it makes people human. You can see how they actually did it. It removes the mystery and makes your dreams actually feel possible.
And I picked up the autobiography of one of my favorite filmmakers, David Lynch. He is someone whose work I’ve admired for years and the way he presents himself makes it easy to view him as an otherworldly enigma.
Sure enough though, the autobiography gave me the ability to see behind the curtain and see him for how he truly is. A real human being with his own failures and shortcomings along with all the amazing work he has produced.
A section that sticks out in my memory is him discussing how after filming one of his features he hurt his back so badly that he had to lie on the ground in his house for days. Even having to crawl to tell his son goodnight in bed.
These are the types of stories you don’t hear filmmakers tell on press tours.
Once I made this mindset shift it really helped me unlock a whole new level of creativity in my work and actually believe I could achieve the dreams I have set out for myself.
So this week I encourage everyone to pick out one of their filmmaking heroes and make it your mission to dive into the internet archives, read an autobiography, or go down a YouTube rabbit hole to learn more about their actual life.
Shifting your perspective could be the key to gaining newfound confidence in your filmmaking career.
My biggest criticism of a lot of film "lovers" is that they base their liking of a movie on who made it. Not how good it is. And can't accept that not every movie their hero makes, isn't great or even good.