How These Future Filmmakers Learned to Fight Through the Fear
“We had hair malfunctions; we had actors who quit 30 minutes before they were supposed to show up… There were camera malfunctions, batteries lost. It was a hot mess,” said student director Sophie Mercado. “I was scared… But I it just it came together so beautifully.”
Whether you’re just starting out or have multiple successful shows and films under your belt, working through the difficulties is what allows you to grow. Mercado’s short Pressed was one of fourteen films screened at this year’s Film Independent Future Filmmaker Showcase that proved this point.
First time director Audrey Chang agreed. Her film Through My Eyes raises awareness for a rare genetic disease her sister has, and she’s already thinking of her next project. “A lot of the mistakes and things that I struggled with, I got to learn from, for the future.”
Maria Raquel Bozzi, Film Independent’s Senior Director of Education and International Programs, opened the program by describing its reach: “the journey we’re about to embark takes us from Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia to Culver City, California in just 90 minutes.” The program brought together middle and high school students from across the country and around the globe. The student directors screened their films, all selected by a committee that included youth curators.
But the Showcase was more than just a screening of films from exceptional young talent. This program was also curated by a group of students, who gained insight into what happens behind the scenes of a film festival. After the credits of the final film rolled, the students and curators got the opportunity to speak with Film Independent Fellows about building careers in film, and then sit in on a Keynote address from Roshan Sethi, a writer, director and practicing oncologist, whose films and series The Resident, 7 Days, World’s Best and A Nice Indian Boy have led him to being one of the most vital voices in Hollywood today.
In a vulnerable address, Sethi recounted some of his own failures and missteps on his path to an established Hollywood career. “I think that is actually the hardest part, when you’re early on in your creative journey, is believing in yourself in the face of indifference,” he told the students. “The number of times I felt that I didn’t have what it took and still persevered despite that feeling, is just, hard to even believe at this point.”
Coming from a formal education in medicine, writing intimidated him, and he admitted it didn’t come natural at first. “I really felt, pretty embarrassed and humiliated by those early attempts to write, because they had been met with such a solid no.”
He spoke about finding his own community after not having the support system where he came from. “There was nobody in my family was encouraging me to go into the arts,” he said. “We were children of immigrants. So [that was] the last thing an immigrant is going to do when they arrive in the country. The whole ethos is around survival.”
He ended up drawing strength from hisbackground. “I eventually found my own community by relentlessly believing in my desire to do it.” He cold emailed producers of all the top medical dramas and asked about helping out as a consultant. That (and a little white lie about his experience level) led him to finding his first mentor. She brought him on to consult on a pilot and then helped him get his first staff writing job.
To this day, Sethi finds ways to work through his anxieties. “I still make myself write for only two hours every morning… I don’t have time for self-doubt because I’m moving at such a blistering pace. So that’s one of the ways I still deal with those lingering effects of rejection.”
The keynoted reflected the journey the students had that led them from places like Baltimore or Berlin to an LA industry showcase like this. They pushed through the discomfort, and came out with films that they could be proud to show. This is just the start of their filmmaking journey, and if the keynote is any indication, all that discomfort shows they’re on the right path.
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