I first got an idea of what a director does when I was in high school. It wasn't anything fancy. I was asked to direct two other students in a scene from Shakespeare's As You Like It. That's when I remembered seeing an interview with Charlie Korsmo. He described Warren Beatty's directing style for the film Dick Tracy. He said that Warren liked to let the actors run through the scene on their own first, to see how they interpreted the characters and the action, and then he would step in with his thoughts and advice and they would develop the scene together. So, I took a page from the Beatty book of directing. I let them run with it. Then I offered some advice and some direction. Before I knew it, I was acting out with them, showing them how they could really run with the scene. By the end of a single hour, I watched a couple of awkward teenagers morph into their characters.
From that point on, whenever I was involved in a production, whether it was a film or a play, I would find a free moment here and there to ask the director questions. I'd ask about their style, about working with different personality types, about dealing with actors who kept pestering them with questions. I saw every opportunity to be involved with a production as an opportunity to learn.
Whenever I worked on a video as a teenager, I was always calling the shots. I told the camera operator where to go and what to do. I was on the talent to be at their marks at the right times. I was playing the director before I even knew what a director really was. As I watch documentaries of films being made, I immediately identify with the director. When I break out a new DVD, I can't wait to watch the film with the director's commentary. Any help I can get to reverse engineer one film gives me that much of an edge when it's time for me to direct another.
I've said before that I'm willing to play any part on the set of a film, but I really enjoy the challenge of directing. The fact that one has to wear the hat of leader, diplomat and coach all at the same time, offers rewards that go beyond anything you can win at a film festival or awards show.
After my friend Jeremy Para and I completed work on my first feature, I'll never forget the look on his face as he kept saying, over and over again, "I can't believe it. We actually made a movie!" Jeremy and I were codirectors on that project. And while on the outside I was acting kind of nonchalant about it, on the inside I was jumping up and down screaming for the whole world to hear, "We made a movie!"