A strange trend...

[Hal Smith]

IMHO It's all about story-telling. If you're a story teller then you'll find a niche in the film-making world that fits your other skills. I'm primarily a geek in many ways but have discovered I'm also a good writer. So I've started to downplay the physical making of films as an end in itself and increasingly make them in my mind while putting them down on paper.

 

PS: I know several professional actors quite well and if David's got name actors suggesting he try his hand at directing he should do it. Actors are very opinionated about direction and I can't imagine an actor saying "you should direct" to anyone they wouldn't want to direct them personally. For myself I started to look seriously at writing when a reputable critic who I otherwise admire and respect encouraged me because he told me I was a born storyteller.

[Jamie Metzger]

There is something to learn from every postion on a film set. Why not give every job a try, and see what's required to be the best.

 

I believe that the new, cheap, VDSLR isn't helping the director/cinematographer relationship. I also think that confident DP's can see no reason to work with a director on a music video per se, since in my experience directors don't do much on the day of.

[Thomas James]

I think all this high definition television and Blu-Ray is very well and good and I think I'm glad to say good riddance to the crummy interlace analog 480i television. And I welcome the big screen formats such as IMAX, Showscan and 4K. However in order to be a real film maker you have to be able to put together a story otherwise you are merely a technician rather than an artist.