First ask your self, "where do I want to be in the film industry" above the line, Producer, Director, Writer, etc or below the line, marketing, Compositor etc? Because the industry really is an industry, craftmens are being contracted.
If you want to be a filmmaker and want to direct, (above the line=creativity) my suggestion to you is to read as many short stories until you find a story that really moves you. Also, keep in mind if it's something you could do. After you find the story start breaking the short story down into a screenplay form, no more than fifteen to twenty minutes long. At least it's practice in hearing your voice within and adapting (good) literature. Or scratch this idea entirely and do you're own script. But if it's your own script make sure it's good. And the way to test that is to hand it out to several people you know (ones that like to read) and have them read it. If one doesn't like it, one opinion, but if two or more have read your script and don't like it, you might need to go to the drawing board. The script might need some work.
The most common things that I find in wanna be filmmakers is that they really have no strong conviction or strong opinions about the films they've seen. Look at Martin Socresse. Of course we all have our favorite movies that we enjoy seeing and have a reason, but an average audience, they see a movie and they either like it or don't like it. That's it for them. But you have to know why indepth why you like or dislike a movie. Don't be superficial about it, like the acting was great or the visual effects were wonderful. Find that personal thing about that movie WHY? Create the "objective eye". Appreciation for FILM. Film is the most expensive art form out there and everyones definition of art is different.
Oliver Stone said, "You can make a bad movie from a good script, but you can't make a good movie from a bad script."
Most bad movies are usually bad because the scripts or the content in it is uninteresting. Weak charactor set up or terrible pacing. I recently saw the movie "Cold Mountain". After seeing the movie my first thought was, "this is a producer's movie". Anytime a movie wins an awards on performance and nothing else, anyway the movie was just a subject matter that did not interest me, maybe because it was a period piece, but I liked "Gone With The Wind". Cold Mountain garrished on this long drawn out emotional distant relationship that was trying to be epic, but then came to a cliched conclusion and in the process have other charators that really didn't add anything to the overall scheme of things. That's my opinon in a nutshell.
Anyways, back to the short story. Now decide if this is something that you could do. Don't think of budget at all. Tell a good story. You're a filmmaker=Storyteller. Determine what genre it would be catorgized. Then, go out and rent three movies in that genre, (movies from your library) pick two that you've already seen, one you liked and one you didn't like. For your third, select one that you haven't seen. I have a list of questions that you can ask yourself as you watch those movies, I will post at a later date. (If it's Comedy I wish you good luck). Horror and Dramas are probably easier to do.
I'm tired. I'll continue my thoughts tommorrow. Goodnight
