The Painful Truth About Filmmaking No One Tells You When You're Just Starting Out

YouTuber and independent filmmaker Darious Britt is back, this time with some hard truths about independent filmmaking that are sure to be painful to hear for anybody just starting with making their own films. Despite the bleak outlook, this video is one of the most inspiring things you'll see this week. Take a look.

The painful truth is this: filmmaking -- particularly the independent variety -- is an uphill battle, and that's putting it mildly. For most of us, every step along the way will be fraught with unforeseen obstacles, most of which we won't have the proper time, money, or physical resources to solve. Some of these obstacles are technical, and can be solved with some ingenuity and a few healthy strips of gaffer's tape.

However, many of them are far more debilitating, especially from a psychological perspective. When financing falls through, when crowdfunding campaigns fail, when important actors and crew members seemingly disappear off the face of the earth without so much as a text message, when you finally finish your film and nobody watches it (or worse, people watch it and tell you it sucks), and when all of these things are piling up, and it feels like you've seemingly wasted months or years of your life on this project, it's pretty easy to wonder whether or not it's prudent to consider a different line of work.

On top of all that, the business of independent filmmaking is perilous -- cutthroat even. And again, that's putting it mildly. If you get into independent filmmaking because you think it's a viable way to make a stable living, you're in for a rude and upsetting awakening. Though the internet has democratized the distribution process, and filmmakers can now distribute their own films, the chances of making your money back and turning a profit are bleak. Honestly, if a payday is your goal, you're probably better off spending your budget on a pile of lottery tickets.

Where's the upside in all of this doom and gloom, you ask? Well, the upside is this: for people who are intent on making films -- people for whom filmmaking isn't just a hobby, but a calling, people with something important to say and the desire to say it through film -- for those people, filmmaking has never been more accessible. The technology is getting less expensive and more powerful every year, and the internet makes it possible to get your films in front of the people who want to see them.

All of this is to say that if film is your passion, you can make it happen. There will be obstacles, and overcoming them will probably suck. But in the words of a fictional football coach with a penchant for inspiring speeches, "Clear eyes. Full hearts. Can't lose."

Source: D4Darious