Stop Waiting for Permission to Do What You Love

The tools you need are already in your pocket

Last week I got another letter from an aspiring filmmaker. Same story I’ve heard a hundred times — passion for making films that “feel honest, human, and meaningful,” some mention of Netflix, the usual.

But then he said something that stopped me cold: “I don’t have many filmmaking opportunities where I live.”

And I realized he’d fallen into the same trap that catches so many creative people — waiting for someone to give them permission to start.

Start Being a Filmmaker

Here’s what I wrote back, and what I’d say to anyone who dreams of being a filmmaker, musician, writer, or any other kind of creative:

If you want to be a filmmaker, start being a filmmaker. Right now. Today. Where you live.

You don’t need a Hollywood studio. You don’t need a $100 million budget. You don’t even need fancy equipment. You have a phone? Then you have everything you need to write scripts, shoot video, edit, add effects, sync soundtracks. In short — to do actual filmmaking.

Every great filmmaker you’ve ever heard of started small. Scorsese. Tarantino. Nolan. They would have killed to have the production power you carry in your pocket every single day.

I Started Small Too

People see Netflix and assume I somehow jumped straight into building billion-dollar companies.

Not even close.

Netflix was my sixth startup. Before that, I’d already launched dozens of things — started clubs, launched student magazines, put on plays. Small stuff. Low stakes. Most of it went nowhere.

I didn’t need to ask permission or raise money. I just did them.

But here’s what those experiences gave me: how to raise money, how to get people to help me, how to figure out what actually matters and what’s just noise. The same skills I learned putting on a bad play at seventeen were the ones I leaned on when it came time to build something real. The scale changed. The stakes got higher. The fundamentals? Identical.

You learn by doing. There’s no other way.

Why Do You Actually Want This?

Here’s the uncomfortable part. Most people who say they want to be filmmakers don’t actually want to make films. They want to be rich. They want to be famous. They want to be recognized.

I get it. But the odds of achieving any of those things through creative work are vanishingly small. If that’s your primary motivation, you’re probably going to be disappointed.

If you love the craft, though — if you genuinely enjoy the process of creating, of telling stories, of making something that didn’t exist before — then nothing is stopping you from doing it right now.

Nothing.

Start Making Your Rookie Mistakes

I told him to make one complete film every week. Twenty-four hours to think about it. Twenty-four hours to film it. The rest of the week to edit and post it on YouTube.

Not finished by the end of the week? Doesn’t matter. Put it in the can and start the next one.

By this time next year, he could have fifty-two films under his belt. Will they all be good? Of course not. Most of them will probably be terrible.

But that’s exactly the point.

Make your rookie mistakes on your own time — don’t expect to make them on someone else’s dime. With each film, you get better. You learn what works. You find your voice. You build a portfolio that shows you actually know what you’re doing.

The only person holding you back is you.

One More Thing

Here’s something I’ve noticed — with this kind of creative, with first-time founders, with anyone who’s been sitting on an idea waiting for the right moment: the moment you just start doing the work, something changes. Not in your circumstances. In how you see yourself.

You’re not someone who wants to be a filmmaker someday. You’re someone who is already making films.

That’s a different person. Go be that person.