One of the many pleasures of working in film is that you get to meet a lot of people. Especially when you work freelance, you constantly have to adapt to different characters, moods and ways of telling a story. You can always learn something new – and in those rare cases where you end up with a unpleasant director, you know that it will be only temporarily.

When I started working, sending out CVs, making phone-calls, I thought that ability was the most important factor when chosing someone to workon a film, and personality came in as an added bonus. As I have slowly moved up the ladder from runner to spark to clapper/loader to focus-puller and now cameraman (thus being in the position that I can chose people for my team), I have learned an important lesson. It’s that ability is simply taken for granted, and character is paramount. Sometimes you have to work under great pressure, and then you just have to trust your assistants. You cannot afford to have doubt entering your mind.

In the end it comes down to a single concept: respect. Respect the people you work for, respect those you work with, and respect yourself.

When I first started considering working as a cameraman, I had the dream that one day I might invite “my” director to my house to cook dinner and talk about the next project. As it turned out, this was to be; albeit some unexpected changes. The director I work most often with, I married 7 years ago. We try not to talk about work too often over dinner, as the kids think that is boring.

Just now I returned from a pleasant evening with another director. Drinking some wheat beer and some English ale, we listened to good music, ate sun dried tomatoes on bread and finally he showed me a great film noir, Double Indemnity.

Bottom line: know your stuff, be respectful, enjoy your job.

When you work in a creative field – or maybe in any field – how do you measure your success? And what is success? Those artists who are successful in their lifetimes are often forgotten in later centuries; and vice versa. Just think Kafka, who wanted his work do be destroyed ( – though Mozart, as often wrongly assumed, did not die poor.) Many a famous writers are long forgotten. (And who bothers to watch E.T. these days?)
Are those people who are paid most automatically best at their jobs? Is James Cameron one of the best film directors? Or just one of the most ruthless ones?

But more to the point; while you are a struggling artist (be that an Actor/Actress, Photographer, Script writer, Director, or even Producer) – how do you know if you are good at your job (and just not yet discovered)? more…