The crucial advice Steven Spielberg has for young directors looking for work
It’s not a coincidence that so many of cinema’s legendary directors are devoted students of celluloid, with that encyclopaedic knowledge of the artform serving them very well. Steven Spielberg has his concerns for future generations, though, but the veteran is happy to impart them with words of wisdom.
Of course, it isn’t a requirement for any aspiring filmmaker to steep themselves in the history of the moving image, with creativity and talent a more than acceptable substitute. On the other hand, it definitely helps to be aware of what’s come before when trying to make something that doesn’t only exist in the present, but can potentially endure for years to come.
It might be a sweeping generalisation, but there’s a concern among cinema’s elder statesmen that a combination of social media and streaming isn’t just shortening attention spans and reducing the must-see aspect of the cinematic experience, but actively dissuading young people from checking out older films.
As it turns out, Spielberg probably wouldn’t hire anyone who isn’t at least aware of classics from days gone by, offering advice that demands to be taken on board. “That’s what I say to film students when they say, ‘How do I get a job?’. and I say, ‘Well it’s easy to get a job if you write because if they buy your script you can insist on directing, or you can just take your device and go out and make a little movie, anybody can do that today,'” he explained. “But I also say, ‘You need to look at the old films.'”
That wasn’t the first time Spielberg urged the youth of today to brush up on decades of cinema, with the bearded icon echoing very similar points to the American Film Institute, where he lamented how knowledge of the medium’s formative years is in danger of being completely overlooked.
“I come into contact with a lot of young people, and I found a lot of these people know all of my movies, really, better than I do, and they know all of Marty’s films, and they know all of Brian De Palma’s films, and George Lucas’ films, and Quentin Tarantino’s films,” he said. “But what’s happening is they don’t know much beyond that. I say, ‘What are your favourite films from the old days, from the black and white days of the 30s and 40s?’. I don’t get a lot of answers.”
While many of his contemporaries have been more open in blasting the current state of the industry and the taste audiences have developed, it’s perfectly on-brand for Spielberg to be a great deal more encouraging when it comes to assessing the problems he sees lurking in cinema’s immediate future.
