I’m a self-taught filmmaker I never went
to film school I never studied
filmmaking in any way I am a big
believer in being a sincere about your
passion for something pretty much every
film I’ve ever worked on at every scale
has had massive stakes to it one way or
another all filmmaking is intelligent
compromise that’s the whole process we
go through I grew up loving Hollywood
blockbusters and for me it’s really a
process of trying to recreate that mad
magic it’s most important to just throw
yourself into just just putting
everything into the the project you’re
working on here’s an English American
film director screenwriter and producer
is one of the highest-grossing directors
in history and among the most successful
film makers of the 21st century his nine
films have grossed over 4.2 billion
dollars worldwide
he’s Christopher Nolan and here is my
take on his top 10 rules for success I’m
a self-taught filmmaker I never went to
film school I never studied filmmaking
in any way I started making films when I
was a kid when I was think 7 years old
making films using my dad’s super 8
camera and action figures doing
stop-motion films a little bit of
animation on the set amount of live
action and I just carried on making
films as I grew up and over the years
they got bigger hopefully better but but
more elaborate and it never really was a
period of my life I completely stopped
doing so I was always moving up
eventually from super 8 to 16 millimeter
films and then I think what following
represents is kind of the the peak of
what I was able to do on my own or just
with friends just using our own
resources and boring equipment and sort
of using the things around us to make a
film I am a big believer in being
sincere about your passion for something
and I do love all types of cinema but at
the same time when I come to do a
project I never want to be doing a
project to just for example to show
versatility I wouldn’t do a project for
that reason so
I think all the films I’ve made I like
to think that they’re connected in
certain ways but they’re all so
different from each other
that’s as best as I can put it so I’d
like to continue working along those
lines really with a view first and
foremost of being sincere in my passion
for the project because each film you
take on of whatever scale it’s played
out up no it’s it’s a couple years of my
life sometimes more so you really want
to be passionate about what it is that
you’re doing do you ever come up with
ideas when you’re writing a script that
even scare you in terms of not be able
to pull it off ah yeah I mean the really
that’s the challenge I mean as a writer
I try and take my directors hat off and
not be afraid and just say I want to
write the most exciting thing most
unexpected thing I can think of for the
story then I pick up the script again
and put the directors hat back on and go
okay how the hell am I going to do that
and that’s when you know you’re in a
good place because every film you want
to be challenging yourself you want to
do something different well what we were
able to do is look look back and this is
something I like to do instead of
looking back at the great achievements
of the past and avail ourselves of those
techniques so miniature work motion
control things like that the Pioneer but
then combining that with today’s
technology which allows you to composite
things in a particular way you CG in a
particular way to enhance those types of
effects so we really tried to build on
what’s been done before but add our own
techniques to it there are quite a few
things in the film that have never been
done before and may may never be done
again and open but certainly mixing and
varying our techniques using some old
some new I think helps really disguise
the trickery involved in the film
because obviously it’s all you know
artificial the end of the day but it
felt real to us making it hopefully it
feels real to the audience watching it
what inspires me
more and more real life inspires me but
but what inspired me to begin with it
was just as so many of you are just a
huge film fan the films of posit
primarily release God you know Blade
Runner was Ivelisse influence on me make
some Stanley Kubrick Terrence Malick
Nicolas Roeg just the extraordinary work
of the body and very directors I think
primarily and I know that almost
anybody’s so here today we have talked
about see Star Wars for the first time
because for my generation that truly was
a watershed moment and something that
that fed my initial enthusiasm for look
for making films and stuck with it but I
think that as they get older and as
apparently opportunity to make more
films which I feel very grateful for
more and more I find that real life
my life inspires we wanna try and work
that more into the material I work well
I you know it’s it’s funny there is
massive pressure on a smaller film as
well it’s pretty much every film I’ve
ever worked on at every scale has had
massive stakes to it one way or another
I think for me I don’t think uh very
well in terms of scale it’s all about is
there a story of a set of characters
that interest me I think the process has
been really the same process on on every
film I’ve done I always liked film noir
and crime fiction as a as a way of
extrapolating your your own life your
own neurosis or whatever and making it
accessible and make it something that
people could care about and I really
gravitated towards that jar and still do
frankly but but very much at the time I
felt very young and very inexperienced I
felt that my own life and the things I
soar in the world were not going to be
of interest to people but they felt
interesting to me and so I was looking
for a language I was looking for honor
in which I could take things that I was
interested in and make them accessible
make them interesting to other people
and I think that the crime genre of the
film are and I think that’s the way it
works it’s characters are defined
through action double-cross things
they’re doing to each other your your
particular fears about whatever it is
your life your relationships whatever
those things aren’t the best for wise
always been very firmly founded on on
those relatable fears taking into the
realm of I mean I suppose you call it
melodrama or heightened reality or
whatever that is and I felt as a young
filmmaker starting out trying to do
something with very little resources I
felt much more comfortable working in
the the area of sort of heightened
reality that a crime story they don’t
you know it’s a well because all
filmmaking is intelligent compromise
that’s the whole process we go through
you never have enough
I mean call a bit without for this no
matter what your budget is you never
have enough time you never have money
that’s you’re in the so it’s weird when
you’re doing a huge film you’re in the
same position anywhere
you were doing a tiny film it’s you’re
always and there’s a good reason for
that you’re always trying to get as much
on screen as you possibly can and so
whatever the the box that’s built for
you by the economics of the project
you’re always trying to push up against
those those walls and so you need help
from your team in terms of how you
arrange things and how you make that
work I’ve been very fortunate with you
know the breadth of the audience we’ve
managed to get for some of some of our
films ultimately really well I could say
that was I try not to separate the two
things I try not to separate my love for
very sophisticated esoteric filmmakers
people I grew up watching like Nicolas
Roeg whose films I loved I traveled to
separate that side of myself from the
side that grew up watching Star Wars and
James Bond and lying that you try to
pitch the film in the language that you
think it should be made in you try and
think of what’s the breadth of the
audience you’re making the film for but
I don’t think that needs to involve
dumbing it down or selling it out in any
way because I grew up loving Hollywood
blockbusters and for me it’s really a
process of trying to recreate that that
magic that sense of scale that sense of
immersion in a world that you grew up
with if you can bring that to filmmaking
I think you have the potential to reach
reach a wider audience with all the
films I’ve made I felt that really
trying to compliment the audience’s
intelligence trying to engage the
audience with something that’s new
different can pay great dividends
it wasn’t conscious on my part to to
have another scripts that are ready to
go by the time we went to film festivals
with following while we were finishing
up the cart on it and doing very long
slow technical finishing which one you
have no money takes forever because you
said waiting for the lab to have it you
know run the 60 ml bath you know
whatever it is in that time I was
putting together script foot for memento
and so also in the time it took to get
following noticed on the first of all
circuit so get out there I had actually
finished the script and in a retrospect
it was a massive
because I was able to say okay you like
that film this is what I want to do next
because in your best case scenario of
what can happen to you would with
putting a film out there and getting
distribution for example you’re then
asked the question okay what do you want
to do next and if you have an answer you
can use that very short window of
interest that you get from people in
what you’ve done but I will say that I
think that was purely an accident and I
think that if you were to try and plan
to you know write another script while
you’re finishing a film you really risk
taking your focus off the the project
that you’re doing and I think that it’s
most important to just throw yourself
into just just putting everything into
the the project you’re working on and
that’s something was done done since if
you can then because quite often there
is a period between finishing a project
and actually people seeing it or
actually people responding to it if you
can try and instead of going on holiday
for six months you use that period to
try and figure out what you would do
next if somebody gave you the
opportunity then then you’re going to
give yourself a huge advantage
thank you guys so much for watching we
made this video because Tim Thomson asks
us to if you’d like us to profile
another entrepreneur leave a comment
below I’d also love to know which of the
top 10 rules had the biggest impact on
you and why leave in the comments below
and we’ll join the discussion thank you
again for watching continue to believe
and we’ll see you soon
I enjoy the multi-faceted nature of the
challenge I enjoy having to be an expert
on a lot of different things or having
to pretend to be an expert on a lot of
different things one of things I love
about directing is is you don’t
specialize you you have to be able to
really think of all the different
aspects of the film at the same time
it’s also important to surround yourself
with collaborators who can take the
pressure off certain aspects of it and
castings a huge part of that you know
finding actors some of the great acts
are worked with on the Dark Knight
trilogy for example who you know they
would recognize that yes we’re also
having to worry about flipping this
truck or blowing this building up you
know whatever and so their process would
be balanced against that and working
with very generous performers was it was
a big part of that so I really do enjoy
the the challenge of putting together a
lot of different aspects of what the
project and being trying to be in
control of that and it’s it’s a really
fun thing
to film school I never studied
filmmaking in any way I am a big
believer in being a sincere about your
passion for something pretty much every
film I’ve ever worked on at every scale
has had massive stakes to it one way or
another all filmmaking is intelligent
compromise that’s the whole process we
go through I grew up loving Hollywood
blockbusters and for me it’s really a
process of trying to recreate that mad
magic it’s most important to just throw
yourself into just just putting
everything into the the project you’re
working on here’s an English American
film director screenwriter and producer
is one of the highest-grossing directors
in history and among the most successful
film makers of the 21st century his nine
films have grossed over 4.2 billion
dollars worldwide
he’s Christopher Nolan and here is my
take on his top 10 rules for success I’m
a self-taught filmmaker I never went to
film school I never studied filmmaking
in any way I started making films when I
was a kid when I was think 7 years old
making films using my dad’s super 8
camera and action figures doing
stop-motion films a little bit of
animation on the set amount of live
action and I just carried on making
films as I grew up and over the years
they got bigger hopefully better but but
more elaborate and it never really was a
period of my life I completely stopped
doing so I was always moving up
eventually from super 8 to 16 millimeter
films and then I think what following
represents is kind of the the peak of
what I was able to do on my own or just
with friends just using our own
resources and boring equipment and sort
of using the things around us to make a
film I am a big believer in being
sincere about your passion for something
and I do love all types of cinema but at
the same time when I come to do a
project I never want to be doing a
project to just for example to show
versatility I wouldn’t do a project for
that reason so
I think all the films I’ve made I like
to think that they’re connected in
certain ways but they’re all so
different from each other
that’s as best as I can put it so I’d
like to continue working along those
lines really with a view first and
foremost of being sincere in my passion
for the project because each film you
take on of whatever scale it’s played
out up no it’s it’s a couple years of my
life sometimes more so you really want
to be passionate about what it is that
you’re doing do you ever come up with
ideas when you’re writing a script that
even scare you in terms of not be able
to pull it off ah yeah I mean the really
that’s the challenge I mean as a writer
I try and take my directors hat off and
not be afraid and just say I want to
write the most exciting thing most
unexpected thing I can think of for the
story then I pick up the script again
and put the directors hat back on and go
okay how the hell am I going to do that
and that’s when you know you’re in a
good place because every film you want
to be challenging yourself you want to
do something different well what we were
able to do is look look back and this is
something I like to do instead of
looking back at the great achievements
of the past and avail ourselves of those
techniques so miniature work motion
control things like that the Pioneer but
then combining that with today’s
technology which allows you to composite
things in a particular way you CG in a
particular way to enhance those types of
effects so we really tried to build on
what’s been done before but add our own
techniques to it there are quite a few
things in the film that have never been
done before and may may never be done
again and open but certainly mixing and
varying our techniques using some old
some new I think helps really disguise
the trickery involved in the film
because obviously it’s all you know
artificial the end of the day but it
felt real to us making it hopefully it
feels real to the audience watching it
what inspires me
more and more real life inspires me but
but what inspired me to begin with it
was just as so many of you are just a
huge film fan the films of posit
primarily release God you know Blade
Runner was Ivelisse influence on me make
some Stanley Kubrick Terrence Malick
Nicolas Roeg just the extraordinary work
of the body and very directors I think
primarily and I know that almost
anybody’s so here today we have talked
about see Star Wars for the first time
because for my generation that truly was
a watershed moment and something that
that fed my initial enthusiasm for look
for making films and stuck with it but I
think that as they get older and as
apparently opportunity to make more
films which I feel very grateful for
more and more I find that real life
my life inspires we wanna try and work
that more into the material I work well
I you know it’s it’s funny there is
massive pressure on a smaller film as
well it’s pretty much every film I’ve
ever worked on at every scale has had
massive stakes to it one way or another
I think for me I don’t think uh very
well in terms of scale it’s all about is
there a story of a set of characters
that interest me I think the process has
been really the same process on on every
film I’ve done I always liked film noir
and crime fiction as a as a way of
extrapolating your your own life your
own neurosis or whatever and making it
accessible and make it something that
people could care about and I really
gravitated towards that jar and still do
frankly but but very much at the time I
felt very young and very inexperienced I
felt that my own life and the things I
soar in the world were not going to be
of interest to people but they felt
interesting to me and so I was looking
for a language I was looking for honor
in which I could take things that I was
interested in and make them accessible
make them interesting to other people
and I think that the crime genre of the
film are and I think that’s the way it
works it’s characters are defined
through action double-cross things
they’re doing to each other your your
particular fears about whatever it is
your life your relationships whatever
those things aren’t the best for wise
always been very firmly founded on on
those relatable fears taking into the
realm of I mean I suppose you call it
melodrama or heightened reality or
whatever that is and I felt as a young
filmmaker starting out trying to do
something with very little resources I
felt much more comfortable working in
the the area of sort of heightened
reality that a crime story they don’t
you know it’s a well because all
filmmaking is intelligent compromise
that’s the whole process we go through
you never have enough
I mean call a bit without for this no
matter what your budget is you never
have enough time you never have money
that’s you’re in the so it’s weird when
you’re doing a huge film you’re in the
same position anywhere
you were doing a tiny film it’s you’re
always and there’s a good reason for
that you’re always trying to get as much
on screen as you possibly can and so
whatever the the box that’s built for
you by the economics of the project
you’re always trying to push up against
those those walls and so you need help
from your team in terms of how you
arrange things and how you make that
work I’ve been very fortunate with you
know the breadth of the audience we’ve
managed to get for some of some of our
films ultimately really well I could say
that was I try not to separate the two
things I try not to separate my love for
very sophisticated esoteric filmmakers
people I grew up watching like Nicolas
Roeg whose films I loved I traveled to
separate that side of myself from the
side that grew up watching Star Wars and
James Bond and lying that you try to
pitch the film in the language that you
think it should be made in you try and
think of what’s the breadth of the
audience you’re making the film for but
I don’t think that needs to involve
dumbing it down or selling it out in any
way because I grew up loving Hollywood
blockbusters and for me it’s really a
process of trying to recreate that that
magic that sense of scale that sense of
immersion in a world that you grew up
with if you can bring that to filmmaking
I think you have the potential to reach
reach a wider audience with all the
films I’ve made I felt that really
trying to compliment the audience’s
intelligence trying to engage the
audience with something that’s new
different can pay great dividends
it wasn’t conscious on my part to to
have another scripts that are ready to
go by the time we went to film festivals
with following while we were finishing
up the cart on it and doing very long
slow technical finishing which one you
have no money takes forever because you
said waiting for the lab to have it you
know run the 60 ml bath you know
whatever it is in that time I was
putting together script foot for memento
and so also in the time it took to get
following noticed on the first of all
circuit so get out there I had actually
finished the script and in a retrospect
it was a massive
because I was able to say okay you like
that film this is what I want to do next
because in your best case scenario of
what can happen to you would with
putting a film out there and getting
distribution for example you’re then
asked the question okay what do you want
to do next and if you have an answer you
can use that very short window of
interest that you get from people in
what you’ve done but I will say that I
think that was purely an accident and I
think that if you were to try and plan
to you know write another script while
you’re finishing a film you really risk
taking your focus off the the project
that you’re doing and I think that it’s
most important to just throw yourself
into just just putting everything into
the the project you’re working on and
that’s something was done done since if
you can then because quite often there
is a period between finishing a project
and actually people seeing it or
actually people responding to it if you
can try and instead of going on holiday
for six months you use that period to
try and figure out what you would do
next if somebody gave you the
opportunity then then you’re going to
give yourself a huge advantage
thank you guys so much for watching we
made this video because Tim Thomson asks
us to if you’d like us to profile
another entrepreneur leave a comment
below I’d also love to know which of the
top 10 rules had the biggest impact on
you and why leave in the comments below
and we’ll join the discussion thank you
again for watching continue to believe
and we’ll see you soon
I enjoy the multi-faceted nature of the
challenge I enjoy having to be an expert
on a lot of different things or having
to pretend to be an expert on a lot of
different things one of things I love
about directing is is you don’t
specialize you you have to be able to
really think of all the different
aspects of the film at the same time
it’s also important to surround yourself
with collaborators who can take the
pressure off certain aspects of it and
castings a huge part of that you know
finding actors some of the great acts
are worked with on the Dark Knight
trilogy for example who you know they
would recognize that yes we’re also
having to worry about flipping this
truck or blowing this building up you
know whatever and so their process would
be balanced against that and working
with very generous performers was it was
a big part of that so I really do enjoy
the the challenge of putting together a
lot of different aspects of what the
project and being trying to be in
control of that and it’s it’s a really
fun thing
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