Seventeen Takeaways From My Columbia Class

I just wrapped my Chaos to Creation: Finding Your Path in a Changing Industry class at Columbia’s Film School.

I teach it to give young filmmakers a clear view of how content and distribution are shifting and where the real opportunities actually are.

This year I brought in six sharp operators from the creator economy who pushed the students and pushed me too. They all came back to the same point. Storytelling sits at the center of everything, and hearing that from people building the future of the industry landed was inspiring even if they weren’t all bullish on the traditional formats and distribution systems.

The dirty little secret is that I learn as much as the students do teaching this class.

Here are some of the broader lessons that hit me this year:

1. The gender ratio was off. That changes next year.
   My one female guest canceled last minute but still one out of six is unacceptable. Next year the lineup flips and the majority of voices will be women.

2. The people who’ve lived through the most disruption treat failure as maintenance.
   It isn’t emotional or dramatic. It’s part of the workflow, which gives them an advantage in a landscape that never settles.

3. Creator-led studios are now the real entry-level employers.
   They hire fast, promote fast, and give young talent authorship from day one.

4. The process is part of the product.
   Creators build trust by showing the work as it evolves. The “making-of” often becomes the driver of the project itself.

5. No one assumes platforms will stay stable.
   Algorithms, revenue models, and distribution rules shift too often. Careers are being anchored to systems and audiences instead of platforms.

6. Experience didn’t create caution. It created comfort with chaos.
   The veterans weren’t waiting for things to stabilize. They built habits and workflows that function no matter what changes next.

7. “Creator” has no fixed definition.
   It stretches from operator to founder to storyteller depending on the person. It is becoming shorthand for people running creative businesses end-to-end.

8. Editors now hold the highest-leverage entry role.
   They sit closest to pacing, performance, and audience behavior. Their decisions shape how stories land.

9. Speed beats polish.
   Momentum creates more opportunity than perfection. People who ship consistently learn in public and move ahead faster.

10. Teams matter more than ideas.
    Every guest talked about people, workflows, and structure before they talked about concepts. A strong team can elevate almost anything.

11. The most interesting opportunities are in formats most people ignore.
    Microdramas, social-first scripted, hybrid nonfiction. These are the lanes growing fastest.

12. Adaptability beats the résumé.
    Guests cared about how quickly someone could adjust to new tools and rhythms. They need collaborators who shift gears in days, not months.

13. Versatility is a career accelerator.
    Moving across formats, runtimes, and roles creates more momentum than staying in one lane.

14. Creative training needs to evolve.
    Speed, iteration, and audience awareness are baseline skills now. Work gets built inside live feedback loops, not behind closed doors.

15. Career momentum comes from consistent output.
    Not luck. Not a single breakthrough. Reps build instinct and unlock the next opportunities.

16. Format mobility is becoming a core skill.
    Short-form, long-form, vertical, horizontal, scripted, unscripted. The guests moved between them without friction. That flexibility is a competitive advantage as boundaries dissolve.

17. Reinvention wasn’t a big moment. It was routine.
    In legacy environments, guardrails shape the moves. In the creator economy, you build the structure yourself and adapt as it shifts. The operators who thrive treat change as part of the job.

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