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:
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.The people who’ve lived through t…
