I didn't always want to be a filmmaker. But I always wanted to be a creative. My attraction to cinema as my primary medium was a gradual process, the result of my lifelong fascination with storytelling and a steady diet of film viewing throughout my adolescence. There was a time when I was intimidated by the small percentage of people who seem to achieve notable success in the film industry. I thought being a director was one of the dream jobs that many aspired to but few ever achieved. However, as I have learned more about the film industry, I have discovered that there are more opportunities in this field than ever before. Like many others, filmmaking is a profession that rewards in proportion to the time and dedication put into it. More than any other participant, except perhaps the writer, directors are responsible for guiding the creative direction of a film. In many cases, the director is the screenwriter of the film, or at least works closely with him. Directors are responsible for organizing the shooting of a film or other video production; determining how the shots will be set up, giving the actors instructions on how to play their roles, and putting the different shots together into a complete film. Much of a director's work relies on delegation and collaboration: working with actors, cinematographers, editors, composers, and hundreds of other talented people, bringing their contributions together into a finished production . In many ways, filmmakers are more akin to managers, albeit in a specialized field. Directors can come from a wide variety of backgrounds. There are a multitude of dedicated film schools in the United States today, and most colleges and universities ...... middle of paper ...... projects every few years. As long as I can work with talented actors and film professionals to tell interesting visual stories, I will be satisfied. Works Cited: Levy, Frederick. Hollywood 101: the film industry. Los Angeles: Renaissance Books, 2000. Print. Rodriguez, Robert. Rebel without a team: or how a 23-year-old filmmaker with $7,000 became a Hollywood actor. New York: Penguin Group, 1996. Print. Jarecki, Nicholas. Breaking in: how 20 directors got their start. New York: Broadway House, 2001. Print. Edgar, Tom and Karin Kelly. Film School Confidential: The Insider's Guide to Film Schools. Ed. revised. New York: Penguin Group, 2007. Print. “Actors, producers and directors”. Career Outlook Handbook, 2010-11 edition. December 17, 2009. Bureau of Labor Statistics, United States Department of Labor. March 6. 2010.