Peter Jackson doing what he does best. Directing. Photo: Andy Zeigert

Here’s an interesting read. An interview with Peter Jackson from the DGA (Director’s Guild of America). I have always held most interest in film out of any are of media. I haven’t really set any career goals though, perhaps I am trying to avoid disappointment as it is a very hard industry to make it in. But I guess that’s just life. Nothing comes free, maybe I just need to go and do it. The point is, I love hearing from experts and what they have to say. From their way of life, their upbringings, how they got into the industry and most of all, their job. Peter Jackson has always been forthcoming with this sort of information (6,000,000 hours of behind the scenes content for The Lord of the Rings proves this) and I feel that it’s a great opportunity to get an insight into the industry.

For anyone interested in making films or joining the industry, it could definitely be a worthwhile investment. I love the way Peter keeps himself removed from the glam of Hollywood (what a load of rubbish, at least as removed as humanly possible for a multi-academy-award-winning director), and the fact that he uses his homeland for everything he can, keeping a great work-life balance. I think anyone would love to make the money he does and experience what he does and live five minutes away from their workplace.

Another thing that makes Peter interesting (okay, so what, heaps of directors and film producers are like him), is the fact that he has not gone through traditional cinema education. Maybe it’s for the better:

We didn’t have any film schools. In America they had them, yeah, but I was a kid growing up in New Zealand, and there was no possibility in my mind that I would ever go to a film school in America. It would have been like going to the moon. There’s something about being here in New Zealand, a certain isolation, and back in the ’60s and ’70s, it was even more isolated than it is now.

This sort of attitude is admirable, and desirable. To be able to back yourself and dive into a project or career path without any real “guidelines” of sorts, that’s a credit to you. It also ties into immersing yourself in the world and the experience. Something that ties back a little to the Symposium Mark I and what Adrian discussed:

“OK, I’m going to teach myself. I’m just going to grab a camera and do it. There’s a very go-to kind of attitude in New Zealand that stems from that psyche of being quite isolated and not being able to rely on the rest of the world’s infrastructure.”

I think it’s great. Inspiration. Motivational. Reading things like this really helps to inspire me, I love to immerse myself in things like that and I think it’s something everyone should do when you get a chance. Be passionate, enthusiastic and jump in. Not just on-board.