Jason Reitman Quotes

To answer the question, though: I didn't always want to direct. I just liked the idea of it. If a friend was making a short and needed someone who knew screen direction, I would jump in. It would be horrible, but it led to a short, then another, and another. It was like student films.

I have a memory, and I can just eliminate mistakes when they come up because I've already made them.

Television and cable have become the new independent films, in a sense, for writers and actors to gravitate towards. That's why I like short films, too; I love doing readings, audio books, working with young filmmakers; anything that keeps you from getting blase about yourself or in a rut.

Right before 'American Dreams,' I started to pursue these avenues, like short films and getting into a couple night courses to really study photography and cinematography, and the language of visual storytelling.

Of course it's important to make mistakes, as long as you grow from them.

I did a lot of short films online, so I come from that background where a lot of people see your stuff.

After a couple of attempts at making shorts, I decided to make a feature film with a friend, Tom Hall, whom I've worked with ever since.

My time in documentaries was very educating, in terms of life experience as well as the filmmaking side of it.

The key is when we make mistakes, we want to be able to correct them and we also want to be able to learn from them so that we do not make the same mistake twice.

In India, we always look at feature films as a progression over short films. But, abroad, people make a living making short films. The revenue might not be as much as in feature films, but the return on investment is good.

I made a lot of short films before making a feature film. Actually, I learnt film-making by making short films.

Whenever I can make it work out, and schedule permitting, I like to help young filmmakers.

I started doing non-surf stuff like commercials, short films, and music videos and just started expanding my filmmaking that way. I started doing that more for a career: you know, it was paying the bills, and it was challenging. I was stimulated by it.

When I did my first film, I didn't have formal training; I didn't work under any director. I really didn't know how to make a film.

I am blessed that I have worked with great filmmakers and, in that process, I have learned a lot. Be it Sanjay Leela Bhansali, Ali Abbas Zafar, Ashim Ahluwalia or Nagesh Kukunoor, they have all taught me something new.

I tend to learn from mistakes that I've made. Even though it sucks to make bad choices, sometimes it's good to fail.

I think as you make mistakes, the No. 1 thing you've got to do is learn from them and not just make excuses for them. I've made more than anybody, probably.

Because I didn't go to film school, you learn so much from a lot of creative artists.

It's a do-it-yourself kind of era with these pieces and bits of technology called iPhones. You can film your own stuff and throw it up on YouTube, I think is just a fantastic novelty and opportunity for young actors, young filmmakers to learn and hone their craft.

So, if you haven't picked up some tips during an apprenticeship like that, you shouldn't be directing. It doesn't mean you can do it, but it loads you up with information.

I think I did fifteen long features and fifteen documentaries, or something like this, which is very little when you think of people making a film every year. Some people have done fifty or sixty films.

I always feel like I learn more from directors that are new, and I also am able to understand how much I really do know about filmmaking when you work with directors that maybe don't have as much experience, so you're able to sort of take the reins. I know how to do these movies, I've done so many of them and have learned from new directors who are usually willing to try new things and are more open to allowing someone like me to kind of come in and just do what I know how to do.

It’s necessary but not sufficient to learn and then work. You must learn from the work and learn while you work.

To learn anything other than the stuff you find in books, you need to be able to experiment, to make mistakes, to accept feedback, and to try again. It doesn't matter whether you are learning to ride a bike or starting a new career, the cycle of experiment, feedback, and new experiment is always there.

The central problem of an education based upon experience is to select the kind of present experience that live fruitfully and creatively in subsequent experiences.