Did You Know . . .

In my slump of motivation, or when facing a writer's block, I like to look toward the creators of my field, and remind myself that they were not handed their reputations, they worked for it.

Just a few fun factoids about some of America's greatest film makers:

1. Jerry Bruckheimer and Michael Mann are both 1st generation Americans; children of immigrants

2. Michael Bay was reject by USC Film School and other reputable film colleges. And he made the Got Milk commercials!

3. Tony Scott likes to use lots of camera and angles on set, instead of more takes, because he finds that chemistry between actors is sometimes "magical".

4. After earning a scholarship from Disney, Tim Burton's first job in animation was working as a cell painter on Ralph Bakshi's The Lord of the Rings.

5. Stanley Kubrick once considered a career as a drummer. He was also obsessed with playing chess growing up.

6. Martin Scorsese wanted to become a priest, but ditched the seminary for film school.

7. Quentin Tarantino was just a guy working at a video store before he wrote his first screenplay, at the recommendation of producer Lawrence Bender.

8. Robert Rodriguez made his first major feature film with a budget of $7,000, and won the Audience Award at the Sundance Film Festival.

9. After seeing the film Star Wars in 1977, James Cameron quit his job as a truck driver to enter the film industry.

10. After acting in a handful of movies uncredited, Clint Eastwood finally got credited to Ambush at Cimarron Pass, which he has dismissed as "probably the lousiest Western ever made." After being depressed by this, he briefly considered quitting the business.

Inspiring, yes? I bet you've made a mental note to give these guys more credit the next time you watch their movies. ;)