In high school I remember smart mouth kids saying “If you can’t do, teach.”

 For some reason, they were taking digs at my English teacher that day. She was a young woman, twenty something and was still in her first three years of teaching. A woman who spent her college career with the goal of educating these smart mouth brats. I wish I could smack all of them. But thankfully, they were quiet during class. 

Now as I am teaching, How to Break into the Film Industry, I wonder how many students have that thought running through their mind. I know all the steps they need to follow. I know how hard the journey is they must take if they want to be successful. But why didn’t I do it?

First, no one showed me. 

I didn’t get an 85 page slide show presentation breaking everything down. The internet was in its infancy; the trades were only available in magazines and I didn’t even know that was a thing. Living in South Florida might as well have been another world compared to California. The internet was in its infancy and trying to navigate it to find websites and information was basically spy work. 

No wonder why millennials can search out a human who thinks they have no online footprint with ease.

In that 85 page slide show I have links that direct students where to find casting class, production jobs, and locations to submit scripts. Those didn’t even exist really until a decade ago.

Secondly, I chose a school that was more about film theory than the physical creation of movies. That’s my fault 110%. FAU is ten minutes from the beach. I didn’t take college seriously. I just wanted to be done with my four years and I allowed other people to distract me. I worried about dating, partying, and traveling. I would never regret traveling the world. That is something I would still want to do. But partying and dating those were a waste of time. A waste of my location. 

Living in South Florida gave me an opportunity others didn’t have. I was close to the Miami Heat, Dolphins, Marlins, and the Panthers. Games were held nearly every day. I could have started doing grunt work and found my way into directing live sports events. At least I would have been on my path rather than waiting for an opportunity to come to me. It’s easy to look back twenty years later and think about how I should have sought them out while I was in school instead of heading to Ft. Lauderdale for other fun reason. 

Maybe that’s why I have put so much work into explaining to my students how to follow their dream. I need a big sign that says DON’T GET DISTRACTED.  

At one point, after a bunch of personal shit went down, I made it out to California. I met with kids going to Film school and talked to them. I learned they were in their third year and just starting film theory classes that I had already covered in my freshmen year. So there was a give and take. It’s also where I discovered I hated LA. It was like a far dirtier Miami. After a month meeting people with the same passion as I had, I learned I didn’t have the passion to sell my soul to the Gold Coast. I was east coast through and through. 

Being out there also taught me I loved writing; however, I enjoyed working in news. I missed the world of live theater and broadcast news blended my passions into one. 

I had to make the best of my degree: Communications and New Media. 

Filling my classes with subjects I was passionate about because I knew I wasn’t giving up my life to make movies. I wasn’t gypsy enough to worry about living job to job, moving my life around. If I wanted to do that, I would have joined the Air Force, and at least with that job, I wouldn’t have had to worry about a paycheck. 

With my students, I sit down with them, breaking down each college they are looking at, showing them what classes are offered. Do those classes meet their passion? Because recruiters talk a big game. They make their school look like the best no matter what. Thorough analysis into that is what it takes for a student to discover if the school is truly offering the subjects they want to learn.  

But what does this all have to do with the saying “If you can’t do, teach.” 

Well, I could do it. I did do it. And I learned I didn’t want to. Making films in school was more fun than 12 hour set days worried about if we went over budget and would get dropped. There was no fear of living paycheck to paycheck and hunting for the next job. And after working in broadcast for so many years, I was tired and ready for something fun. 

So maybe the saying is true for some teachers, but those ones don’t last. We can do it. We just don’t want to anymore. 

P.S. 30 days left of work until I get two months off…. Bliss!