Leadership Lessons from a Successful Hollywood Director

Tight budget. Tighter timeline. Actors. Crew. Nonstop curveballs. Huge pressure to deliver a moneymaker. What’s it like to direct a movie? I spoke with John Pogue, director of the newly released and very successful sci-fi horror thriller Deep Blue Sea 3 about his experience. (Disclosure: we are close friends from college.) As John said: “Making a movie is really a war against time.” Here are some of his hard-earned gems.

Be honest. It’s faster. “As a director, there is no filter, there is no guarding, there is just direct. Because I literally don't have time for bulls**t. It's incredible the pressure that time puts on you to be truthful. I don't beat around the bush with anything. It's very different from who I am in my personal life.”

Stay positive and professional. “I do not ever say anything negative, never. I will say, for example, that wasn't the performance I was looking for. But I will never say that was bad, this sucks. You will never see me getting angry on a set. I keep it a hundred percent positive. If I show even an inkling of negativity, it ripples through the group.”

Don’t feed conflict. “I do not have time nor interest in dealing with any smaller issues that people have with each other. I do notice them, and then I tell the first assistant director, that cannot happen again. Make them work it out. But I do not get personally involved in anything. If that happens, somebody's going to get fired.”

Treat people like professionals. “If they're auditioning or if they're applying for the job, they're already professionals. I’ve grown up as a director in these lower-budget movies, so I just don't have time to hold their hand or coddle them. I like being straightforward with people, yes-no, bad-good. I assume that they know it’s not personal.”

Don’t put up barriers to you. “I don't use an assistant. Most directors on most movies think that's ludicrous, but I found it's better for me because an assistant can be helpful, but it can also keep people from getting to you. I like people having direct contact with me.”

Make your own connections. “I always go sit at a new table every lunch. And usually, there's 30 seconds of silence when I sit down. And people are like: ‘What the f**k? We were having a great time at lunch, and then this a**hole comes and sits with us.’ But I do it very purposefully to break the ice and meet a huge diversity of people on our set.”

When it goes wrong, don’t look back, just find a way. “So much of what happens in movies is that things go wrong. This building fell down, that stunt doesn't work. This lighting panel is out, that actor is sick. Nothing ever happens the way that you expect it to. But you have to finish the scene.”

Have a crunch time before the crunch time. “Pre-production is maybe more important than actually shooting. In pre-production, I was meeting 12 hours a day. I would meet with the actors. I would meet with the cinematographer. I had six weeks of daily constant non-stop meetings. Because once you start shooting, there's no time to stop and say, well, let's talk about this.”

Don’t compromise on people. “The choice of personnel is the most crucial factor. And I’m looking for people, frankly, that will make me look good.”

Have one – and only one – most important thing. “I start every movie by gathering the entire cast and crew together. I don't even say, hey, we're excited to work on this. The first thing I always talk about is safety. I don't care if you stop the shooting, there's no excuse for not being safe on this movie, because you're hearing it directly from me.”

Don’t delegate critical things, even if they’re not glamorous. “Nobody knows the complexity of the scene as well as the director does. On some of the earlier movies that I worked on, I didn't pay enough attention to time management and scheduling and just delegated it, and that was a mistake. It’s so much a part of directing.”

Be forceful about taking care of yourself. “It’s in my contract, gym membership or treadmill, from the moment that I get there. Whether it's four in the morning or whatever, I work out every day to turn off the movie and try to clear the brain. I don't drink during shooting, because it f***s up my sleep.”

(This article was previously published on LinkedIn. https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/inside-pressure-cooker-leadership-lessons-from-hollywood-becker/)