Ava DuVernay: Advice to a New Filmmaker

Words of wisdom from the dynamic director of Selma and A Wrinkle in Time.

Ava DuVernay is supremely talented filmmaker and storyteller whose movie credits include I Will Follow, Middle of Nowhere, Selma, and the upcoming major studio film A Wrinkle in Time. She also created and exec produces the OWN network TV series ‘Queen Sugar’.

The other day, Ava tweeted this:

Since it’s such great advice, but hard to read via Twitter, I’ve reproduced Ava’s comment here:

Some great practical advice, but I zeroed in on these words of wisdom:

“Remind yourself why you’re telling this story every morning on the way to set. Why it’s important to you. What you want to say. Every morning.”

That’s not only important for a movie director, but for screenwriters as we work our way through a scripted project. It’s easy to get lost. If you KNOW what it is you want to say and remind yourself of that every day before you start your writing session, you not only minimize the risk of losing yourself in the process, you also stand a good chance of getting energized, empowered by the same inspiration which got your creative juices flowing in the first place.

Here’s the latest trailer for A Wrinkle in Time:

With that cast, a script by Jennifer Lee, and directed by Ava DuVernay, this looks like an awesome movie.

I was fortunate to interview Ava back in 2013 right before she got involved with the Selma project. I could tell even then from our conversation and her first two indie films that she would be a cinematic force of nature… which she has turned out to be.

To read my interview with Ava, go here.

Twitter: @ava, @WrinkleInTime.