Read Ava DuVernay’s letter to a first time filmmaker and collect advice for your feature

I’ve said it many times before through the newsletter or here, Ava DuVernay changed my life and the way I think of my career with her first keynote speech at Film Independent in 2013. So it came as little surprise to me to see her grow and build her career the way she said she would, and become one of the most prolific filmmaker, from Netflix to Disney and OWN, being vocal about topics that matter and following her flow such as hiring an all-women directorial team for her show Queen Sugar.

It is also no surprise that DuVernay would email a young filmmaker seeking advice before shooting her first feature film and would then share the letter with everyone, for us all to benefit from her knowledge. DuVernay replied with a list of thoughts presented as bullet points, 14 in total.

You can see her tweet right below, and discover a reproduction of the letter right after. Enjoy:

Just came across an email I sent to a new filmmaker last year who sought advice on shooting her first feature. Maybe it can be helpful to someone else out there. xo pic.twitter.com/e64y1jDaLl — Ava DuVernay (@ava) 26 novembre 2017