One of the few film making tips they'll teach you in film college is the importance of having a good story. I can't stress this enough. You MUST have a story worth telling. A typical film university will just tell you to use your imagination and be creative, but that doesn't always work.

Let me ask you a question. Let's say you went to a person's house and he started telling you about his trip to the supermarket. He started it something like this. "I went to my local ShopRite to buy some food. First, I went down the produce lane and got some bananas and oranges. Then I went to the bread aisle and picked up a loaf of whole wheat."

And this went on and on and on through his entire shopping experience. Wouldn't you be bored to tears? Would you even want to hear about his whole shopping experience? If you went to a movie and the movie itself was JUST like this, wouldn't you get up and walk out?

Okay, let's take the same premise, going shopping, but add a little twist to it that makes the story worth telling. What if the person started his story like this. "Did I ever tell you about the time when I went to the supermarket to buy a loaf of bread and came home a multi millionaire?"

Do you not think that you'd be intrigued enough to at least want to find out how this person goes to the store to buy bread and comes home a multi millionaire? I know I'd want to hear every last detail, especially if they are nice and juicy.

Okay, so right there, we have a story worth telling. That doesn't mean we can't screw up the telling of the story itself, but at least we have something to start with that has a lot of potential.

You MUST have something to tell that is going to get people interested or there is no point in telling it.

Many people are just too scared to write something in the first place because they think they aren't good enough. You'll have to overcome those fears.

Spielberg says that conquering your fears is one of the most important things you can do. There are going to be a lot of people out there who are going to tell you that making movies is too hard and that you have to be lucky to make it. They'll do everything they can to discourage you. This is one of the main reasons for fear. According to Spielberg, you need to block out this negativity and convince yourself that you can do this. Sounds corny? Tell that to Spielberg to his face.

Spielberg himself was rejected by a big film school at UCLA. Instead of giving in to his fear, he enrolled in California State University. When he only got a C in the course, he wondered if he was good enough. Again, the fear set in. But he overcame it obviously.

About the Author: Shane Boyd http://movietraining.blogspot.com/