Hello Film Doctor friends. 

Today’s Monday Prescription does not come from the fingertips of a Film Doctor but instead from grand masters of cinema.  Yes, that’s right.  Today’s post is a guest referral (videos or essays from film greats on the craft and business of movie-making). 

This time, we focus on directors.  Here we go:

“I made my films with a kind of sleepwalking security,” says Fritz Lang. “ I did things which I thought were right.  Period.”  Thus begins this fascinating interview with the great Austrian-born director. 









The interview was conducted by William Friedkin (The French Connection, The Exorcist), in February of 1975, a little more than a year before Lang’s death.  Lang talks about his early life as a runaway – “Any decent human being should run away from home” – his entry into theatre and film as a young man, his German masterpieces Metropolis and M, and a chilling encounter in 1933 with the Nazi Minister of Propaganda Joseph Goebbels that provoked him to flee Germany the same day. 















Next is advice from David Lynch.  He addresses multiple aspects of filmmaking (even that bane of every sound person’s existence – airplanes):

Sidney Lumet briefly talks about working in film and why he prefers working with prime lenses:

Ridley Scott gives his advice to first time directors, and talks about his approach to editing:

The Film Doctor Team hope these help you gain practical and theoretical advice on the crafts of editing, writing, shooting and more.  There are libraries full of videos and books bursting with information from people who actually did it.  So, search far and wide and dig the deepest you can, to learn from the best! 

‘Monday Prescription’ No.69 – You don’t always have to learn from your own experience.  There are great filmmakers who have done it all before you and their advice is widely available. 

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Any questions/thoughts/experiences of your own???  Leave a comment below! 

Have a great week! 

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