Sage Bennett is a Big Important Director
In a world saturated with advice on how to be a director, how to succeed, how to earn respect, and how to make good work, Sage Bennett offers the final piece of advice to end all advice.
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Through absurdity, Big Important Director comments on a world flooded with “how to be” something or someone.
There’s this idea, especially on social media, that someone out there knows something you don’t, and if you just listen, you’ll get the advice that launches your career.
And while Bennett does believe there are real pieces of wisdom that can actually shift things, a lot of what we’re searching for is something you only find by doing and making. That is the best advice she’s ever gotten: just go do the thing or be the role that you want people to hire you for.
Big Important Director plays with that. It’s this figure of perceived power delivering pompous, slightly ridiculous directing advice. There are slivers of truth in it, and it’s rooted in real things, but it leans into the absurdity of the idea that there’s one voice that has all the answers.
Credits
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- Production Company Greenpoint Pictures
- Director Sage Bennett
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Credits
View on- Production Company Greenpoint Pictures
- Director Sage Bennett
- DP Rob Berry
- Editor Harry Sattler
- Colorist Rob Berry
- Talent Sage Bennett
Explore full credits, grab hi-res stills and more on shots Vault
Credits
powered by- Production Company Greenpoint Pictures
- Director Sage Bennett
- DP Rob Berry
- Editor Harry Sattler
- Colorist Rob Berry
- Talent Sage Bennett
Greenpoint Pictures director Sage Bennett, says of the film: “As creatives, we are constantly flooded with advice on what to do and what not to do. It can feel overwhelming. This piece is my response, a take on the advice that actually moves the needle…
I, like many people, have spent more time than I’d like to admit scrolling through social media. My algorithm knows me, it knows that I am a filmmaker, and it knows that I love a motivational speech or advice every once in a while. But there have been times where I’ve found myself listening to the opening hooks “if no one has told you this yet,” or “the one thing I wish I knew before turning (insert age)” or “one simple hack to get everything you want,” or “POV you're a female filmmaker” or even “how I got my film funded fast.” It all starts to blend together and then stops registering, and I end up an hour later, more confused than when I opened social media and more stressed.
I have a pompous alter ego; she is confident, unafraid, and a little overconfident at times. I like to lean into this version of myself a little bit when I’m on a big project that feels intimidating. For this short film, I decided to take the character all the way. I also, ever since I was a little girl, have wanted to be a pop star. I mean, truly the most exciting job. And being a director, well, I can’t say I feel like a pop star, so this was my convergence of the two.
I also find that with small crews and less opinions, it's easier to be more of myself. So on this project with my dear friend and collaborator, Rob Berry, wielding the camera and egging this character on, I was able to dive into Big Important Director and not hold back.
And finally, I believe that if you want something to be real, you just do it as a joke. So this is me, as a joke, declaring I am a Big Important Director.”
