Heather Rae’s Takeaways:

• Understand that the reality of the film industry is that it is a place where art and commerce meet.
• Become comfortable with the idea that the original goal is to create art. At the end of the day, if everything else around it is a disappointment, you are still left with having created something original, and the world finds its way to it. 
• When it comes to partners and investors, find people who will share in your vision and have similar expectations for the project. You may have to mitigate expectations with first-time financiers. Don’t work with someone whose only alignment with the project is their financial investment. 
• A commercial failure doesn’t necessarily have to affect your creative decisions moving forward. It’s important to stand by the work you believe in. 

Kimberly Peirce’s Takeaways:

• Understand that failure is good. The brilliance of failure is that you inherit an arsenal of tools. 
• Allow your love of storytelling to override your ego and your fear or failure. 
• Find a community of professionals and peers to carry you through your struggles so that you can turn them into insights. 
• The beauty of storytelling is that every great story has its own DNA; your job is to find that. 
• You can be drawn to a story and not know the best way to tell it. That’s OK. That’s why we have rewrites. 

Tyger Williams’s Takeaways:

• As a writer, failure is an everyday experience. 
• Just because you like certain movies, that doesn’t mean you are the right person to tell that story. 
• Embrace the fact that you don’t know it all, but that you will discover things along the way. 
• Be patient: it takes storytellers time to find their voice and to find their confidence in what they know they do well. 
• By stretching, you have to allow yourself to fail. You have to get out on the tightrope, or you are never going to grow. 

Justin Chon’s Takeaways:

• Communication, especially on set, is paramount. Keep the lines of communication open, even when time doesn’t necessarily permit. 
• Find a way to make conflict a productive experience by channeling your shared goals with an actor, director, financier, et al. 
• There is no proxy for failure. Accept that your biggest failures are experiences you simply have to go through and come out the other side of. 

Rudy Valdez’s Takeaways:

• Trust your voice and have confidence in telling a story the way you think it needs to be told. 
• Don’t blindly incorporate notes because of who they come from. There’s no one right way to tell a story. 
• Be open to feedback, but also have the confidence in your own vision to tell a particular story as a reflection of your distinctive voice.