6 Filmmaking Tips from Lake Bell

By Christopher Campbell

The actress-turned-director shares advice on breaking through.

In a world where men dominate the film industry, Lake Bell is making the struggle seem easy. In less than seven years, she’s gone from scene-stealing actress to successful writer/director, winning screenplay awards for her debut short, Worst Enemy, and her first feature, In a World… This week, her sophomore feature, I Do… Until I Don’t, is hitting theaters without any pre-release festival presence.

It’s not as simple as it looks. Not only did Bell save up to kick off this branch of her career, but more importantly she had to work hard to break through and break out as a filmmaker. She does have some lessons and tips to share from her experience, though, and we’ve compiled some of them below.

Start Small

As noted above, Bell didn’t just jump into directing a feature. About a decade into her acting career, she made a couple shorts and had the opportunity to hone her skills directing episodes of Children’s Hospital, the Adult Swim comedy she stars in. She tells the story in a 2014 interview with The Debrief:

“You don’t have to think you’re going to win an Academy Award because you did one thing. I think you aim for goals that are attainable. With me,  they were like, ‘You have this script, you should direct it.’ And I was like, ‘Hell no. I’m not going to direct a movie, an entire film without ever having directed anything. I don’t want to set myself up for failure like that.’ And then my agent said, ‘Well, then write a short film and direct that.’ And I decided that was something palatable, that was something I could do.”

She continues:

“I saved up and invested in myself. I was lucky enough to be able do that, because I had saved up some money from television. Then the short film went to Sundance and that’s just what happened. That was the beginning of my career as a filmmaker and it was absolutely invaluable, it changed my life. Because then I had a visual calling card for what I wanted to do and how I wanted to speak to the camera as an artist. So then I used that to find financing with my script In A World…and everything just sort of went from there. But nothing will get done if you don’t do anything. It’s an obvious thing, but it’s a beautiful thing because it comes down to being easy if you allow it to be.”

Lake Bell directing an episode of ‘Children’s Hospital.’ Photo by Darren Michaels (Cartoon Network)

Find Your People

Although you probably could make a movie on your own, typically it’s a team effort and you need to bring others into the fold. You also can’t get anywhere without help from above or from peer support. Basically, become popular and surround yourself with friends.

She tells The Debrief in the same interview:

I think in general, making content is easier now with the technology that’s available. You don’t have to be a millionaire to make a web series, for instance. Or even just a video or a sketch. For me, I’m just like, you need to start writing or collaborate with people who do write, and look for your community and look for your comrades who are likeminded and forge a community of people. It’s like, put yourself around people who are a step ahead, or on the same plateau as you. Get in a creative war room together and be bold enough to try to put some things forth.

Test Yourself to Be Fearless

What We’ve Learned

As a woman filmmaker who is getting things done, a lot of interviews with Bell focus on how she’s breaking through gender barriers. So a lot of her tips do focus on what women can do to make it in Hollywood or the indie film world. And a lot of that advice is to just do it and not think too much about the barrier even being there. To that, most of her tips can apply to anyone regardless of gender. But hopefully more talented women follow them.

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