How filmmaker and painter Dan Covert built his creative career

"Nothing's going to happen by itself by itself," Dan says. Dan. "The most efficient way to grow your career is just keep making stuff. Even if you're offering a variety of services in order to get friends involved with making stuff to keep active as a filmmaker."

This is a philosophy that has led Dan through an impressive career, with a plethora of awards including AFI, SXSW, and, of course, Staff Picks. " has shaped our careers,"" Dan tells Dan. "That may sound crazy, but it's true. It's not like we'd have an crowd for these things. We bought cameras and started learning to make things."

Just a few days after the publication of his feature-length documentary " Geoff McFetridge: Drawing a Life," which won the Audience Award at this year's SXSW, we had a opportunity to talk with Dan about his creative process and the inspirations he draws for his north-facing stars. Watch highlights of the conversation above, and then listen to the entire conversation.

 You started out as a graphic designer. What did it take to get you from there to feature filmmaker?

Dan: We started the company in 1996 that was a graphic design business that eventually transformed into a motion graphics business which later became the production business. It's been a long process. Through the years we made shorts, and many of the shorts were staff Picked by the staff .

It was just an experiment and trying to figure out what our sound in the company as well as directors. I hit 40 years old and was always like, "I'm going to make films someday." And I was like, "Maybe I'm not going to start making movies until I get started." Then I searched for stories to tell and the film came up.

 16 years is an incredibly long time to be making products in this field. How do you keep going?

Dan The truth is that it's genuinely fun to do this work. Even until recently, I wasn't like, "Oh, there's going to be a big blow-up time when my career shifts and I'm in the Oscars." I do not think about it. I'm just thinking, "Am I having fun in the moment? Am I enjoying the ride?"

Because once a project it goes out in the world, you can't control how people respond to it. This is like asking "Did I create the greatest possible thing I could? Do I spend time with and collaborating with people that I love and respect? Are we trying to remain honest and authentic?" I'm always the several irons in the flame type of person. I own a company. I am a commercial director. I've been producing this feature film. I have a pretty successful artist's practice. However, it's really about taking my time and doing things that I enjoy and then like, "We'll see where they lead."

But I'm not as worried about the " where they where they portion because it can just eat you alive. Since, in the end, do you really care whether you're famous or successful? This isn't something you'll keep in mind when you're 80 years old.

 What's your north star of creativity?

Dan: We constantly are improving this. But it's actually storytelling. This is craft and visual artistry. It's a bit of vague terms, but they do have lots of significance. This is like asking, "Can you tell a story?" A lot of occasions, people are presented with an unfinished idea that we, as storytellers are in the process of pulling the story out.

Commercials and art, they're somewhat opposite forces, however, not at a high level. The focus is on emotion and how you do that with stunning cinematography. We all have our own voices. However, what truly excites me is the story and character.

 How do you work to create a brand that doesn't compromise your vision?

Dan: At first, I always thought it was like "Oh I'm being hired to perform the tasks they require." But as time went on, I realized "No I'm being hired for help and I know that I'm capable of doing." This was an enormous shift trying to understand what the company's needs were as well as what their vision was. That's still obviously important however, the higher and more I've climbed as director, I've come to realize that people are coming to you for your personal voice. They want you to think through the complexities and say, "What you guys need to be doing are these."

 Are there brands you're hoping to work with?

Dan Dan: I find that difficult because I really don't take interest in that kind of stuff. It's like, "Is it a fun, interesting project?" Some of the dull assignments I've received have been turned into the best pieces. I made a short film that revolved around a type researcher at Syracuse and it's the type historian's Staff Pick video we did. It was like this dude who lived trapped in a basement, and he discovered this font, and Pentagram turned it into the logo for Syracuse University. That guy's amazing. I'd like to speak to people like that.

Everybody wants to work in Nike as well as all the incredible companies. Yes, it's fun but I also like finding the unique stories, and also of giving them a platform.

I have never been taught how to become a director. It was an enormous validation as a creator that 300,000 people in a few days see this movie that we made. And it's like, "Oh, my God." Do you know what I'm talking about? The film was never made as a short film. We made it as a project for our client and just slightly re-edited it, which I then saw the audience.

 Dress Code is on for quite a long time. Why are you still in the dress code?

Dan The HTML0 platform is like the platform where every creator is who view our work. The majority of these things on the short film side, we're self-funding, kind of putting out these little trial balloons, and then other creators look at them. This is always a shock. Someone from an advertising agency will call and be saying, "Hey, we saw this thing. Do you have the ability to do the commercial campaign on our behalf?" It's like a one to one. If we're putting work out like that, the right people will be seeing it, they're elevating it by giving us a platform.

 How do you find your inspiration?

Dan The source of greatest inspiration for my work through the art of. I actually don't watch many videos any more. It's sort difficult and then I'm always looking for ways to imitate certain things. I look for ways to make things different from what we normally do or look into documentaries for commercials that feature features or look at the fine arts for framing or visualization methods.

 What's the most helpful advice you've received?

Dan Dan: I love a quote of Steve Martin where he says, "Be so good that people can't even ignore the fact that you are." It's always loved this. It's just like a lot of people want to be able making something, and then one and done. However, for me, it's all about slowly taking the time to build the foundation of a work and then being so successful that others will notice your work.