UCLA Film Professor Shows You How to Become an Excellent Storyteller

Main ideas & lessons (with key concepts)

Finding a creative voice

• Don’t try to “lock in” a brand too early. The goal is to expose yourself to as much life and creativity as possible and let something emerge.
• Your creative identity comes from your DNA/affinities/talents, but those plateau without continuous nurturing.
• You become unique by how you process the same stimuli everyone experiences—world events, art, history, politics, science, and more—and then re-emerge those influences in a way only you can.
• Keep creativity alive through endless curiosity and continuous discovery (reading, viewing, listening, exploring).

Maintaining consistency without becoming stuck

• Consistent “tone” doesn’t mean repeating the same look/aesthetic forever.
• Consistency comes from repeated interests/themes and the human actions and character dynamics you keep exploring.
• What you sustain is the through-line (the questions/themes you return to), while format and surface style can change.
• Don’t confuse brand with packaging:
  • Aesthetic alone is shallow if it isn’t powered by deeper questions.
  • The best work changes its “container” (documentary, short film, podcast, painting, music) while returning to the same essential inquiry.

Sustainable creativity (not a quick niche)

• Avoid the mindset of “find a niche and ride it.” Those trajectories often don’t last because the audience senses repetition.
• Long-lasting creators evolve rather than cling to a single identity.
• A career can be sustained by returning to a core unanswerable question and exploring it endlessly.

Stories and depth

• People love stories because they enjoy observing arcs/journeys.
• But novelty can become boring if it stays shallow (the “visceral-only” response fades).
• Lasting art digs deeper—intellectually and emotionally—not just for immediate reaction.

Professionalism as a survival tool on set

• Long days require physical training: diet, stamina, shoes, standing endurance.
• Creativity on set comes from knowing when to lean on inspiration vs. when to rely on professionalism.
• A practical habit: excessive politeness/courtesy helps maintain morale and prevent conflict during intense schedules.

Trusting instincts vs. collaborating

• On set, the director leads; the cinematographer collaborates by offering options.
• If there’s disagreement, the cinematographer proposes alternatives while acknowledging what the director wants.
• You also need trusted voices that give honest feedback aimed at your growth—not people who enjoy tearing others down.

The “starving artist” critique

• The “starving artist” idea is rejected as harmful because it functions as a mechanism to devalue artists.
• Artists may work hard and face difficult trade-offs, but art has value and shouldn’t be defined by enforced deprivation.
• The focus is: artists should define their life, not have others define what “being an artist” means.

Working within hyper-commercial industries

• Choose whether you want to engage in hyper-commercial, status-quo systems—they can feel like a battlefield.
• Even when working commercially, maintain a private practice (your own art) so your “human artist” stays nourished and your voice can still emerge.

Finding your way through creative blocks

• Creative block is real, not simply laziness.
• Strategy: stop trying to solve directly. “Derail” the over-focusing mind.
• Engage in activities that produce tangible results (e.g., gardening/weeding, cleaning/dishes) to shift from conscious problem-solving to unconscious processing.
• With deadlines, switch to professional mode: produce the next draft/scene even if it isn’t perfect (“just do it”), because perfection is impossible.

Intentional storytelling as a path toward ease

The point of storytelling is tied to fulfilling, content, and a life well-lived:

• Share your uniqueness
• Live so you can say each day has been good for you and others
• Leave the world better than you found it

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Methodologies / exercises / instruction-style parts

1) Building your creative voice (process approach)

• Expose yourself broadly
  • Spend time in life experiences, creativity, and the world—don’t rush to “arrive.”
• Continuously nurture your inherent traits
  • Treat your creative capacity like a living thing: it needs ongoing nourishment.
• Practice endless curiosity
  • Feed your filter with varied inputs: art, history, politics, science, etc.
  • Let some influences “stick” and others drop off.
• Reprocess and re-emerge
  • Ask: How do I process this differently?
  • Translate shared stimuli into new expressions that reflect your personality.
• Return to evolving questions
  • Identify core thematic questions you can’t stop exploring.
  • Expect exploration to be ongoing and evolutionary, not finite.

2) Finding your “essential question” (discovery workflow)

• Research and consume inputs
  • Read endlessly, view endlessly, listen to music; let insights arise indirectly.
• Use noticing/recognition moments
  • Look for the moment when something finally articulates what you’ve been struggling to name.
• Do an MFA student “question exercise” (research by questioning)
  • Choose a topic you can begin with (e.g., focal length/space; a sensorial starting point).
  • Start in a “comfortable place” and begin writing/brainstorming.
  • Write questions only—do not answer them:
    • “Is this interesting?”
    • “What if I do this?”
    • “How?”
  • Track your question volume:
    • If you run out quickly (e.g., 10–20 questions), it may be a dead end.
    • If you generate many questions (40–60) and they keep flowing, you’ve likely found a viable research path.
  • Allow drift:
    • If your questions pull you somewhere else, that shift is still productive—treat it as part of the research journey.

3) Staying creatively functional on long set days

• Train physically like an athlete
  • Improve diet and stamina.
  • Choose footwear/equipment to sustain long standing and reduce collapse/fatigue.
• Maintain presence
  • On low-inspiration days, switch to “professional job” mode.
  • On higher-inspiration days, you can take work “to another level.”
• Use team-morale habits
  • Practice consistent courtesy (“excessive politeness”) to prevent grumpiness and escalation.
  • Keep interactions stable to avoid chaos later in long projects.

4) Trusting gut while collaborating with a director

• Offer options, not insistence
  • The director may lead; your role is to provide alternative creative choices.
• If you disagree
  • Present a different approach while still supporting the director’s desired direction.
  • Ensure your alternative is noted (so collaboration is real and not dismissed silently).
• Build a reliable feedback network
  • Seek “trusted voices” who give unvarnished reactions for your growth.
  • Don’t give that power to people who only want to knock you down.

5) Escaping creative block (practical tactic)

• Stop direct forcing
  • If you’re stuck trying to solve, the more you try to solve consciously, the worse obstacles can feel.
• Drift/redirect
  • Do something that engages you without being a direct attempt at solving the creative problem.
• Choose tangible-output tasks
  • Examples: gardening/weeding, cleaning/dishes—actions with visible completion.
• Let the unconscious work
  • The problem-solving often “clicks” later once you’ve stepped away.
• When deadlines exist
  • Don’t wait for perfect—produce the required pages/scenes anyway and iterate.

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Speakers / sources featured (identified)

• Bill McDonald — cinematographer and UCLA film professor (primary speaker)
• Interviewer/Host (unnamed) — speaks throughout the conversation and asks questions
• Amelio — student question (asked about staying true to oneself in a hyper-commercial industry)
• Anonymous student/person — student question (asked about being a woman navigating male-dominated cinematography and building creative authority while collaborating)
• Tomas Krasco — third-year transfer student (asked about balancing full-time arts with relationships, health, and life demands)
• Elise — mentioned by Bill (former student/class reference; now in animation at Warner Brothers)