Spike Lee's Top 10 Rules For Success (@SpikeLee)

I not want to be a one and done. I not want to be a flash in the pan. I want to be here for the long haul.

You gotta make a way. When there doesn't seem to be a way, you gotta make a way.

You have to bust your ass, roll up your sleeves, and attack, attack, attack, attack every single day.

He's an American film director, producer, writer, and actor. His production company, 40 Acres and a Mule, have produced over 35 films since 1983. He's won numerous awards including an Emmy Award. He's Spike Lee, and here's my take on his top 10 rules for success. Rule number 6 is my personal favorite, and make sure to stick around all the way to the end for some special bonus clips. And as always, if Spike says something that's really meaningful and relevant and inspiring to you, please leave it in the comments below and put quotes around it so other people can be inspired as well. Enjoy!

I did not become a filmmaker because I wanted to be famous. I did not become a filmmaker because I wanted to make a lot of money. I became a filmmaker because I found something I love. I'm a professor at NYU, the Graduate Film School, been there 15 years. I'm also director, artistic director of the film school. I tell all my students, the worst thing you can do is choose your major just based solely on how much money you think you can make when you graduate. If you want to be happy, have a happy life, and not be miserable, find something that you love. That's it. Laziness is something I really can't tolerate. So, because with laziness, I think that speaks of a sense of entitlement. And that's just not a good look in this industry where you think that you are entitled to something, that you deserve something because you're wherever you think you are. It doesn't work like that. Another thing I'd like to add is that, and I'm speaking about my school, a lot of people come out of NYU Thinking that because you have this degree from this prestigious institution, NYU or USC or AFI Columbia, in the real world they don't really give a shit. You know, if you don't have the talent, that degree doesn't mean a thing. When you come out of school, you should have— if you're a director, you should have a film. If you're a DP, you should have a reel. Editor should have a reel. If you're a screenwriter, you should have scripts. So people really want to see the work you have done. I came to the mindset when I was in film school, Mark, that I did not want to be a one-and-done. I did not want to be a flash in the pan. I wanted to be here for the long haul. When Kurosawa, the great Akira Kurosawa, was doing his doing press for one of his last films, Ron, the journalists asked him, "You're one of the greatest master filmmakers of all time. What else do you still have to learn?" And Kurosawa said, "I still have a universe to learn." So I was in film school.

Yeah.

And that blew my mind.

The baddest motherfucker ever. Right. He's 85, 83, 84. And he says he still has a universe to learn as far as storytelling?

Yeah.

That really hit me, like, you know, you really gotta, like the jazz term, you gotta stay in the woodshed. You know, you gotta shed, you know, and constantly be on it, perfecting your craft and never get to the point that you trick yourself in thinking that you know it all.

Yeah.

It's a lifelong journey, you know, the stories, to tell stories, how you craft them. Just be a good storyteller. And you do that by having a body of work. So it's always been on the body of work.

Yeah.

The reason why I've told the stories I've told is that's what I want to tell at that particular time. It's part of being a human being. You know, it's something that makes us who we are. My favorite filmmakers are storytellers, and that's what I try to do. It allows me to express myself and share it with the world. Everybody comes into the theater and sits down in a chair in a dark room. Who they are is going to affect how they view the film and how they receive it.

Wanting to have some feeling about it.

What that feeling is, you know, that depends on the person's, uh, who they are and their experience.

Well, you make a market. Was there a market for She's Gotta Have It? You know, you make it. You know, you got to— there was no market for hip-hop before there was hip-hop. Some guys in the Bronx started getting together, rapping over beats, and now it's a billion-dollar industry. So you got to make a way. When there doesn't seem to be a way, you got to And make a way. One of my favorite words is visionary, because these are the people, visionary people who see something when no one else can see it. And when you can see something, when no one else can see it, you're called crazy. All right, they're right. But you see it, and you're ahead of other people. They'll catch up eventually. That's what makes a visionary. So I hope that the students here at Dillard, they evolve. Hopefully you're growing and you're learning, you know, not Standing still and being stagnant.

What makes a good storyteller?

I don't know, that's a—

Right, trick question.

A fortune cookie.

But what from a pattern, patterns you've seen, or things that you've applied, like where you just like one move, two moves on the board that just, that are gonna assure a certain kind of qualitative, you know, refinement around storytelling?

I think the storyteller has to be believe in the story that that person's telling. Because if you don't believe in it, the audience is not going to believe in it. So you really have to believe that this is a good story. I really don't want to make any generalizations, but a lot of people I've spoken to— and I've spoken to some great, great filmmakers and novelists— they do stuff like—

I write a novel because it's the one I would want to read. Right. This is a film I would want to see.

Right.

And hopefully, you hope and pray that the audience will be in tune.

Right.

I mean, one of the greatest people with that gift, I think, is Steven Spielberg.

Yeah.

Because he just has this intuition.

Yeah.

He knows, he can put up the polls, you know, what people want.

Right.

That's a good anecdote. It's like if you're not believing in it, people can see right through it.

You can be faking the funk and people can—

3 years of film school, I do a film.

My thesis film is called Joe's Best Style Barbershop, and it wins the Student Academy Award. I won the Student Academy Award back in 1983.

So I had an agent.

Man, I thought that Spielberg was gonna call me, Lucas, Fox, Universal.

And I had a little apartment off Myrtle Avenue and Fort Greene before gentrification.

So I had my— now the Student Academy Award is not like this. It's a wooden box with a circle with this on it. So I know for sure because I have a Student Academy Award, I'm gonna take over Hollywood. But a funny thing happens when You don't pay Ma Bell, you don't pay Con Edison, and you don't pay Brooklyn Union Gas. The phone gets turned off, the heat gets turned off, and lights get turned off. So I was in the darkness but I had my Student Academy Award. And then I woke up. And so that's when I learned the tough lesson that nothing happens overnight. There's no such thing as an overnight success. And that's the biggest thing we do to our young people and tell them that there's a thing, an animal, as overnight success. You have to bust your ass, roll up your sleeves, and attack, attack, attack, attack every single day. And that's what I've been telling my film students at NYU for the last 15 years.

How do you choose what's interesting to you? I mean, how do you decide? There's something I have to feel passionate about it. I mean, it— people don't know this, but to make a good film has to be one of the hardest things known to humankind. To make— I mean, there's so many factors that go into making a good film. And like, filmmakers who are passionate about this, we kill ourselves to do this. So You spend a year, 2 years— Malcolm X, that took 2 years. That's time out of your life, and you have to have that passion for the subject matter, for the story, whatever it is that makes you want to go ahead and persevere.

I would give the same advice to aspiring filmmaker and writer. Write. Both of those disciplines, you need to write. And it's something I tell my film students. I've been teaching, I've been a professor at NYU the last 15 years, in the graduate film school where I went. And if you did a survey the last 25 years and looked at the first films of directors, I would say a large percentage of those films those directors wrote that script. So I think that's a big clue when I'm talking about film, that if you want to be a director, you could write also, you got a much better chance of getting your first film made.

Do the right thing. That's what many are saying to Spike Lee as they call on the famed director to end his new Kickstarter campaign. Now if you don't know, Kickstarter is a website that helps— hang on, hang on, hang on, we're gonna go there.

Why do you open like that? Why would you open like that?

Because we're all about controversy here. We're gonna let you answer in a second, but I gotta tell what people— people want the Kickstarter thing is. It's a website.

Why would you open like that?

That helps artists fund their projects using crowdsourcing. Here's how it works. You make your pitch in a video, you upload it, you hope the idea takes off. It's mostly for up-and-coming novices. So what is an Oscar-nominated director like Spike Lee doing on this set? We thought we'd ask him in person.

Well, I would like to refute your opening. I don't know.

Just tell me. I mean, you've got a lot of money. You don't need to do this. Why would you go to Kickstarter? I think it's interesting.

First of all, first of all, you don't know how much money I have. You never seen me before. You never seen me before in your life. So if you'd assume what my financial state is, that's wrong. Second of all, I've been doing Kickstarter before there was Kickstarter.

So you know how to raise money?

Let me finish, can I finish please? We have 6 minutes, so I would like to get my voice up. I've been doing Kickstarter before there was Kickstarter. That's how I raised the money for my first one, She's Gonna Have It.

So why go to Kickstarter then?

If you know how to raise money, why are you going there? Because crowdfunding is the new wave to get financing. Crowdfunding, where you go directly to your base, directly to the people who love She's Gotta Have It, School Daze, Do the Right Thing, Malcolm X, He Got Game, Summer of Sam, 20th Hour, Inside Man, Kings of Comedy, Kobe Doin' Work. That's a body of work that's been amassed over 3 decades. And I'm going directly to the people.

Let me say—

No, no, no, no, no.

I want to know what's different about then and now. So you've done it before.

What's different is that the whole Hollywood game has changed. Now studios only want to make tentpole films that can open on the same day globally and make trillions of dollars. This film—

Which, by the way, aren't doing well this year, are they?

Exactly. That's the same thing. Why Spielberg and George Lucas themselves, who you might say created the blockbuster phenomenon, said that this path of tentpoles is going to collapse the whole Hollywood industry. And that's not me, that's Spielberg and Lucas is saying that. So therefore, when I want to do my new film coming out Thanksgiving weekend is Old Boy. That's studio film. Josh Brolin and Sam Jackson. This is a film that is an independent film. I'm an independent filmmaker. So I'm appealing to my— So what did you say? I'm appealing to my base, going to Kickstarter.com. The pledge is as little as $5 to help me get my new— Hey, you're almost there, right?

You're a third of the way there?

To get my new film made.

You need $1.25 million?

Yes.

And you're a third of the way there?

We're going to make it. Much to your chagrin, we will make it, people. Don't worry about her. So don't worry about haters like her. We're going to get there.

I am all for you making this film.

I'm trying to understand why you cannot destroy my film at the opening segment like that.

That is pure hate.

That was pure hatred. I'm sorry, Trish, but let me tell you something. Hate conquers both.

These are the concerns of some people out there. Spike, that is my job. This is not my concern.

It's the concern of some people out there. People can have the concern that when Do the Right Thing released, black people run amok and riot. So what does that mean?

I'm just voicing the concern of what some have said. Some? Okay, you gotta be able to take the criticism, right?

Oh, I'm taking it. I'm not gonna sit here and just let you say that stuff without me refuting it.

Thank you guys so much for watching. I made this video because Frederica Fonta asked me to, so if there's a famous entrepreneur that you want me to profile next, leave it down in the comments below and I'll see what I can do. I'd also love to know which of Spike's rules had the biggest impact on you. What did he say that was really memorable and meaningful to you? Leave it in the comments, I'm gonna join in the discussion. I also want to give a quick shout out to Stacy Crew. Stacy, thank you so much for picking up a copy of my book, Your One Word. It really, really, really means a lot to me. So thank you guys again for watching. I believe in you. I hope you continue to believe in yourselves and whatever your one word is. Much love.

I'll see you soon.

I've been very fortunate to make— the average is about a film a year, but '86 we made 2 this year. But we're very happy about that because I think that's the only true way you're able to intelligently put— I mean, evaluate an artist's work. So often today, somebody does one movie, one album, one play, one book, and then they're a genius. And It doesn't work like that. You have to put together, you have to be consistent, you have to put together a body of work, and that's how you evaluate artists. I mean, somebody comes in the NBA and have a good year, they say this guy's the next Michael Jordan. You know, that's bullshit. If you could do what Michael Jordan's done for 10, 9 years, every year at the top of his game, then you're able to say, to compare somebody, but they've only been in the league one year. How could you make that comparison? You just can't do it.

What advice would you give to artists of color, LGBT artists, women artists, artists who are outside of the dominant culture? What would you tell us on how to nurture and nourish ourselves so that we have careers as long and as varied and as beautiful as yours?

Is it a different reality for somebody who's making a film in the margins as opposed to what she said, the dominant culture?

Yeah, but you can't let that stop you.

When I was in film school, there was only— when I was at NYU Film School from 1979 to 1982, there was only one African-American director working in Hollywood, period.

His name is Michael Schultz.

Excuse me. And at the time, he was directing Richard Pryor's films. Richard Pryor was the biggest star in Hollywood.

So if I'm in film school and say, "I'm the only one," I mean, if I'd have thought about those odds, it would have hindered me.

So what do you make of Colin Kaepernick not standing up?

I support him.

I find it so interesting how people want to pick and choose what rights people have.

Now, anytime you talk about anti-gun violence, people run around screaming about they don't want their— Second Amendment rights to be infringed upon. The same way John Carlos and Tommie Smith raised their black-gloved fists in the '68 Olympics in Mexico, the same way Muhammad Ali refused to fight for injustice, a war that was crazy—

Refused to fight in the Vietnam War.

Yes, the Vietnam War. These are rights Americans have.

You see—

you see what he is doing, what Colin Kaepernick is doing, is in that tradition?

Yes, it's in that tradition of Black athletes standing up, using their platform, saying, "I'm not happy with the way Black people, people of color, are being treated." It's so interesting because often at the time when an athlete does it, they are vilified. Oh, that's the thing.

Years later—

Oh.

I mean, Muhammad Ali—

The biggest revisionist story ever. Muhammad Ali at one time was the most hated person.

Hated.

Hated.

Yeah.

People need to Google. Right. Do research. Muhammad Ali was the most hated person in America. He couldn't box in America. Muhammad Ali, people love is him lighting the torch where his arm is shaking. Mm-hmm. In the Olympics in Atlanta.

Yeah.

But not to defy it. He said, "No Viet Cong ever called me—" I'm not gonna say the N-word. And he sacrificed—

New York Times would not use his name.

They would call him Cassius Clay. Not even calling the guy his name. So I think this is in the same tradition. What I find— Oh, no, I'd like to say this. I find it very interesting that 3 members of Big Blue, the New York football Giants, One pleasant, unpleasant, presently playing, and two retired are the ones that criticizing them. Three other new, that's my team, football. Three of those brothers, they should, I'm really, I'm not gonna, they should understand in what tradition, the history of why Colin, did this. Now, I bet you went to all three of them, they would say they love Muhammad Ali. How you love Muhammad Ali and not love him for the stance he took not to be inducted into Vietnam War? If you say you like John Thomas, uh, Tommy Switch Uncle, yeah, yeah, yeah, it's the same thing.

Muhammad Ali said, if I kept my mouth shut just because I can make millions, then this ain't doing nothing. So I just love the freedom and the flesh and blood of my people more so than I do the I'm here for the money. And Jackie Robinson said, I cannot stand and sing the anthem. I cannot salute the flag. I know that I'm a black man in a white world. That was Jackie Robinson, 1972, in his autobiography. It is so interesting to me how—

This is the tradition. What Colin is doing now has not just come out of— pop out of nowhere. There's tradition— tradition of African-American athletes standing up and saying— using their platform to say something is wrong.

Do you think he's gonna pay a price for it? I mean, they're—

They all do. Muhammad Ali, 3 years of his prime. Yeah. John Carlos, Tommie Smith, of course. But these brothers do this knowing that there could be ramifications, and they don't care because this is their belief.

It's, uh—

Another thing I have to say. They always bring up, "Oh, you're making a lot of money." So the reason— because you make money, that means that you can't have a moral foundation and speak— I mean, like, here's the thing. Black athletes, we pay you money. Play ball, shut up, don't say nothing. We're giving you money, millions of dollars, just to go out there, run up and down the gridiron.

I mean, there have been a lot of athletes—

Run up and down the court and just be quiet and play.

There have been a lot of athletes who don't want to risk You know, there's endorsement deals, things like that.

I understand that. It's all an individual choice. But when someone has the courage to step out, with knowing they're gonna lose all that, why are you gonna jump on the brother, man?

Do you stand up during the national anthem? Yes.

But it's a personal choice. That is not a— me stand— Me standing up for the national anthem did not affect me doing Malcolm X or Do the Right Thing, all the other documentaries. So that has nothing to do with it for me. You know, I stand up. And yet you— But I'm not going to— I'm not going to—

You also stand up for his right not to. Yes.