The documentary segment features a round‑table conversation among five film students—Wade, Jackson, Zita, Ian, and Jadayavakathavu (Jed)—who share personal stories about why they entered filmmaking, how they define success, and what drives or hinders them. Jackson recounts being inspired by Baby Driver and a supportive teacher; Jed cites Avengers: Endgame as a catalyst. The participants discuss success as personal fulfillment, impact (e.g., George Lucas’s influence), or simply doing what they love. They express fears of disappointing parents, themselves, or falling behind peers seen on social media, and debate whether social media is a motivating tool or a harmful comparison metric. Advice emerges around self‑belief, “fake it till you make it,” staying true to oneself, and committing fully without a plan B. The dialogue highlights the tension between artistic ambition, external validation, and the practical realities of building a film career.
Chapters
Hello, I'm, uh, I'm Wade.
My name's Jackson.
Zita.
I'm Ian.
You're with Jadayavakathavu, aka Jed. I'm a TRi2 film student. It was after watching Avengers: Endgame.
I watched this movie called Baby Driver by Edgar Wright. My teacher was a good role model for me in media, and that was like, this is where I want to go, this is what I want to do.
When I walked out of that movie, like, I was just feeling, you know, I can't even explain it.
I've always liked being creative.
When I was 21, 22, so like 4 years ago.
JMC came up, you know, and I always loved doing media, so I figured I got nothing else to fall back on, so may as well give it a shot.
It wasn't until I moved to Melbourne and sort of looked into it a bit more where I was like, okay, cool, like I can actually do this, I can study this, I can study film, like what?
Yeah, I have all these crazy ideas and I just want to That is a good question.
I feel like success is materialised too much, and I think it's all about how you feel about what you're doing, and as long as you're happy with what you're doing, then that's all that matters.
I would define it as me being able to do what I love. I would say that's the only success I need.
People who I look up to that I think are successful are like George Lucas, for example. The amount of influence and impact that Star Wars has on media and just everyone's lives. If I was to create something and it reached that many people, yeah, I think that's amazing. I'd rest happily knowing I've done that, yeah.
I think success comes if you're happy with your life. I think if you're happy, if you're doing something you love, if you're surrounded by people who support you, I think that's success.
You don't realize you're successful when you're being successful. You only realize it once it's gone. The creating aspect is what I want to do. I don't care about the finances. The finances mean nothing to me. I just want to make something that lasts and impacts people in a powerful way or just make people enjoy a film, really. Figuring out what's next.
I think I've tried most things that I want to do already and I haven't really been interested in any of them. So I think just not trying my best and not putting my whole heart into it is what scares me.
I don't have a plan B. This is, this is plan A, plan B through to Z. That's it.
What scares me the most is letting people down. My parents.
Probably like letting myself down.
I don't think I really am scared. of not making it. As long as I'm still able to make films, even if it's by myself or with my friends, that's still successful to me. So I don't think I really can fail, at least from my perspective.
When I see something posted on social media, yeah, someone my age, You know, making it good. It makes me think, oh, should I be there? Should I be at this caliber at this time?
It can be a real killer when, when you try really hard and you're really passionate about everything, and then someone that comes along just gets viral off doing something really stupid, you know, or something that's like not as creative, like it's just a fluke. They have to sit there wondering, why not me? You know, why, why them?
You know, I— like, my mindset is I'll get there and I'm gonna do good.
Self-belief is everything, yeah?
Yeah. Yeah. Or delusion.
Social media is the key player. It's what determines your influence on people. I wouldn't like it to be. I'd like it to just be the art to speak for itself. But the determinant of success can't be looked at by views or numbers.
The most impactful role of social media is in a consumerism sense. You see all this different equipment on social media and there's always something more to get.
When I do look at social media, especially around the film side of things, I only look for like inspiration and insight really. I think that's when it becomes more of a tool than a weapon that's used against you. Yeah.
Stay true to yourself. At the end of the day, all you have is yourself, so you have to keep believing in yourself.
Everyone fakes it till they make it. Even people here, even the lecturers. There was a point in time when they didn't know what they were doing, and they were just like, I'm gonna do it and see where it goes.
Just take it easy on yourself, you know, just enjoy the ride.
If you're gonna compare yourself to someone, compare The amount of effort someone else is putting in, I guess.
Anything and anyone can make it big.
Don't worry about making it in the film industry, worry about making the film you want to make.
That's an interesting question.
I'm not sure. I don't know if I have an answer.
If I was the audience, I'd be screaming at me to do more, like try and get involved with as many projects as possible and keep going after it.
Yeah.
Probably to take my own advice. I'm a bit hypocritical when it comes to advice. I feel like I give out a lot of good advice, but I don't Do not take it on myself. To kind of stop thinking so narrow-mindedly, you know, and just not to worry about what other people think when that's exactly what I do, you know.
I reckon they'd be screaming, just try your best and just, just live.
Probably get a haircut.
I hope everyone's screaming for me to make it.
You clearly want to make some shit, so why not just make it?
