If you're terrified of how much you have to learn in film, this one's for you.

TWO THINGS TO MAKE PEACE WITH

1. The feeling is coming from a real place. It's not imposter syndrome. You do have a lot to learn

2. That feeling is never going to go away.

TITIAN NEVER FIGURED IT OUT EITHER

Think of any skill in any department of film. Costume, photography, acting. There's so much to learn in any single one of those that you could spend a lifetime learning it, and many professionals do - and it's still not enough. In his old age, the Venetian master painter Titian looked back on his life and said something to the effect of “I think I'm finally starting to learn something about painting”. If Titian couldn't figure out sploshing pigment onto a canvas, what hope do any of us have with something as complex and ever changing as film?

No hope at all, I say. But that's completely fine. No one ever said that you needed to know everything about a field to create work in it. You do the work knowing that you don't know enough. Maybe after a few years you think that actually you're pretty knowledgeable, and then the world contrives to smash humility into your face - over, and over, and over.

The more you know, the more you see, the more you see, the smaller you realise that you are.

THE SHAME IS JUST EGO IN DISGUISE

Whenever I'm prepping a new series for the platform, I go as deep as I can, to reach a point that I can teach it fluidly. I love the fact that I'll come out the other side more knowledgeable, but I can't help feeling ashamed for having worked in this industry for so long, and put in so many hours, and still not knowing so much. The shame is really just ego in disguise though, and I let it pass by.

KNOWLEDGE CAN'T TOUCH SKILL

You can't work your way out of the fear. When it comes to knowledge, you're on a treadmill that's not going to stop. New technology, new techniques, new data to download to your brain. Here's the thing though. Knowledge can't touch skill. Visual storytelling, technical problem solving, teamwork and communication, these are all skills.

INFINITE ROADS, ONE DESTINATION

When you chase these skills down as far as they'll go, you see that they all connect at the same point, which is the beating heart of human creativity. You could follow that road through painting, like Titian did, or through music, or film. There are an infinite amount of roads, but only one destination, and from that point the view is the same for everyone. No time spent on any road that leads to that heartland can ever be wasted, and any time you set out to create something, and pursue it to the end, you're on that road.

YOU'RE IN GOOD COMPANY

In the end, it doesn't matter if you feel the fear or not. Not everyone does (film producers seem blissfully free of it, certain that they know everything about every department of film...), but if you do, let it be what it is. You're in good company - which is me but also a million other artists a thousand times better than I am. Onward!