I've stopped thinking of myself as a "director."
It isn't a job.
I make films, yes.
But I don't necessarily feel close to other directors.
Using a camera, lights and the whole kit isn't a strong enough common ground to create a sense of community.
What interests me is the subject. What people have to say. Their process as artists.
Which, in the end, doesn't depend on the job.
In that sense, a director who only makes cooking films would feel closer to me to a cook or a food critic than to another director.
The filmmaker obsessed with crime would have more to say to a novelist or a police officer than to a director of comedies.
As for the one who bets everything on improvisation, on organic creation, he probably wouldn't have much in common with the one who storyboards every scene down to the millimeter.
I meet plenty of directors I have nothing to say to.
I watch plenty of films I couldn't care less about.
Which surprised me, at first. We do the same thing, don't we? We're part of the same world?
But actually, no. Not at all.
And I think this is true for many jobs, especially in creative fields.
Using common tools to produce works that go by the same generic name doesn't guarantee compatibility.
Between two writers, two painters, two artists, there can be a world of difference.
Unless you really talk shop.
"What software do you use?" "What camera?" "What brush?"
But very quickly, the conversation stops because on what matters, there's no connection.
The artistic equivalent of talking about the weather.