Mike Mills conveys the importance of collaboration in filmmaking

Interview by Perrin Smith, Video by Paige Mathieson, Photos by Perrin Smith and Colleen Miller

This Wednesday, Mike Mills, the writer and director of “C’mon C’mon,” walked the red carpet at the SCAD Savannah Film Festival. After which, he accepted the Auteur Award for his contributions to cinema.

Mills’s body of work is packed with critical darlings, from 2010’s “Beginners” to 2016’s “20th Century Women,” and attract major talents such as Elle Fanning, Joaquin Phoenix, Annette Bening, Ewan McGregor, Christopher Plummer. His stories are personal — pulled and adapted from his own life and experiences — but with a connection that pulls to larger audiences.

While speaking to District on the red carpet, Mills emphasized the benefits of simply creating art, as they’re all connected and can influence one another. “They all interrelate more than they don’t,” he said.

His own journey on the path to filmmaking was anything but a direct line. He began his career in graphic design, creating album artwork and promotional material for bands such as Sonic Youth and The Beastie Boys. After that, he made the shift and directed his first feature film, “Thumbsucker,” in 2005.

For students interested in the world of filmmaking, he emphasized the necessity of getting out there and creating. “Just start doing it,” he said. “Don’t wait for anyone to tell you you’re ready or done — just start.”

An auteur is an author, but filmmaking is a collaboration. Mills’s work is personal, intimate, yet it begs to be shared. “It totally changes it in a wonderful, lovely way,” he said. Mills continued, that after so much time alone, when the crew of collaborators arrives to bring what he’s written to life, it allows him “to have this relationship with other people around the work.”

For more of Mills’s advice and perspective on filmmaking and entering the creative world, watch our full interview with him here.