How filmmaker and painter Dan Covert built his creative career

"Nothing's going to happen by itself," says Dan. "The fastest way to establish your reputation is to keep making stuff. If it's just performing a lot of work for friends to make stuff to keep engaged as a filmmaker."

It's an ethos that has taken Dan through a career that has seen him win awards from AFI, SXSW, and obviously, Staff Picks. " Our careers were shaped by our work," Dan says. Dan. "That may sound absurd, but it's the truth. There was no crowd for the things we've made. We simply bought cameras and learned how to make things."

After the release of his debut feature documentary " Geoff McFetridge: Drawing a Life," which won the Audience Award at this year's SXSW and we got a chance to chat to Dan about his creative process as well as his most creative north star work. Check out highlights from the chat above and read the full conversation below.

 You started out as an artist. How did you go from there to feature-filmmaker?

Dan The company we started was an organization 16 years ago which was a graphic design firm that later transformed into a motion graphics business which later became the production business. This is a lengthy process. Through the years we designed shorts, as well as a few of them were made by staff. Picked on .

We just started experimenting and learning what our voice in the company as well as directors. I was turning 40 and was always like, "I'm going to make movies someday." Then I was like, "Maybe I'm not going to make movies unless I get started." Then I was looking for stories and the film just happened.

 16 years is an incredibly lengthy time for making stuff in this industry. How do you keep going?

Dan Dan: It's simply entertaining to be doing this job. Even until recently, I didn't think, "Oh, there's going to be this blow up event where my career is changing and I'm at the Oscars." I do not think about it. The thing is, "Am I having fun at the moment? Am I enjoying the ride?"

Because once a project it gets out into the world You can't predict how people will react. This is like asking "Did I create the greatest product I could? Do I spend time with and collaborating with people that I love and respect? Are we trying to be genuine and real?" I'm always the lots of irons in the fire kind of guy. I own a company. I am a commercial director. I've been working on this feature film for a while. I'm quite successful in my artistic practice. It's about slowly doing the activities that I like and after that I say, "We'll see where they lead."

It's not that I'm concerned about the ' where they where they aspect because it could be a complete nightmare. Because ultimately in the end, what's it really about whether you're famous or successful? It's like that's not what you'll be able to remember after you've reached the age of 80.

 What's your north star of creativity?

Dan: We constantly are refining this, but it's actually storytelling. This is craft and visual artistry. And those are kind of unclear terms, however they do have lots of significance. The same way, "Can you tell a tale?" A lot of instances, people have an idea that isn't fully developed, and we, as storytellers, have the task of pulling the story out.

The idea of commercials and art is that they're contradictory forces - but not at the top degree. More about feeling and expressing that emotion with stunning cinematography. However, we all have our own voices. However, what most excites me is the story and character.

 How can you collaborate with a brand without compromising your vision?

Dan: When I first started, I thought that it was as if "Oh I'm being hired to perform the tasks they require." And then over time I realized "No They're actually hiring me to help them and I'm confident in that I'm capable of doing." This was a big shift of trying to understand what the company's needs were as well as what their vision was. That's still obviously important, but then the more and more I've climbed as a director, I realized that people are coming to you with a personal voice, to sort through all this stuff and be like, "What you guys need to accomplish are these."

 Do you have any brands you're still hoping to partner with?

Dan: I think that's tricky because I don't really care about that stuff. The question is, "Is it a fun, interesting project?" Some of the dull assignments I've been given have transformed into some of the most enjoyable works. I did a film centered around a type historian at Syracuse, it's the type historian's Staff Pick video we did. The story was about a guy living in a basement who found this font and then Pentagram redesigned it to become the official logo of Syracuse University. This guy is amazing. I would love to meet those like him.

Everybody wants to work in Nike and all these fantastic companies. Sure that is fun, however, I like discovering these unique stories and kind of presenting them on a stage.

I've never had the opportunity to become a director. This was such a great satisfaction for me as a filmmaker for me to see 300,000 viewers within a few days see the film we created. It's like, "Oh, my God." You know what I mean? It wasn't made as a short film. It was made as a project for our client and only slightly edited it and then I noticed this crowd.

 Dress Code has been on for a very long time. What keeps you on the platform?

Dan Dan: It's as if it's the one platform that everyone's creators view our work. A lot of this stuff on the short film side We're self-funding in the sense of popping these tiny trial balloons, and then other creators look at them. This is always a shock. Someone from an advertising agency might call you and be such as, "Hey, we saw this project. Could you create this commercial for us?" It's like a one-to-one. If we're doing work such a way, then the appropriate individuals are noticing it, and the work is being elevated and giving us an opportunity.

 Where do you find inspiration?

Dan The source of most motivation for my work via artwork. I actually don't watch a ton of videos anymore. It's sort of taxing and then I'm always looking for ways to imitate certain things. I look for things that are very outside of what we do or even look at documentaries for commercials that feature features or study the fine arts for framing or visualization techniques.

 What's the most helpful advice you've received?

Dan Dan by Steve Martin where he says, "Be so good that people can't even be able to ignore your." I've always been awed by that. The same is true for many people are looking for this quick fix of just making something, and after that, one thing completed. Where for me it's more simply about gradually investing the time and effort into building the foundation of a work, and being great that people will come across the work.