Why producing is like learning a language.

Another question came in from a reader recently asking me what books they should read, and when they should get an office, and what next steps they should take in order to become a Producer.

While I do have some recommended reading to the left (and I’m going to add this classic soon), here’s the answer I have for those of you looking to learn how to Produce.

And surprise, surprise, it comes in the form of a story.

I’m going to Italy for the first time in September (to see My First Time, actually), so I was looking at getting a book on tape, or maybe even one of those Rosetta Stones that they sell at the airport to see if I could pick up any of the language.

I mentioned this to one of my investors recently, and she told me that her son was fluent in Italian.  “Really,” I asked, “How did he do it?  Rosetta?  4 years in High School?  Private tutor?”

“No,” she said.  “He spent a summer there after his junior year.  He came back speaking better Italian than Pacino in The Godfather.”

In other words, there is no education like Immersion.

No book is gonna teach you the best way to ask where the bathroom is. You know what will teach you?  When you have to pee like a race horse and you’re standing in line to see The Sistine Chapel and you can’t find the porta-potty!

And nothing is going to teach you how to produce better than finding a project, immersing yourself in the production, and getting it up, no matter what.