The way the filmmaker and artist Dan Covert built his creative career

"Nothing's going to happen by itself by itself," Dan says. Dan. "The most efficient way to grow your name is by making stuff. Even if it's performing a lot of work to friends who make things, that's how you stay active as a filmmaker."

This is a philosophy that has led Dan to a remarkable career that has seen him win awards from AFI, SXSW, and obviously, Staff Picks. " made our careers," Dan tells Dan. "That is a bit crazy, but it's true. It's not like we'd have an audience for any of this stuff. We just purchased cameras and began learning how to make things."

Shortly after the release of his first feature documentary " Geoff McFetridge: Drawing a Life," which won the Audience Award at this year's SXSW, we had a chance to chat with Dan about his creative process and his creative north stars. Watch highlights of the chat above and listen to the entire conversation.

 Your first job was as a graphic designer. What did it take to get you from there to feature filmmaker?

Dan: We started an organization 16 years ago which was a graphic design company that then became a motion graphics company and then the production business. It's been a long process. Along the way we made shorts, and many of the shorts were Staff Picked by the staff .

We just started experimenting and trying to figure out what our sound was as a company and as directors. I hit 40 years old and always thought, "I'm going to make movies someday." It thought, "Maybe I'm not going to start making movies until I get started." That's why I searched for stories to tell and the film came up.

 16 years can be a long time to be making stuff in this industry. How do you keep going?

Dan: It's just genuinely enjoyable to work on this. Up until recently, I was not thinking, "Oh, there's going to be a big blow-up event where my career is changing and I'm attending the Oscars." I don't think about that stuff. The thing is, "Am I having fun at the moment? Do I enjoy the journey?"

Because once a project it is released to the public, you can't control how people will react. This is like asking "Did I do the most effective possible thing I could? Am I hanging out working alongside people whom I admire and love? Are we trying to be honest and authentic?" I'm always the lots of irons on the stove kind of guy. I own a company. I am a commercial director. I've been working on this feature film for a while. I have a pretty successful artist's practice. However, it's really about taking my time and doing activities that I like as well as saying, "We'll see where they take us."

However, I'm not so worried about the " where they go' portion because it can cause you to die. Because ultimately in the end, who cares if you're famous or successful? That's probably not the stuff you're going to remember when you're 80.

 What's your creative north star?

Dan: We constantly are working to improve this. However, the real issue is storytelling. Craft and visual art. And those are kind of obscure terms but they do have lots of significance. It's like, "Can you tell a story?" A lot of times people come with an unfinished idea and as storytellers are in the process of pulling out the story.

Commercials and art are somewhat opposite forces, but not at the highest level. More about feeling and the way you convey that with gorgeous cinematography. But we each kind of have our own voice. The thing that makes me smile is the story and character.

 How do you work with a brand without compromising your vision?

Dan When I first started, I always thought it was as if "Oh I'm being hired to do what they need." Then, in time, I realized "No I'm being hired because they need some help and I'm aware of the things I'm doing." So it was a big shift of looking into the needs of the business and what their aesthetic was. It's not a bad thing, but then the more and more I've grown as an executive, I've realized that people are coming to you for your personal voice to really sort through the complexities and to say, "What you guys need to be doing are these."

 Are there brands you're hoping to work with?

Dan: I think that's tricky because I don't really take interest in that kind of stuff. It's like, "Is it a fun or interesting task?" Some of the tasks that have been the most boring I've been given have turned into the best work. I did a film centered around a type researcher at Syracuse It's the type historian's Staff Pick video we did. It was like this dude living trapped in a basement, and he discovered this font, and Pentagram turned it into the official logo of Syracuse University. The guy's incredible. I'd like to speak to those like him.

Everyone wants to do jobs in Nike as well as all the incredible companies. Sure that is fun, however, I like discovering interesting stories that are unique and the pleasure of presenting them on a stage.

I never learned how to direct. This was such a great affirmation for me as an artist to have 300,000 people within just a couple of days watch this film that we produced. The reaction was, "Oh, my God." Do you know what I mean? The film was never made as a short film. We made it for a client project and we re-edited it a bit, which I then saw the audience.

 Dress Code has been on for a very long time. Why are you still from leaving the platform?

Dan The HTML0 platform is to be the place where everyone's creators view our work. Much of the stuff in the world of short films We're self-funding in the sense of popping these tiny test balloons and other creatives view the balloons. It's always shocking. Someone from an advertising agency might call you and be like, "Hey, we saw this project. Do you have the ability to do this commercial to us?" It's like a one to one. If we're putting work out in this manner, it's likely that the right people are seeing it and they're elevating it by giving us a platform.

 Where do you find ideas?

Dan Dan: I find the most motivation for my work via art. I actually don't watch a ton of videos anymore. I've found it kind exhausting, and I'm tempted to copy the things I see, and so I take the time to look up ways to make things different from what we normally do and even take a look at feature docs for commercials or look at the fine arts for framing or visual methods.

 What's your favorite advice that you've ever received?

Dan Dan: I love a quote of Steve Martin where he says, "Be so good that they won't be able to ignore the fact that you are." The way I've seen it is that I've loved this. The same is true for a lot of people want to be able making something, and the next thing they know it's finished. Where for me it's more simply about gradually taking the time to build the foundation of a work, and being great that people will come across the work.