I Don’t Dream at Night

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“I don’t dream at night,
I dream all day;
I dream for a living.”
– Steven Spielberg

Steven Spielberg (1946-present) is an Academy Award-winning filmmaker known as one of the most influential and wealthiest personalities in the history of film. His countless big-grossing films include “Schindler’s List,” “The Color Purple,” “E.T.: The Extra-Terrestrial,” and “Saving Private Ryan.” He also co-founded the studio Dreamworks SKG.

As a child, Spielberg suffered from acts of anti-Semitic prejudice and bullying for being brought up in an Orthodox Jewish family. Adventure films were his refuge and he started making his own adventure home movies at age 12. A year later, he won a prize for a film he titled “Escape to Nowhere,” a 40-minute war film he made with his friends. And at age 16, his 140-minute science fiction adventure called “Firelight” was shown in a local cinema for one evening.

He would’ve gone to a film school at the University of Southern California if he weren’t rejected for his “C” grade average. He majored in English instead at California State University. While studying, he took a small unpaid intern job with the editing department at Universal Studios where he was later given the chance to make a short film for theatrical release. The 26-minute film “Amblin,” which he wrote and directed, impressed the studio vice president and won a number of awards. He was given a seven-year directing contract, making him one of the youngest television directors for Universal.

When asked to give a message to aspiring filmmakers, he exclaimed, “You shouldn’t dream your film, you should make it!”