Are you in a competitive creative career? Oscar-winning director Barry Jenkins has advice on what it takes to find success

It’s a tough time out there for creatives. Whether you’re a writer, director, actor, or artist of any kind, the world is short on opportunities—particuarly the kind that pay. But even Academy Award winners like screenwriter and director Barry Jenkins didn’t have a linear path to success, as he shared in a recent panel about how to sustain a career as a filmmaker. Jenkins, the writer-director behind Moonlight and If Beale Street Could Talk, was a panelist at “Behind the Chair: Representation and the Business of Filmmaking,” a seminar on the film industry hosted by the Directors Guild of America. In a one-on-one discussion with fellow director Anu Valia (We Strangers), Jenkins advised the audience on how to persevere in a crowded creative field. “Many of you guys are really, really good. You’re really strong directors, but there’s so many of you that are so strong,” he began. “When I think about what it takes to stay in a career as a director, as a feature film director, it i