Edgar Wright on becoming a filmmaker

(MakingOf) When you were in your early 20's what did you do to reach your artistic vision that you have now?

(Edgar Wright) When I was in my early 20's?  Well I came from the country in England, I'm from there so there's like a sort of like a rural kind of upbringing and yet...and I didn't have any connections in the film industry but, bizarrely I actually made a film when I was 20 with my school friends and I was making films when I was 15.  So I kind of knew I wanted to be a director from the age of 13.  So I was sort of inspired by Sam Raimi and the story of the evil dead.  I just wanted to kind of make movies, and by sort of crazy naive optimism I kind of figured out a way to do it.  So I've been very lucky to be working in this industry since I was 20, which is kind of insane really.

(MO) What advice would you have for a young kid who wants to end the Scott Pilgrim life and start following their dreams?

(EG) In my case with making movies, and people ask me a lot, in terms of like how to get into it.  I didn't have any connections to the film industry, I didn't come from a rich background.  I didn't have a video camera.  I think the main thing is to make your own opportunities, and you don't want to wait around for the chance to make a film, you've just got to sort of beg, borrow, and steal.  Not literally steal.  Well, don't need to steal a camera.  That would be bad (laughs).  But, you know, just try and get out there and make shorts and start making stuff and start kind of figuring out techniques and things.  You know I didn't have YouTube when I was growing up but it's like the perfect forum to actually just get stuff out there.