What filmmaker and painter Dan Covert built his creative career

"Nothing's going to happen by itself," Dan says. Dan. "The fastest way to establish your career is just keep creating things. Even if you're offering a variety of services to friends who make things and keep you active as a director."

This is a philosophy that has led Dan to a remarkable career dotted with accolades from AFI, SXSW, and, of course Staff Picks. " has shaped our careers,"" Dan tells Dan. "That sounds crazy, but it's true. There was no public audience for these things. We just bought cameras and learned how to make things."

Just a few days after the publication of his debut feature film " Geoff McFetridge: Drawing a Life," which won the Audience Award at this year's SXSW We had the chance to chat Dan about his process. Dan about his process as well as his most creative north star work. Watch highlights of the discussion above and also read the full conversation below.

 You started out as an artist. How did you get from there to feature filmmaker?

Dan: We started an organization 16 years ago which was a graphic design firm that later transformed into a motion graphics business and then an production company. So it's this long evolution. Along the way we designed shorts, and a lot of them were Staff Picked on .

It was just an experiment and figuring out what our style in the company as well as directors. Then I was turning 40 and I was thinking, "I'm going to make films someday." It was like, "Maybe I'm not going to make movies unless I start." So I just searched for stories to tell and this film kind of was born.

 16 years can be a length of time to make things in the industry. Why do you stay?

Dan The truth is that it's genuinely enjoyable to work on this. Even until recently, I wasn't like, "Oh, there's going to be this big event where my career is changing and I'm in the Oscars." I don't think about that stuff. It's just like, "Am I having fun now? Do I enjoy the journey?"

Once a plan goes out in the world You can't predict how people react to it. It's just like "Did I create the greatest thing that I could? Do I spend time with and collaborating with people that I love and respect? Are we trying to remain real and honest?" I'm always the lots of irons in the fire kind of guy. I own a company. I am a commercial director. I've been producing this feature film. I'm quite successful in my artist's practice. It's about taking my time and doing items that I love and after that I say, "We'll see where they go."

It's not that I'm concerned about the ' where they go' aspect because it could be a complete nightmare. Because ultimately in the end, do you really care how famous or successful you are? This isn't what you'll remember when you're 80.

 What's your north star of creativity?

Dan The team is constantly working to improve this. However, it's actually storytelling. This is craft and visual artistry. And those are kind of vague terms, but they do have lots of meaning. The same way, "Can you tell a tale?" A lot of instances, people have a half-baked concept that we, as storytellers are in the process of squeezing the story.

The concept of commercials and art, they're somewhat opposite forces, however, not at a high level. More about feeling and the way you convey that with stunning cinematography. But we each kind of have our own voices. However, what makes me smile is character and story.

 How can you collaborate with a brand without compromising the vision you have for your brand?

Dan In the beginning I was always as if "Oh I'm being hired to do what they need." And then over time I realized "No They're actually hiring me for help and I'm aware of that I'm capable of doing." So it was a big shift of seeking to know the needs of the business as well as what their vision was. This is still a crucial aspect however, the higher and more I've grown as a director, I realized that people are coming to you for your personal voice, to sort through the complexities and to say, "What you guys need to accomplish are these."

 Do you have any brands you're still hoping to collaborate with?

Dan The reason I say that is hard because I do not really pay attention to that sort of thing. The question is, "Is it a fun, interesting project?" Some of the dull assignments I've been given have turned into the best pieces. I did a film centered around a type historian at Syracuse, it's an Staff Pick video we did. It was like this dude who lived in a basement who discovered this font, and Pentagram turned it into the logo for Syracuse University. This guy is amazing. I would love to meet individuals like him.

Everyone would like to work for Nike as well as all the fantastic companies. Yes, it's fun but I also like finding these unique stories and kind of presenting them on a stage.

I never learned how to direct. This was such a great affirmation for me as an artist that 300,000 people in just a couple of days watch this film that we produced. And it's like, "Oh, my God." Do you know what I'm talking about? The film was never made in the form of a short film. We made it for a client project and only slightly edited it and then I noticed this crowd.

 Dress Code has been around for quite a long time. What keeps you in the dress code?

Dan: It just seems to be the place where everyone's creators are able to see what we've done. A lot of this stuff is short-film related, we're self-funding, kind of putting out these little trials balloons. Then other creatives see the balloons. It's always shocking. Someone from an advertising agency may call and say saying, "Hey, we saw this project. Can you do this commercial project for us?" It's like a one to one. When we're working like that, the right people will be seeing it, they're elevating it and giving us a platform.

 How do you find your source of inspiration?

Dan: I get the greatest 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 always looking for ways to imitate things, so I just really try to find ways to make things different from what we normally do or even look at documentaries for commercials that feature features or look at the fine arts for framing or visual methods.

 What's the best advice you've received?

Dan: There's a quote of Steve Martin where he says, "Be so good that they can't avoid your." The way I've seen it is that I've loved this. It's just like many people are looking for to be able creating something then one and finished. For me, it's more about slowly investing the time and effort into building the foundation of a work. Then, you'll be so good that someone will find the work.