Now, when it comes to movies, you can have a driven person who is also unaware that his film is a load of crap. Lot's go around thinking their project is the next Star Wars and will change the industry forever, when in reality it's more like a Plan 9. It takes a GREAT movie and a driven person to make it happen. Can't hide behind luck, to quote another character, Harvey Dent said he "Made his own luck."
Of course, he also was burned horribly and went insane
I got an excellent laugh out of that last sentence. http://www.indietalk.com/images/smilies/laugh.gif
chilipie is right, making this a philosophical debate about "what luck is" is off-thread a bit - a great topic I'd enjoy partaking in, but that would be for another time and place. That said, I am most certain that no one here is saying Blomkamp, RR and Kevin Smith made it with just luck, or it was a simple right place, right time scenario. To assert that would belie the trust and respect we have for these guys. I do not speak for others but I hold these guys and others like them in the highest regard for their talent, drive and tenaciousness. But like sonnyboo said, there's more to success than internal factors alone - there is always some external influence of some sort (call it what you want, but it's there).
Case in point you talk about having a GREAT movie in hand. The thing is great is subjective, which in itself places it at the mercy of some external influence. Most use the term luck (I use it most). In this business of ours there is a huge element of "right-time, right-place" for most if not all of us (this does not suggest a lack of talent or drive, or that they are mutually exclusive. No, in fact the right combination of all those things is a must in our business). You may have the next GREAT movie on hand but the timing of it's greatness almost always rests upon some external factors.
I count us all lucky because the Smiths, Blomkamps and RRs were recognized for their talent, drive and tenaciousness by someone at the right time and the right place. I say we are all lucky because now that they are in, we get to enjoy their work and all the gems that are yet to come. I have no doubts that their would have kept going until they got in (people of this mold are not the quitting types) but I consider them and all of us lucky that their efforts were recognized at the "right time and right place by the right people" and not so far down the road when they would have become jaded, twisted and bitter (not that I am suggesting these guys would have panned out like that, but hey they are human and nothing frustrates the creative soul more than continuous rejection).
