Michael Rutcofsky

It's never too late. I get asked all the time if this is my dream job and I always say no—when I was dreaming of jobs this job didn't exist. I was 35 years old and miserable and the only thing that made me happy was this dumb little fantasy sports website that I had started on the side. So I gave up the job on the side and started to pursue this full-time, not worrying about anything other than happiness. Most people thought I was nuts to give up a well-paying career for a niche game that no one was sure you could make a living at, especially at age 35, but in the end, I chased happiness and everything else followed.

I always imagine movies like a painting in a gallery. I try not to think about each one too much in context of its importance in my career. I think about being at the end of my career walking through that hallway and being proud of all of these things that I made.

I don't believe just because ideas are tenacious it means that they're worthy.

...You're beyond the fear of failure. Now you're ready.

Whatever scares you... Go do it. Then it won't scare you anymore.

In the shadows of darkness I stand in the light.

Watch your thoughts; they become words. Watch your words; they become actions. Watch your actions; they become habits. Watch your habits; they become character. Watch your character; it becomes your destiny.

It didn’t give me the confidence to say, “I can do it.” It gave me the confidence to say, “I can put the work in,” which, weirdly enough, a lot of people don’t. And for a long time, I didn’t really have the confidence to do that either, because I had come up out of that whole alternative scene, which was all about, “Don’t try it, man. Just go up and wing it.” I think a lot of that comes from insecurity. It’s that fashion of improv and amateurism that comes from the insecurity of saying to the audience, “Well, it doesn’t matter if it doesn’t go well, because I didn’t even try that hard to begin with.” It’s like, “Oh, that’s why you’re not [trying]. If you actually tried hard and it sucked, then you’ve got to blame yourself.” So that’s what makes it hard for some people to sit down and actually just do the fucking work, because doing the work means you’re making a commitment. I’m giving this my all. Now my all might not be good enough—and I’m just now seeing that with some movies I’ve done—sometimes your all is not good enough, but that’s a scary risk to take. 

"Nothing's impossible if you don't know it's impossible."