What the filmmaker and artist Dan Covert built his creative career

"Nothing's going to happen by itself by itself," says Dan. "The quickest way to build your reputation is to keep making stuff. Even if it's performing a lot of work to friends who make things and keep you engaged as a director."

This ethos has taken Dan through a career dotted with accolades from AFI, SXSW, and the obvious Staff Picks. " Our careers were shaped by our work," Dan tells Dan. "That is a bit like a lot of fun, but the truth is that it's so. There was no crowd for these things. We simply purchased cameras and began learning how to make things."

Just a few days after the publication of his first feature documentary " Geoff McFetridge: Drawing a Life," which won the Audience Award at this year's SXSW, we had a opportunity to talk Dan about his process. Dan about his process and his creative north star work. Watch highlights of the conversation above, and then check out the whole conversation.

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

Dan Dan: We founded an organization 16 years ago which was a graphic design business that eventually transformed into a motion graphics business and then the production business. So it's this long evolution. Through the years we designed shorts, as well as a few of these were Staff Picked by the staff .

We just started experimenting and figuring out what our style was both as a business and as directors. I hit 40 years old and always thought, "I'm going to make films someday." And I thought, "Maybe I'm not going to make movies unless I start." That's why I was looking for stories and this film kind of was born.

 16 years is a long time to be making products in this field. What keeps you going?

Dan Dan: It's simply entertaining to be doing this job. Even until recently, I didn't think, "Oh, there's going to be this blow up moment where my career changes and I'm at the Oscars." I don't think about that stuff. The thing is, "Am I having fun at the moment? Am I enjoying the ride?"

Because once a project it is released to the public it is impossible to control the way people will react. This is like asking "Did I create the greatest possible thing I could? Am I hanging out and collaborating with people that whom I respect and admire? Are we trying to be real and honest?" I'm always the several irons in the fire kind of guy. I have a business. I am a commercial director. I've been working on this feature film. I have a pretty successful artistic practice. But it's all about just slowly doing the things that I enjoy as well as saying, "We'll see where they take us."

It's not that I'm worried about the " where they where they portion because it can cause you to die. In the end, who cares how famous or successful you are? This isn't what you'll be able to remember after you've reached the age of 80.

 What's your north star of creativity?

Dan: We constantly are refining this, but it's actually storytelling. Craft and visual art. These are unclear terms, however it does have a lot of value. This is like asking, "Can you tell a tale?" A lot of instances, people have a half-baked concept and we, as storytellers, are kind of pulling out the story.

The idea of commercials and art, they're somewhat opposing forces but not at the top degree. More about feeling and the way you convey that through beautiful cinematography. However, we all possess our own unique voice. However, what makes me smile is character and story.

 How do you work to create a brand that doesn't compromise the vision you have for your brand?

Dan: When I first started, I always thought it was as if "Oh, they're hiring me to do what they need." And then over time I realized "No, they're hiring me because they need some help and I'm aware of that I'm capable of doing." This was a big shift of trying to understand the needs of the business as well as what their vision was. That's still obviously important, but then the more and more I've climbed as a director, I realized that people are coming to you as a personal voice. They want you to think through the complexities and say, "What you guys need to be doing are these."

 Are there any brands that you're hoping to work with?

Dan The reason I say that is hard because I do not really care about that stuff. It's a matter of, "Is it a fun or interesting task?" Some of the tasks that have been the most boring I've been given have transformed into some of the most enjoyable work. The film I created was centered around a type historian at Syracuse It's an Staff Pick video we did. It was like this dude living trapped in a basement, and he came across this font. Then Pentagram transformed it into the symbol for Syracuse University. The guy's incredible. I would love to meet people like that.

Everyone wants to do jobs for Nike and the other amazing brands. It's a lot of fun but I love finding these unique stories and kind of giving them a platform.

I never learned how to direct. So it was a huge validation as a creator that 300,000 people in a few days see the film we created. The reaction was, "Oh, my God." You know what I'm talking about? We didn't even make it in the form of a short film. The film was created as a project for our client and only slightly edited it which I then saw the audience.

 Dress Code has been on for a while. What is it that keeps you from leaving the platform?

Dan: It just seems like the platform where everyone's creators are able to see what we've done. Much of the stuff is short-film related, we're self-funding, kind of popping these tiny trial balloons, and then other creators look at these. This is always a shock. Someone from an advertising agency may call and say such as, "Hey, we saw this project. Can you do this commercial project to us?" It's like a one-to-one. If we're putting work out in this manner, it's likely that the right people will be seeing it, then kind of elevating it and giving us a platform.

 Where do you get your inspiration?

Dan Dan: I find the best inspiration for my work through artwork. In reality, I don't view many videos any more. I've found it kind exhausting, and I'm tempted to copy the things I see, and so I look for ways to make things outside of what we do and even take a look at documentaries for commercials that feature features or study frames and visualization techniques.

 What's the best advice you've ever received?

Dan Dan: I love a quote of Steve Martin where he says, "Be so good that they won't be able to be able to ignore the fact that you are." It's always been awed by that. This is similar to how a lot of people want the quick fix creating something after that, one thing finished. Where for me it's more about slowly investing the time and effort into building an entire body of work and then being so great that people will come across your work.