Is Making Movies Pointless When the World Is on Fire?

There are plenty of times when I’ve hit a wall as a creative person.

I might fall into fatalistic thinking, or wonder what the point of it all is. Sometimes I put so much pressure on myself to write something that matters —not just something I would enjoy watching or something that’s just for fun.

At those points, my brain won’t let me understand that making art and the process of creativity are the rewards, and things don’t have to be so serious and heavy all the time.

That’s probably why documentarian Luc Forsyth’s recent video hit me so hard. He asks that question—what's the point of being creative when the world feels like it's coming apart?

And it’s a timely question. Between industry upheaval, economic uncertainty, and the general weight of current events, it's hard not to feel like making stuff is somehow frivolous. Why pour energy into a short film when there are bigger problems out there?

But Forsyth argues that this thinking is backward.

Art matters especially when things are bad.

Watch his video below.

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Forsyth’s Story

When COVID hit in 2020, all of Forsyth’s documentary work vanished overnight. He'd just come off his busiest year as a DP, shooting projects for Netflix, Showtime, and National Geographic. Then lockdowns kicked in.

For the first couple of weeks, he sat in his apartment watching YouTube videos and feeling sorry for himself.

Spoiler, that didn't help.

After about a month, he realized he needed to do something or risk falling into a rut. So he made something.

With no money coming in and travel restrictions in place, his options were limited. He called a filmmaker friend, bought masks and hand sanitizer, loaded a car up with gear, and started shooting.

The result was Still Life , a short capturing the eerie quiet of an empty city.

The process of getting out every day made him feel grounded again. When he uploaded it, messages poured in from people around the world who found it comforting to see they were all going through the same thing.

Then an exec at a major Canadian company reached out, loved the film, and gave them a grant to make more.

That one short helped Forsyth survive the first six months of the pandemic until work slowly returned.

Choosing creativity led to a much more positive outcome than sitting around.

Small Wins Add Up

If you're convinced creativity matters even when things feel dark, the next question is, how do you actually find space to create?

Forsyth's approach is about consistency. Between his cinematography work, running a YouTube channel, and writing a nonfiction book, he's juggling multiple obs. If he thinks about it too much, it becomes overwhelming to the point where he doesn't want to start.

Sound familiar? It definitely resonates with me.

Break it down. Writing 500 words feels manageable even when writing 100,000 words sounds impossible. Do that every day.

If you’re working on a screenplay, just write one page. If you can get to five pages daily, that’s even better.

Do that vomit draft to get something on the page. Or check out our plan for writing a screenplay in 10 weeks.

The same rule applies to filmmakers who can't find time to shoot that short or work on that feature script. Something will always be better than nothing. Set a meeting. Find one location. Cast one role.

Small gains lead to progress.

Build a Routine

Small wins only build to a whole with consistency, which usually means you need some sort of routine.

Forsyth's is straightforward. He gets up early, reads while drinking coffee, exercises, and then goes to a local coffee shop for a writing session.

If he can get those three things done every day, he says, he's setting himself up for long-term creative progress.

The routine doesn't have to be elaborate. You just have to find what works for you. Maybe you're a night writer who does your best work after everyone else goes to sleep. Whenever it is, carve out that time.

Writer/director Casper Kelly told us he needs accountability when he writes, which is why he uses Focusmate.

What works for you?

Cut the Noise

When it feels like there's a world-changing development every day, you have to find a way to disconnect from the noise, or it'll drive you crazy.

We’re all probably guilty of this. The news can be overwhelming, and a desire to be informed can become a closed loop of constant reaction videos, rage bait, and minor updates and misinformation.

Forsyth deleted social media apps from his phone. If he wants to check Instagram, he has to use his laptop or phone browser, which creates just enough friction to prevent endless scrolling.

For YouTube, his biggest time suck, he uses a Chrome extension that blanks out the homepage and suggested videos so he can search for specific content without getting pulled into doom-scrolling.

There are a ton of tools you can use for various webpages. If Facebook is your vice, find a plugin to block it.

There's no way to put yourself in a creative headspace if you let sensational content bombard you 24/7. Some sort of media restriction is essential to creativity.

You have to know your drug and find a way to limit your intake so you can keep your mental bandwidth open for other things that matter, too.

Just Make the Thing

Forsyth's Still Life wasn’t made to win awards or change the world. And he has no idea if anyone will want to read his book. But the act of making is what matters to him.

Right now, when everything else feels like it's spinning out of control, choosing to create something is one of the most meaningful things you can do.

Art can be an act of resistance. Against pacifism, depression, whatever you want.

For filmmakers, this means getting that short film made, working on that feature script, or simply maintaining your creative process even when it feels pointless. The work itself is the anchor.

Creativity changes your relationship to what's happening around you. It gives you something solid to focus on.

And when you make work and put it into the world, even on a small scale, it might give other people a perspective they didn't have before.

So go make the thing.