Leigh Whannell Quotes

Coaching is really a big fraternity. You can get in if you know the right people.

The smartest thing you can do in this business is get connected with a great agent to help you. Get connected with people who will form a family around you, or a moat.

I'd never be where I am if more successful writers hadn't taken an interest in me and done me a good turn - be it chiming in with constructive criticism or giving me sound advice about my career plan.

I probably have a small number of people that are consistently advisors and mentors, but I'm much more likely to have a broader array of... almost like an unofficial board of advisors, where I know that certain people are going to be good for certain types of topics.

I seek out a lot of advice from other CEOs.

Cultivating relationships with people who've achieved what you want to achieve makes the path fuller and more fun.

Make sure you meet the right people, people who know that industry and are willing to help you. Do your homework - read books about the industry, talk to people. If you don't know something, ask.

Colleagues are a wonderful thing - but mentors, that's where the real work gets done.

Every week, I take two phone calls or meetings with an aspiring producer or director.

Working with Subhash Ghai is always a different experience. Subhashji is my mentor. I'm always glad to work with him.

Everybody who's been successful has gotten lots of help and input from many, many people.

Because I didn't go to graduate school or have mentorship out of college, meeting other playwrights and developing those friendships as a result of being a 'grown up' playwright - that's become an essential community for me. My contemporaries are all my mentors whether they know it or not.

All managers have someone they lean on and take advice from.

Luckily, everyone that I've collaborated with, everyone that has been willing to offer guidance and advice, they've all been dope people.

The best way I've learned to navigate pivotal moments in my career is by actively cultivating a personal board of directors. The most successful companies and nonprofits have strong boards to help guide them, so why not create our own? The needs are quite similar.

There are a lot of people you never hear about that helped me a lot with my career and helped me become who I am that I've known for a long time and I still stay in touch with.

Just having the right people in your corner make things a lot easier.

Cultivating relationships with people who've achieved what you want to achieve makes the path fuller and more fun. You don't know everything, and that is so okay, because there are many people who want to help you along your journey. I used to think people above me might get jealous because I wanted to do what they did. But no, people are much nicer than that.

The best way a mentor can prepare another leader is to expose him or her to other great people.

'Beyond the Lights' was my fourth film. I gained a lot of knowledge, and I'm excited to share that with young filmmakers because I know how lost I was coming out of film school with that question of 'What's next?'

Angie Dickinson in 'Hollywood Wives' took me under her wing. If you look at that cast, I was definitely an 'outcast'... so to speak. Most of them were of the same era, or just so much more experienced that I was.

I tell young people that people aren't just going to flock to you as your mentors. You have to seek them out. It could be your next-door neighbor; it could be somebody upstairs from you, somebody down the block from you. An aunt or an uncle. Some relative. A parent.

I mean, it's amazing that I get to meet all these people. I've learned so much from all of them. I just worked with Sofia Coppola and that was amazing. I learned so much from her. I can't even describe how much fun I had.

With Twitter and other social networking tools, you can get a lot of advice from great people. I learn more from Twitter than any survey or discussion with a big company.

I only act in films where I've got an A-lister as my mentor.