The Consequential Dream
by: Dominic Dyes
As someone who is still honing his craft, I watch a lot of YouTube for entertainment purposes, but I also watch it a lot for educational reasons. There's a lot to be learned, but one thing that consistently ranks among my most watched videos are film YouTubers. These film YouTubers are typically aspiring directors, writer-directors, etc.
But one day, as I was watching one of these YouTubers, I noticed that even though these YouTubers write their own short films now, some say that it’s their dream to be a movie director, yet some will say that it’s their dream to be a writer-director. But, my question became “Are they writing for the love of writing or for the love of directing?” And let me make something clear, there is absolutely nothing wrong with either, as long as you know how to tell a good story.
But then, the next day it hit me. A concept, a term, a realization and that was…
The Consequential Dream:
Now, I know you might be asking what that means. A consequential dream is a term I coined that can be defined as a dream that would not exist on its own, but instead exists because it serves the individual's greater ambition, known as the Main Dream. Remove the main dream, and the consequential dream loses much, if not all, of its purpose to the individual.
There are three types of writer-director dreamers and most involve the consequential dream.
Category 1 is Director-First.
This is the person who dreams of being a director with writing as a consequential dream of directing. For them, writing is not the main dream, it’s a consequential dream of directing. The writing is there to serve the directing dream, not the other way around.
Notable Examples:
Martin Scorsese
Christopher Nolan
James Cameron
The reason why Christopher Nolan and James Cameron are in Category 1 even though they write almost all of their own films is because of their motive. I don’t believe that they are necessarily writing because writing is their main dream, but they write to serve their love and desire for directing and filmmaking.
Category 2 is Writer-First
A person whose dream it is to write with directing as a consequential dream of their writing. This category is the opposite of Category 1. For these people, writing is the main dream, directing is the consequential dream that serves the writing dream for any purpose. This category is the rarest.
Notable Examples:
Tyler Perry
Paul Schrader
Charlie Kaufman
Category 3 is Equal
The third kind of writer-director are people who, for them, it’s genuinely in the middle. They don’t enjoy writing or directing more than the other. Each equally serves the other in no greater or lesser regard.
Notable Examples:
Quentin Tarantino
Jordan Peele
Greta Gerwig
If a dream starts as a consequential dream and rises to the level of a main dream, then it is no longer a consequential dream. People in Category 3 have no consequential dream because neither dream derives its purpose from the other. Each stands on its own as a main dream.
For Category 1’s, often when they make it big, they’ll have an idea or an incomplete draft that they give off to a team to write and/or complete because their focus and passion is mainly directing. But a Category 2 could never, because writing is where they find their motivation and passion. It’s their main dream, unlike Category 1.
Let's make something clear as well. Category 1’s can love and often are incredible writers, Category 2’s can love and often are incredible directors. It’s purely the motive behind why they take on a specific writer or director role that separates the main dream from the consequential dream . If Category 1’s couldn’t direct tomorrow, would they still write? If Category 2’s couldn’t write tomorrow, would they still direct? If Category 3’s couldn’t do both, how would that affect their relationship with the other? Could they still do one without the other?
I heard someone use the word “fully complete” when referring to the motives, but I wouldn’t use that word, I prefer the word “satisfied”. Just because it’s a consequential dream, does not mean that you have no desire to do that specific thing at all, it just means that this dream wouldn’t serve a significant, if any, meaningful purpose or motivation to you without the main dream backing it.
So, to wrap it all up, a consequential dream is a dream that would not exist on its own, but instead exists because it serves the individual's greater ambition, known as the Main Dream. Why is this important? Well it’s important because understanding the motive behind what we want and why can help us to strategize on exactly how to get it. It helps us to understand what's important to us and that may just be more valuable than we will ever know. So I ask, What is your consequential dream?
