In 2001, Jules Naudet, and his brother Gedeon were two French filmmakers creating a documentary on rookie firefighters in New York City. On the morning of September 11th, when a group of men at Engine 7 were investigating a supposed gas leak at the corner of Church and Lispenard Streets, just over a mile away from the World Trade Center, Jules was riding along, camera rolling. At 8:46am the group was distracted by the sound of a plane flying overhead. Being able to hear a plane over the busy streets of Manhattan is quite rare. Moments later, Jules fixed his camera on the sky and caught on tape one of only three known recordings of American Airlines Flight 11 hitting the North Tower. Jules and his brother probably didn’t realize it at the time, but the subject of their documentary had just completely changed. Over the course of the next twenty four hours, and eventually over the course of the next year, the Naudet brothers, along with firefighter James Hanlon, created the famous film entitled 9/11. 

This is a common theme around many documentaries. The filmmakers set out with a certain subject in mind, then circumstances change, which causes them to discover what the real project is. Their original subject may have been a trivial, or even bad idea, but without taking action on it, they would have never discovered what their film was really supposed to be.

Don’t worry too much about starting the right project. Start A project. Circumstances have a way of guiding us to the right one. The question is, will we listen and find the courage to adapt when your project shows you what it’s really supposed to be?