With the trailer for Paul Thomas Anderson’s new film One Battle After Another hitting the internet, the veteran filmmaker shows he can still create a buzz. This is partially due to the film being his first collaboration with movie star Leonardo DiCaprio, but PTA’s films have also always generated excitement, especially from cinephiles who view him as a master of the craft and a true “auteur” (a filmmaker who both writes and directs his films). 

PTA is a writer-director with a distinct and unique voice and he has always followed his creative instincts throughout his filmmaking career. Even if your focus is on being a screenwriter and you don’t have directorial aspirations, there’s plenty to learn from PTA’s films — all of which are based on screenplays he has written — and from his integrity as an artist who never compromised.   

PTA’s entire life has revolved around the love of movies and telling compelling stories. Like his peer Quentin Tarantino, not only does he epitomize Gen X postmodernism, PTA’s enthusiasm for his vocation is evident in every meticulous frame and line of dialogue of his work. Not surprisingly, PTA never considered doing anything else but filmmaking, and he started making movies at an age when most kids are still playing with toys.  

Julianne Moore in 'Magnolia'

A Young Filmmaker From the Valley

Paul Thomas Anderson grew up in the Studio City neighborhood of the San Fernando Valley in Los Angeles (aka “the Valley”). He was the son of Ernie Anderson, who was a radio and television personality, horror movie host, announcer and the primary voice talent of ABC throughout the 1970s and 1980s, promoting much of the network’s programming. No doubt, the elder Anderson’s career in the entertainment industry helped shape the young Anderson. 

During PTA’s formative years, the Valley was the center of the adult film industry, which would also be a source of inspiration and the subject of both an early short film and his later breakthrough hit Boogie Nights. His films Magnolia and Licorice Pizza would likewise draw from his childhood in the Valley.

At only 8-years-old, PTA already knew he wanted to be a director, and he started making films on a Betamax video camera his father gave him. In his teen years, he upgraded to shooting on 8 mm and 16 mm cameras. By the time he was 17-years-old and a senior at prep school, PTA used money he had earned from working in a pet store to finance and make a 30-minute film called The Dirk Diggler Story (1988). Inspired by adult film star John Holmes, this mockumentary would become the basis for Boogie Nights, in which specific scenes from The Dirk Diggler Story would be reshot and recreated.  

So even before college, PTA had a creative vision and was poised to become a filmmaker.

Following Through with Your Ambition

PTA attended Santa Monica College and Emerson College — as an English major — before deciding to focus entirely on his directorial ambitions. He became a production assistant for television, films, music videos and game shows in Los Angeles and New York City, and furthered his knowledge of the production process. However, PTA was still convinced the best way to learn how to make movies was by actually making movies.

This mindset would lead him to make his next short film: Cigarettes & Coffee (1993). The short, dealing with multiple storylines all connected to a $20 bill, was the next step in PTA’s artistic evolution, and he was determined to expand it into a feature film. With a clear objective and strategy, PTA entered Cigarettes & Coffee into the 1993 Sundance Festival Shorts Program, which led to the young filmmaker being invited to join the 1994 Sundance Feature Film Program. While being mentored at Sundance, PTA struck a deal with Rysher Entertainment to direct his debut feature film.

Mark Wahlberg in 'Boogie Nights'

Staying True To Your Vision and Breaking Through

PTA’s feature film debut was the indie classic Hard Eight (1996). The film follows a down-on-his-luck young man (John C. Reilly) as he is mentored by a senior gambler (Philip Baker Hall). Father figures and mentorship would be a reoccurring theme in PTA’s films, and no doubt reflective of his own relationship with his father and mentors. Hard Eight established PTA as a fully-realized filmmaker with a unique voice and style, however, he had to fight hard for his vision. 

Rysher Entertainment re-edited the film and PTA took it upon himself to submit a work print of his original cut to the 1996 Cannes Film Festival. This bold move led to PTA raising the $200,000 necessary to finish and release his version of Hard Eight. The film met with critical acclaim and launched PTA’s filmmaking career. 

Back when he was directing Hard Eight, PTA wrote his next script, which would also be an expansion of one of his short films, The Dirk Diggler Story. An ambitious and emotionally rich script set in “the Golden Age of Porn,” it told the story of a nightclub dishwasher who becomes an adult film star; his career mirroring the transformation of the adult film industry as it shifts from cinemas to home video. With an acclaimed indie film under his belt, PTA submitted the script to New Line Cinema’s president, Michael De Luca, who loved it.  

This would lead to Boogie Nights (1997) being produced and released and becoming PTA’s breakout film. In addition to Mark Wahlberg’s movie star turn, Boogie Nights became a cultural landmark — much like Pulp Fiction — and it helped to redefine cinema for a new generation. Much of the tone and aesthetic of Boogie Nights is still evident in movies and cable television series today. PTA would follow it up with the even more ambitious Magnolia (1999), further solidifying his career and stature as a major filmmaker. 

Creating and Sustaining Your Own Path 

Over the years, PTA continued to explore and grow as an artist. Ambitious dramas like There Will Be Blood, The Master, Inherent Vice and Phantom Thread all met with critical acclaim and further established PTA as one of his generation’s greatest and most important filmmakers. This is partially why the trailer for One Battle After Another has sparked so much excitement: PTA’s films are events for cinephiles and they want to see what he will do next.

PTA has created and sustained his own path and this is something every screenwriter can learn from. Focus on what kind of career you want and work out a strategy for accomplishing it. Also follow your creative instincts and write what feels right rather than simply imitating others. That’s when you’ll find your own voice as a writer and your voice is something that can become a calling card. Ultimately, whenever you’re pursuing a creative occupation, you’re betting on yourself: embrace this for all its worth and inspiration. 

Stay motivated and, most importantly, keep writing.