Will Packer has been a Hollywood mover and shaker with cult films such as Trois and hits like Stomp the Yard. He also produced the popular urban film The Gospel. He landed diva Beyoncé Knowles for the femme-fatale thriller Obsessed, and culled a star-studded cast that included teh late Paul Walker and Zoe Saldana for the crime story Takers.
Packer was at the top of his game with the hit Think Like a Man, featuring an ensemble cast led by funnyman Kevin Hart. The movie adaptation of Steve Harvey’s best-selling relationship book, Act Like a Lady, Think Like a Man, ranks among the 25 highest-grossing films of 2012–pulling down $96.1 million worldwide. The movie was followed up by Packer’s remake About Last Night, which grossed $48.6 million worldwide. His highest grossing film is Ride Along, featuring Kevin Hart and Hip-Hop mogul Ice Cube, with a $153.3 million take worldwide.
Hitting theaters this weekend after its star-studded premier at the American Black Film Festival in New York is the highly anticipated sequel Think Like A Man Too. Up next is the film No Good Deed.
Packer’s lifetime worldwide total box office gross as a filmmaker is $598.8 million to date. The key to success, he says, is building solid relationships, which includes knowing how to sell to talent, financiers, and distributors. But he also attributes personal traits beyond his skills set.”The success that I have, I have been blessed to have goes far beyond just the movie industry,†says the 40-yar-old Hollywood money maker.
He shared with BlackEnterprise.com his other words of wisdom for achieving success.
1. Have Faith. You have to believe in something bigger
than yourself. I am a person of faith and that certainly has allowed me to prosper event when I wasn’t having success in my business or even my personal life. That will faith will buoy through dark times.2. Define Your Own Success. In many industries, but especially in the movie business, it is all about other people telling you whether you are successful or not. It is all about other people defining success for you. You have to push yourself give 110% and set your own standards for success. Make them difficult to achieve. When you do relish in the fact when you are able to achieve that whatever is that level of success.
3. Believe In Project and Yourself. You have to believe truly down to the depths of your soul that you have what it takes. You have the ability, the skills set, and the intelligence, to succeed in whatever it is that you are trying to do. You have to believe it so clearly, so perfectly, and so thoroughly that when other people encounter you that can’t help but believe it as well. So many people get jobs, contracts, or deals over others simply because they own it. They walk in with a level of confidence that is pervasive.
4. Make No Excuses. Don’t wait for the right opportunity. You know what the right opportunity is–it’s right now. Whatever you can get your hands on. When we were going to make our first movie Trois, we said that we need to raise $200,000 to make that film. We tried and tried but could not raise $200,000. We gave ourselves a deadline. We
said that we are going to give ourselves 60 days from now and however much money that we are able to raise with that period that is going to be the budget for this movie. We weren’t going to let the excuse that we didn’t reach that goal stop us. Make no excuses about resources or relationships. Make it happen.5. Affirm Yourself Daily. Every morning look in the mirror and tell yourself how great you are. Very likely that might be the last time you hear those words that day. I believe that you have to be your number one fan and cheerleader. That goes beyond self-confidence. You have to give yourself a foundation. Pat yourself on the back and tell yourself how good you are. No one is going to tell you like you.