Bert & Harry Piel, NY Art Directors Club Gold Medal TV ad series, 1953.

An excerpt from Gene Deitch's book, How To Succeed In Animation (Don't Let A Little Thing Like Failure Stop You!).

You need a lot of luck to make it in the movie business, but how do you get lucky? Is success really just a matter of luck -- chance? Or can you lure luck your way? Here are some tips.

Many have asked me how to get started in animation, and how to prosper in it creatively and financially. Dare I mention luck?*

Luck Defined
I believe I have had plenty of that, and I couldn't expect anyone to profit from my tales of lucky incidents that propelled me. But perhaps a definition of luck would be useful: Everyone, at one time or another, happens upon an opportunity. The vital difference occurs in if or how a person perceives the opportunity, and how he or she reacts to it, grabs it and runs with it.

Many things seem to come out of the blue, a pure chance of being in the right place just as a door opens. But without preparation for that chance event, you will not be the one who will be beckoned inside.

What is luck anyway? Luck can often be manipulated -- given a little nudge. After all, you just can't sit around half your life waiting for luck to bless you. You can be a complete no-talent idiot and still win $500,000,000 in a lottery. You don't need any advice from me to do that -- just incredible, and highly unlikely, pure, one-in-a-gazillion-chance, naked luck. Theoretically, any dummy can do that. But actually, having luck in breaking into the profession of your choice can be a lot harder if you don't make moves to make it happen.