I remember being taught in school that you would underline things that you liked. I remember just underlining everything as a kid, thinking, 'This has all gotta be important!' I would just underline the whole thing!

He began writing in adolescence and at 17 years old he began experimenting with a Bolex sixteen millimetre camera. "
The film he made was Cigarettes & Coffee (1993) a short film made for $20000 connecting multiple story lines with a twenty-dollar bill.

In 2007 Total Film named him the twentieth greatest director of all time while the American Film Institute regards him as "one of American film's modern masters. " In 2011 Entertainment Weekly named him the tenth-greatest working director calling him "one of the most dynamic directors to emerge in the last twenty years. He has been nominated for five Academy Awards — There Will Be Blood for Best Achievement in Directing Best Motion Picture of the Year and Best Adapted Screenplay; Magnolia for Best Original Screenplay; and Boogie Nights for Best Original Screenplay.