10 Directors Who Took Insane Breaks Between Movies

Kelly Reichardt's directing career began with River of Grass in 1994, but it would be more than a decade before she could get another feature-length film made. She managed a few shorts in 1999, 2001, and 2004, but it wouldn't be until 2006's Old Joy that she would return features.

Her work through the '90s was spent mostly trying to convince studios to let her helm a project. According to Reichardt, her inability to get a movie made during that time had to do with her being a woman. “I had 10 years from the mid-1990s when I couldn’t get a movie made. It had a lot to do with being a woman.”

During her break in directing, she started a career as a teacher so she could keep the lights on. In her spare time, she shot Super-8 shorts, and after 12 years, she managed to scrape up a paltry $30,000 from investors to begin work on her second project, Old Joy, which was released in 2006.

The success of that film helped bring her back into Hollywood's good graces, and she has since directed five feature films with another in development as of mid-2019.