Derek Cianfrance Paid His Dues Before 'Blue Valentine'

Think you had an unusual day job to pay the bills while you pursued your passion?

Derek Cianfrance, right, the director of Blue Valentine (opening Dec. 31), made a genital warts commercial.

Let us explain. It took him 12 years and dozens of script rewrites to finally shoot Blue Valentine, an indie drama that packs in unusually frank scenes of a marriage unraveling. During that time, the unemployment checks stopped coming. He and his wife started a family. He had to take a long hard look at his personal finances.