Hello all. I'm looking to be a drone operater for film shoots in the nearish future. I'm thinking of picking up the Inspire 2, but this would be my first drone ever. Those of you who are more experienced, should I consider a different drone first or just go for the Inspire 2 right off the bat?

Thanks in advance!

Hard call between a M2  zoom (different focal lengths) and a M2 Pro with aperture control.

You'll probably need a drone that supports ATTI mode to learn for the test.  

I'm not as worried about the video portion as potentially destroying it from lack of flying experience. Would it be worth getting something simpler first or just springing for the I2?

Ouch, that is quite the question.
Which gives many more questions to ask.
If you want / need the best image quality, have the funds and don't mind the hassle of taking it with you : YES the I2 is the only real option.
If you want to get into flying a drone, get nice quality (like compact camera / smartphone) the Mavic 2 Zoom is a great option that has the zoom ability no other DJI drone has.
The Mavic 2 Pro has the better sensor and better options for grading, but it lacks zooming (not sure if you can live with a 24mm fixed lens)

So there are multiple strategies.
1. Buy Mavic 2 Zoom / Mavic 2 Pro and learn to fly with that. If you need better quality, upgrade to I2 and use the Mavic as backup. (or for jobs where you can't take that huge thing with you)
2. Invest in the Inspire system and go to some drone school to learn how to fly.
3. Buy a Mavic Mini to learn how to fly and invest in the Inspire system later on.

You might want to check some youtube tutorials on the Mavic 2 series and see if that quality is enough for you.
They say it is not about the camera, but more about the operator

I think Mavic 2 series will be better for a new drone user and professional use

Inspire 2 is waayy pro man you can shoot Hollywood film with it

I would say the Phantom 4 advanced. It is a good starter drone with atti mode. Knowing how to use atti mode is so important. It can be activated on the Mavic, Spark, and Inspire series, but it is a time consuming process. The phantom 4 advanced+ also has a built in monitor in the controller. The phantom 4 advanced has a 1 inch camera sensor and 20 mp photos too. The best feature is 4K videos at 60fps and 1080p at 120 FPS. When you bring down 60 FPS to 30fps or 50 FPS to 25 FPS or 48 FPS to 24fps, you get awesome slow motion. So in a bigger sense, this drone can capture 4K slow mo videos. It has a 3.5 mile range too.