Film Industry Quotes

“What does she do?"
"She's a producer." Of course, in Los Angeles this doesn't mean much more than "she's a member of the human race.”
― Julian Fellowes, Past Imperfect

“Once upon a time, I wrote a book. People seemed to dig it, so I wrote another and one after that. That’s when Hollywood came knocking at my back door. As soon as I cashed that check, I wrapped my lips around the mighty erection that is the film industry and sucked hard, just like a good whore should. Unfortunately, I had to be taught not to orphan the balls.”
― Hank Moody

“There were a lot of terms you had to learn, as opposed to the shylock business where all you had to know how to say was 'Give me the fuckin money.”
― Elmore Leonard, Get Shorty

“Morris Weissman [on the phone, discussing casting for his movie]: "What about Claudette Colbert? She's British, isn't she? She sounds British. Is she, like, affected or is she British?”
― Julian Fellowes, Gosford Park: The Shooting Script

“Lady Sylvia McCordle: Mr Weissman -- Tell us about the film you're going to make.
Morris Weissman: Oh, sure. It's called "Charlie Chan In London". It's a detective story.
Mabel Nesbitt: Set in London?
Morris Weissman: Well, not really. Most of it takes place at a shooting party in a country house. Sort of like this one, actually. Murder in the middle of the night, a lot of guests for the weekend, everyone's a suspect. You know, that sort of thing.
Constance: How horrid. And who turns out to have done it?
Morris Weissman: Oh, I couldn't tell you that. It would spoil it for you.
Constance: Oh, but none of us will see it.”
― Julian Fellowes, Gosford Park: The Shooting Script

“The foundation of Hollywood alchemically turned celluloid into gold and insincerity into an art form.”
― Stewart Stafford

“When opportunities knock on your door, don't wait too long to decide because when you take too much time, the decision will be made for you — typically, this will not be to your benefit.”
― Jen Alvares

“I cobbled together that film-school experience for myself. I didn't ever sit in a classroom: I would watch DVD commentaries of directors. I was like, "...So, this person is just going to walk me through every single thing they did to make this movie? And it's on every movie ever made?!"

All that's to say: There are different ways to learn.”
― Ava DuVernay

“You highbrows writing on movies are nuts! In order to write about movies you must first make them.”
― Orson Welles, Orson Welles: Interviews

“It's important to understand that when you’re involved in a project, it's everybody’s job to work together for the sake of a project’s success. In no circumstances can you allow yourself to become another problem that everybody has to deal with.”
― Jen Alvares

“Building a successful career is a long-term endeavor. In many cases, it will depend not just on your talent and hard work but also on the positive connections that you make with other industry professionals and on the realization that your own success is rooted in your ability to help others first.”
― Jen Alvares

“Hollywood keeps recycling what worked back then, what worked back when, but nothing new. I believe their breakout hit has been written. Written either by me? Written either by you? Indie writers, authors, and creatives can, again, be Hollywood's salvation, but Hollywood must first get a fucking clue.”
― A.K. Kuykendall

“I have more Dollars than sense”
― Jackie Chan, Never Grow Up

“Motel Hell is a black comedy about hypocrisy, about the way in which every person, even serial killers like Farmer Vincent, tell themselves little lies to get through the day. It's easier to do terrible things, one concludes, when you believe you're doing good.”
― John Kenneth Muir, Horror Films of the 1980s

“Heads roll in Hollywood, but they usually roll into another studio.”
― Dan Bronson, Confessions of a Hollywood Nobody

“She looked out the taxi window at the picturesque Creole cottages and brick Spanish Colonial houses on the way back to the bakery. Piper could understand why New Orleans was an attractive location for filming. The culturally rich neighborhoods and diverse locations, from bayou to big city, provided vivid backdrops. There were willing extras of all shapes, sizes, and ethnicities available, as well as state-of-the-art sound stages and plenty of skilled crew members. Piper also knew that Louisiana offered attractive tax incentives to the film industry to bring in business to New Orleans. The city was working hard to earn the moniker "Hollywood of the South.”
― Mary Jane Clark, That Old Black Magic

“It’s essential to be comfortable asking for advice or help — after all, there is a reason we have dozens of different specialists that come together to work on a film project.”
― Jen Alvares

“Nobody will wait around for your decision — things move fast, and what was suggested to you yesterday might be taken away today by somebody else who chose to move faster.”
― Jen Alvares

“It’s a beautiful thing to be in Hollywood... the feeling of it... that classical glamour never dies.” She walked to the closet and back to the bed. “The actress lives a beautiful life once at a certain level... when her sink has a view and her phone calls aren’t rejections anymore, but producers, offices, playhouses in London, a director pitching his sacred screenplay. The food gets healthier, people around you are more positive... driving in traffic is even different because your car is nice, and the music you normally hate sounds different when life works... when you get the furniture you want... And mentors pass down movie posters from their mentors—so Hepburn never really dies. You keep it in your home... there’s room for everything... I treasure letters from other artists... studio invitations... Being a woman in Hollywood is entirely different than a man’s experience. All the time, by everyone, for everything, a woman is wanted... dinners... so many dinners... so many scripts lying around the room, in the sun... the people you have yet to meet... it’s not about fame—I do not care for the public praise... but what is truly compelling is when you make it big, you finally understand why there are palm trees in this city... Los Angeles suddenly turns on. Like a bulb you thought disliked you and would never light. But it lights. Of course, one must put the cocktail down, leave the house, and make more movies. But this is to say, the after hours are nice. When the camera is off and I return home, I get to love what is left.”
― Karl Kristian Flores, A Happy Ghost

“The story was okay, but the acting bothered Andrei. Sometimes he would watch a scene and then it would go to the next; Andrei would blink, bewildered at the time that had passed. The film just went by. Scenes would jump to the next but his mind was the same. Why? He noticed that the lead actress in her later years was extremely gorgeous, except some sharp concentration in him blocked out her beauty. This seated heart screamed for the movie to shatter him. And it drew upon him that this was another film that the world was not bothered by of its acting. In fact, they did not even see it. In its short scenes, audiences were hypnotized for an average of five to eight seconds by an actor’s beauty and if the editor timed it right, and with enough spectacle, movies could get away with doing nothing. Gorgeousness stimulated the mind. “Wow, they are so beautiful,” the audience was forced to think—and then by jumping to the next beautiful part fast enough there was something called a movie. And the movie seemed to use the actors’ appearances to drive most of the scenes. And many actors in different scenes sort of just stood there, handsome, and whispering. That was their strategy—mumbling murmurs of breath and rasp. Their indecisive bodies were unnaturally still, as though they had close-ups when the shot was wide. All of the actors’ voices were dumbly lowered to a safe natural cadence while in an unnatural situation and yet seeming real, no actual thought needed to be shown.

'Beauty is good,' says the industry. 'Sell that. Sell beauty! Make it beautiful. Ugly stories about beautiful people. It naturally turns a crap film into a decent one. The people are left with a good impression, as though having watched something fascinating. Make sure to let the camera sit on those beautiful people and their faces will give the audience something impossible to understand and give us runtime while they gaze. But having ugly people in it, people that look like people, actors that look like their audience—er, that’s not so profound,' says the industry. It was why the scenes moved without Andrei knowing: nothing was done by its actors.”
― Karl Kristian Flores, A Happy Ghost

“Why are you leaving Los Angeles?' asked Andrei.

'Something about the city. People don’t want to see each other. Everything’s too far away. A bunch of reasons. On sidewalks everyone avoids each other; it’s weird to go up to someone. Most of all, the weather’s a lie. Too much sun, and then everyone acts like the sun. You know what I mean? There’s so much to do, but no one to do it with.”
― Karl Kristian Flores, A Happy Ghost

“If a filmmaker has no originality, what's the difference between a filmmaker and a photocopier!”
― Abhijit Naskar, Aşk Mafia: Armor of The World

“If you use stunt doubles to do your stunts, you don't deserve an ounce of respect as an actor – use stunt doubles to teach you those stunts instead, then do them yourself on camera.”
― Abhijit Naskar, Yaralardan Yangın Doğar: Explorers of Night are Emperors of Dawn

“LA, the city where everyone's constantly waiting for their phone to ring, and I'm part of it.”
― Daniel Ruczko, Pieces of a Broken Mind

“With every movie that they do, they’ll come up with a few films they really like and we’ll talk about them. Way back when we did Barton Fink, Joel and Ethan would say, ’Think Kubrick!”
― Adam Nayman, The Coen Brothers: This Book Really Ties the Films Together

“Each time, the fall looked brilliant and effectively dangerous against the green screen, but he wasn’t satisfied until he stuck the landing and heard the rebound clap. Everyone from riggers to grips marked the occasion with good, honest cheers reverberating in the giant, hollow cube.”
― Laurie Perez, Unbraiding: Actor | Producer | Father: A Story in Three Strands

“People outside the industry pruriently ask how he gets through sex scenes, nudity, baring it physically. They miss the point.
Sure, that takes some courage. But, man, it’s ALL like that.
Try crying in front of sixty-three people, most of whom are there to do jobs like lighting your face so the tears are in focus while the snot and spit fall behind — or surrounding you with mics to make sure the sound of your sobbing, disconsolate self falling apart is picked up cleanly, so you won’t have to dub over it in post six months later. That crew of people, expertly watching you turn feral with the grief that’s causing your character to make monumentally bad decisions leading to the epiphany that finally turns it around in the third act. Could anything be more naked, more intimate than tearing your soul inside out in service to the
story?
It’s tantric.
Visceral.”
― Laurie Perez, Unbraiding: Actor | Producer | Father: A Story in Three Strands

“Hollywood won’t tell our stories… so we must. Independent film and art are born from truth, not profit, and their survival depends on the strength of our communities. If we don’t support them, no one will.”
― Alyscia Cunningham

“You can’t edit your way out of unclear direction. Clarity starts in development and pre-production. By the time you say “Action,” it’s already too late.”
― Jen Alvares

“Career-building is fifty percent creative, fifty percent business. If you don’t respect both sides, you’ll stall.”
― Jen Alvares