Mike Binder Quotes

It's nice when you're working in Hollywood and there's a movie you'd like to see that no one is making anymore. You make it yourself.

With 'Sweetback,' I just put it together a little bit at a time. I didn't do it on anybody's grant. I did it like any other young executive - by cheating and stealing!

Every actor wants to direct and produce, but I made a conscious decision when I was in college to understand the 'business' of 'show business.'

I wanna produce, write, and direct my own projects, and eventually fund them. I wanna be a mogul.

On the last couple of movies I made - big-budget Hollywood movies - I really missed being able to create my own material.

I used the principles of Kickstarter to make 'She's Gotta Have It.' We filmed that in 1985 to 1986. The final cost was $175,000. I didn't have that money. It was friends, grants, donations. We saved our bottles for the nickel deposit.

I just got sick of not being able to raise money for a movie - that's what happens, so I just made my own.

It's hard to get personal films off the ground, and it's hard developing them.

As a director, your work is finished only when it's on the screen. But I will always be an actor who occasionally directs. And no, I have no interest in directing myself. I wouldn't be able to concentrate on both jobs at once.

I'd like to direct some, act in some of them, and produce.

I want to direct, write, produce... y'know, I love the entertainment industry.

The projects I look for to produce or direct would not be ones in which I would want to act.

So many people wait around for funding, and if they're unsuccessful, they don't make the film; if you've got a good idea, that seems so pointless. There's always a way of doing it; you've just got to find it.

Yeah, the whole 'One Tree Hill' experience made me realize I wanna write, and produce, and direct as well as act. I'm interested in all facets of the industry.

And now it looks like I'm probably going to shoot a movie that I wrote. I got the money to do it, and I would star and all, because of being on Howard.

Trying to make a feature film yourself with no money is the best film school you can do.

The one thing I want to do - and I am doing - is starting my own production company, for me to produce and direct in the future. Have a bit more say and control - become the storyteller more than just the character. I want to choose the story, plant the seed, and watch it grow. I just want to have a bit more involvement.

You can take your life into your own hands in terms of directing. There are ways for you to finance yourself and to write and make a film.

I enjoyed playing the dual role of an actor and producer.

Writing and directing, to me, was the logical evolution from my life as an actor: going from telling someone else's story to actually creating my own. Perhaps one day I will do all three: write, direct, and act in the same production. That might get a little hectic, though.

I eventually want to write and direct and produce my own stuff.

I learned that you have to say that you're a filmmaker. You're not a screenwriter; you're not a director for hire. You've got to take charge. You're a filmmaker, and you're going to make a film.

I definitely want to do other things outside of acting like producing, directing.

I would very much like to direct, star, perform, and just be a general auteur.

Developing projects of my own and producing and writing and directing is something that's very interesting to me, but you know, one step at a time and you've got to establish yourself on one side before you really have the power to do something else. That's always the immediate goal.