Wes Ball Quotes

Everybody is always trying to make the best movie they can. It's a process.

Since I began making movies, I've always looked for screenwriters instead of going through the long and painful process of writing.

Making a movie is a lot of problem solving.

You can't start a movie by having the attitude that the script is finished, because if you think the script is finished, your movie is finished before the first day of shooting.

One fantasy is that I just do a Don Roos movie every year if that's possible. If he'd have me.

As a director or writer, you have to be so controlling.

As a filmmaker, I'm a collaborator first.

The creative process on 'Margaret' was incredibly satisfying. I loved the cast; I had a great time writing the script. I liked making the movie. Believe it or not, I actually like editing the movie. It was all the rest of it that was such a nightmare.

My approach to making movies is different than other people, because I just write a lot of screenplays. I'm constantly writing screenplays.

Hollywood is a deeply odd place. There are so many factors that have to go perfectly, so many schedules and visions that have to snap together for a film even to be made, much less be good.

As a director, you try to find what is creative.

Inherently, making a movie is tough because there's so much anticipation when it happens - even if everything goes well.

Making movies was a real weird kind of adult experience. In a way it was like MIT, in that it was a great education. The big lesson is, people are people. They're smart, funny, creative people, but they're people.

The whole process of making movies and writing screenplays is visceral and intuitive.

What you do is get the right director and the right screenwriter and the right cast. It's a fantastic job.

With directing, you've got to find something and drag it up from its inception, and I'm at the early stages of doing that again. There's something all-consuming and addictive about that.

I depend on good editors and a good director.

What is important to me is that people know I respect the business of making movies.

The hunger for knowing is what excites me. I get to geek out about editing, be on set, give notes to writers - I love it all.

As far as writing or directing a film, I've worked with enough people who have done that that I know it's just a whole other level of responsibility and chaos and murder that I could not see happening. For now, I'm just going to see what comes. I know what I like and what direction I have.

I'm a filmmaker. I'm always searching for the truth in everything I do. I demand it from my writing partner and my crew, actors, and so hopefully, we're making people think.

Honestly, when you're making a movie, you never say, 'Oh, this one's going to suck and go straight to video.' When you're in it, you think you're doing the best work you can do. You're surrounded by people who are working hard. Everybody's hopeful.

I don't make movies because I love to act. I make movies because I like to make movies, and I like to be a part of that process.

I'd made these experimental films but I thought the major chore of a filmmaker was to relate to actors.

To be a good director, you have to spend a lot of time on actual sets, but today, there's a lot of people who spend a lot of time in dark rooms writing a script, and they'll go in and tell the story to some suit at a studio who says, 'Okay, this is great, let's go.' But that doesn't necessarily mean you know what to do once you're on set.