Patrick Marber Quotes

I want to make sensible commercial films.

If I'm going to sell out, I'm going to sell out all the way, so a bid by the studio would be if you're going to go through the pain of trying to make a film, it's gotta be worth it.

I think one of the main reason's Rick Rosenthal and Whitewater PIctures decided to 'get in bed with me' on 'Fat Kid' was because I came in with a strong business plan as well as a creative vision on how to make the film.

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

You see I don't like to be really too commercial about things but in this business you've just got to be commercial otherwise the films don't make money and you don't make films and as a long as a commodity is selling it's silly to kill it dead.

Hollywood executives believe that money is both the be-all and end-all to the moviemaking process.

The real challenge in this line of work is being able to weed the productive ones from the chaff, to decide which you're going to spend the next six to nine months turning into something that people will pay for.

But it's true, it's nothing new that decisions about what movies are to be made, and how they're to be made, and who's to be hired to do what, and whether you hire somebody to do their job, or whether you hire somebody to fill a position and you tell them what to do.

Once Miramax gets involved, if they like your movie, there's a big machine that gets involved.

'Private Benjamin' was the first movie I produced, and I produced it for practical reasons.

I have been working on one film at a time. One film recovers a little cost and that helps me move on to the next one.

Ideally, I want my films to work because I want the people who have invested their money to get back their investment and make profits too.

Usually, on Broadway or in Hollywood, you come up with a project, and you have to convince the producers that it's safe.

'Radio' was made at a budget of Rs 6 crore. Thankfully, the money invested in making the film was recovered through music.

You just never know when movies are going to take off or not. The lucky thing about this was that it didn't cost a lot of money, and therefore there wasn't loads of pressure on me.

People are very reluctant to invest unless they know it's going to be a sure thing, and let's face it: film is never a sure thing.

In cinema, the leading player is the director.

To me, the box-office is basically the cost of film. If your film costs so much and your box-office is so much and a bit more, you are okay.

I think producers are more interested in backing concepts than directors and writers. I don't think that's the right way of making a decision about whether you're going to back a film or not.

There is no free lunch, so if you're playing with the big train set - on big movies - it's a lot of money they're entrusting you with, and you have to get that money back for them. I don't take that responsibility lightly.

Some movies get rushed out right after you make them and I'm not always happy with that.

Once you become a producer, you're really selling something. It is a control issue, because you don't really know how it's going to pan out, but the creative control makes it work it.

When people slave over those scripts and pay hundreds of thousands of dollars for them, they don't usually want you to add farts.

If I start a film of my own, then what I eliminate is acting in other people's movies. Because once I start, and I go raise the money, it's about two and a half or three years, and I can't stop. I have people hired. I can't say, 'Ooh there's a good part called 'Drive'; I'll see you in three months.'

I do not need a producer. I need only a good production manager. I need only a man who will give me money.